The economic news continues to disappoint, but a majority of Americans are now optimistic about our nation’s economic course. What is triggering this rise? How much of it has to do with the gains on Wall Street? How do people feel about the actual economic policies being implemented? We ask Terry Jones, associate editor at Investor’s Business Daily, which conducted the survey.
North Korea is threatening to wage a nuclear offensive against any country that threatens its security. It has also sentenced two U.S. journalists to 12 years of hard labor. What message is North Korea trying to send? How seriously should we take these threats? Why did North Korea put the female journalists in prison? Will the Obama administration or the international community ever force their hand? And are the Chinese really interested in ending North Korea’s nuclear program? We ask retired U.S. Army Major General Paul Vallely, who served for 20 years as the Army’s deputy commanding general in the Pacific.
On Tuesday, President Obama asked Congress to officially install PAYGO rules in an effort to demand fiscal discipline. The concept calls for any tax cuts or increase in benefits to be offset in spending cuts or increased taxes before being implemented. So is this the smart way to get our country back on sound financial footing? Or is this just a slick way of pushing tax increases and costing the economy even more jobs? We ask South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson.
We have Monday’s top news… How many new jobs is President Obama promising by the end of the summer? How does he plan to do it? What setback did Obama get from the Supreme Court on the Chrysler reorganization plan? What announcement did GM make today? What decisions did the Supreme Court also make today on gays in the military, Tyco executives and suing the government of Iraq? And what happened on Wall Street today? We have the answers as we bring you the biggest stories for Monday, June 8, 2009.
On Tuesday, voters in Virginia will choose the Democratic nominee for governor. It’s a tight three-way race in these off-year elections. So who are the candidates and which one is likely to emerge as the nominee to face Republican Bob McDonnell in November? Is this campaign a referendum on President Obama or the Democratic Congress? What historical trend favors the GOP even though Virginia seems to be tilting further to the left? We ask Professor Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, and we’ll also discuss his new book “The Year of Obama: How Barack Obama Won the White House”.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1993 law forbidding homosexuals from serving in the military. Is this decision a surprise? How vigorously will the Obama administration push for gays to serve openly in the armed forces? How would removing the ban impact military recruitment, retention, morale and performance? And why do political figures, activists and members of the media get it wrong when they say “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is the current law when it comes to gays serving in the military? We ask Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness.
As we get closer to a Congressional showdown on health care reform, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy is proposing language that would force employers to provide health coverage to their workers or face financial penalties. So why is this a critical step in the push for government-run health care? Could this provision get taken out or is this an essential component in the Democratic plan? Why are private insurance companies getting on board with all this? We ask Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute.
President Obama says he wants to speed up the shelling out of stimulus dollars and get more people back to work faster than originally planned. He vows 600,000 jobs will be created or saved by the end of this summer. So is this the right move to spur job creation or just pouring money down a rat hole at an even faster pace? We ask Bill Ahern, director of policy and communications at The Tax Foundation.
We have Friday’s top news… How many jobs did the economy lose in May? How are the numbers being interpreted by Democrats and Republicans in Congress? What new numbers could discourage prospective home buyers? Who is buying the Saturn line from General Motors? What is a federal appeals court saying about the merger of Chrysler and Fiat? What happened on Wall Street Friday? And what did President Obama have to say on his visit to the Buchenwald death camp in Germany? We have the answers as we bring you the biggest stories for Friday, June 5, 2009.
On Friday, the Department of Labor reported another 345,000 jobs were slashed in May, and the national unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent. So is this a sign that the economy is still in a deep crisis or is it slightly encouraging that fewer jobs were lost than in previous months of this recession? What has been the impact of the Obama stimulus plan on the U.S. job market? Is the stimulus a negative influence or just a trillion dollar venture that’s having no impact at all? How tough is life for Americans in urban areas where the unemployment rate is in double figures? We ask Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
