All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

It landed on Capitol Hill with a thud. President Obama's first budget proposal totals more than $3.5 trillion. That includes $634 billion over the next 10 years as a down payment on a campaign promise: universal health care.

Millions of Americans who need to see a doctor don't because they simply can't afford it. Mr. Obama believes he has the prescription for better health, but this proposal doesn't really give specifics – that's for Congress to debate. And the members will.

Mr. Obama would pay for the reforms through higher taxes on the rich and by squeezing Medicare and Medicaid.

Now that would be bitter medicine for some, but with hundreds of millions being spent to keep failing companies on life support, hopefully some compromise can be reached to ensure the health of the estimated 48 million Americans with no insurance – and talk of a bailout for them.

Kelly Wallace is a CBS News correspondent based in New York.

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Every day we’re reminded of another example of the ripple effects of what looks to be the worst recession in a generation and how just when you think things can’t get any worse, they do. I’m sorry to say our story tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric illustrates both points.

Consider your own checkbook for a moment and how there are times, probably a lot more lately, when you don’t have enough cash in your account to cover all your bills. That’s exactly what’s happening in 30 states around the country when it comes to unemployment benefits. States – from New York to California – are running out of money and may need to get loans from the federal government to provide unemployment insurance to laid-off workers like 50-year-old Jennifer Sloan, a Web designer and manager in New York City. How much does she rely on her unemployment benefits?

“They’re essential, I need them to buy my food, pay rent, that’s the money that’s keeping me going right now,” she told us.

Michigan and Indiana have already run out of money for unemployment and have had to get loans from the federal government. Michigan has had to borrow more than $500 million. That’s five-hundred million dollars.

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The economic crisis is taking its toll on every corner of the nation, sometimes in unbelievable ways. One suburban Detroit school district is going to start charging teachers for electricity: 32 bucks to plug in a personal coffee pot – $182 for a mini-fridge.

Their schools, like so many others in America, are low on cash, and have already resorted to layoffs and hiring freezes. The reason: State budgets are strapped. Higher unemployment means lower income tax revenue, and empty stores mean less cash from sales tax.

Three-quarters of the states are facing deficits next year: six billion dollars here in New York, five billion in Florida, $26 billion in California.

This serious crisis calls for creative solutions, no doubt. I'd just hate to be that teacher paying $182 to chill the brown bag lunch I brought to work … in order to save money.

Hi, everyone.

Yesterday, President Bush unveiled next year's budget. While it's more a wish list than a plan—because Congress still has to approve every penny--something was missing from the Administration's press conferences.

Despite the promise that we're just five years from a balanced budget, the truth is--when the real costs of Iraq and entitlements and tax cuts are taken into account--we're about as far from that goal as ever.

Why does the government's debt matter to your family? Two reasons.

First, for your security. Big deficits mean we depend on loans from countries like China...so how can we get tough on our banker for supporting North Korea and Sudan?

Second, for your legacy. Do we, the baby boomers, really want to be the first generation to leave more debt, rather than more opportunity, for the next? That debt--unless we do something about it--will cost our children about $30,000 each.

That's a page from my notebook.