Katie Couric's Notebook: Economic Times

By: Katie Couric
Topics: Katie Couric's Notebook

Right now ten percent of America is unemployed, that's more than 15 million people. If you include the underemployed, the number jumps to 17 percent.

The results of a new survey from CBS News and The New York Times reveal the financial hardship is taking a psychological toll on families.

Nearly half of the 700 adults we polled said that losing their jobs had caused a major crisis in their lives. And they have suffered from anxiety and depression. 69 percent report higher stress levels.

More than a third of parents say the job loss has impacted their childrens' behavior, as well.

There's one silver lining in an otherwise heartbreaking report: the challenge has motivated people to learn new skills. More than half are confident their next job will be as good as their last.

Though the American dream has evaporated for some families, at least for now, American optimism has proven to be a renewable resource and perhaps the most important tool on the road to our recovery.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

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by Aquinus December 29, 2009 10:26 AM EST: Economic times reflect the problems of the way we do business. Ask yourself what happens when a corporation wants to make more profit. Anyone remember Perot's warning of the "Giant Sucking Sound" from Mexico? Millions of jobs gone out of our country to exploit cheap labor elsewhere. Yet Senior managements, people in the financial system and "entertainment personalities" all seem to be doing better than ever.
It would be better for our government to use true "stimulus money" to start a company-say manufacturing many electric cars-where both all of management and production workers get THE SAME WAGE. This is now done on a small scale in some small niches of our country, but not in a big way in a major industry.
As done by many countries in our past-it is time for our own government to use our money to subsidize an industry that will beat world competition. Only then will the disparity between class wealth be reduced here. And only then will we start to see a positive balance of trade resulting in paying our debts and restoring our standard of living to where it was-1st in the world.; Reply to this comment


by sharona13 December 24, 2009 2:10 PM EST: Katie, your cute has tarnished. I was a fan but not any longer. I am one of those white right wing terrorists you often refer to. And yes I am angry but I have yet to call the president "Hitler"! You can sit in your glass tower and judge others...not a Christian attitude!

And why aren't you reporting that the unemployment, reduced hour and wages is climbling upwards of 19%? Earn your millions and do some investive reporting.

I have to agree 100% with One_American.

Health care reform is a death sentence to anyone who has a cronic illness, cancer or is old! I pray none of those happen to you. (And by the way you are starting to look a little wrinkled); Reply to this comment


by shylove2 December 22, 2009 12:55 PM EST: No optimism except in that the American Sweat Dream is coming to an end. But add to these statistics all the PTSD suffering soldiers either tryiung to reintegrate into this environment or being forced to redeploy out economic necessity. It is a sign of decline as even superpower posturing abroad highlights degrading homeland security.; Reply to this comment


by kenhamlett December 22, 2009 3:33 AM EST: It is interesting that I have noticed more stress in people now than when the economic downturn started. They fail to realize that we are now much closer to a recovery (the real kind, not the one the economists are talking about)
I have repeated the following so many times I will just pass it along here for those who would not hear it otherwise. Realize how long ago it was written and how often it has worked.

"Meet every adverse circumstance as its master." Page 419 of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy; Reply to this comment


by DeafMom December 20, 2009 10:36 PM EST: It's been a very tough year, especially for people with disabilities. When the economy is good, it is still tough to for people with disabilities to get jobs. In a rough economy, it can be nearly impossible to find jobs.; Reply to this comment


by 2012EOD December 20, 2009 4:30 PM EST: In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meagre existence disillusions him into rebellion against Big Brother, which leads to his arrest, torture, and conversion.

Yep, that about sums it up.; Reply to this comment


by casey_abbott December 20, 2009 11:17 AM EST: I know. That's why I hired him.; Reply to this comment


by -One_American- December 19, 2009 8:22 PM EST: It must be easy to be an optimist, when you are pulling down seven figure salary for merely reading Marxist propaganda on a teleprompter.

Yeah, you can relate Katie.

So Katie, what magazines do you read today... besides the glossy leftist rags?; Reply to this comment