All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

It's another record-high for the U.S. National Debt which today topped the $12-trillion mark. Divided evenly among the U.S. population, it amounts to $38,974.34 for every man, woman and child.

Technically, the debt hit the new high yesterday, but it was posted on the Treasury Department website just after 3:00 p.m. ET today. The exact calculation of the debt is a 16-digit tongue-twister and red-ink tsunami: $12,031,299,186,290.07

This latest milestone in the ever-rising journey of the National Debt comes less than eight months after it hit $11 trillion for the first time. The latest high-point is not unexpected, considering the federal deficit for the just-ended 2009 fiscal year hit an all-time high at $1.42-trillion – more than triple the previous year's record high.

Much of the increase in the deficit and debt is attributed to government spending outpacing revenue – both exacerbated by the recession and the government response to it – including hundreds of billions in bailouts and stimulus spending and tax cuts along with decreased tax revenues due to rising unemployment.

In recent days, President Obama has spoken of the need to bring the rising deficit and debt under control.

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House Democrats would like to pass a jobs bill by Dec. 18, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters today.

With unemployment rates surpassing 10 percent, Democrats say they are getting input from economists on the most effective ways to get more people back in the workforce, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson reports.

Democrats are considering a range of ideas, Hoyer said, including providing aid to states, giving tax credits to employers as an incentive to hire more people and extending unemployment benefits or the federal subsidy of COBRA health insurance benefits.

Hoyer also said highway spending is on the table. The White House is not interested in signing the full extension of the federal highway spending program this year, which could create thousands of jobs but be very costly.

While he "would not characterize [the jobs bill] as a second stimulus," Hoyer said "we will not have the kind of recovery we want" as long as jobless rates remain so high, Jackson reports. Hoyer added that the bill will be very targeted, but he could not say how large the package will be.

The White House announced this evening that an event billed as a "Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth" will be held at the White House on December 3rd.

"The forum will be an opportunity for the President and the economic team to hear from some of the best and brightest CEOs, small business owners, and financial experts about ideas for continuing to grow the economy and put Americans back to work," the White House said in a statement.

"During these difficult economic times, we have a responsibility to consider all good ideas to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country," President Obama said in the statement. "At the forum next month, I am looking forward to hearing from the private sector, from CEOs and small business owners and from Americans struggling to make ends meet on how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again."

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(SHANGHAI, China) As President Obama makes his first trip to China as president, he faces some tough negotiations with the rising economic power of Asia.

The U.S. relationship with China is crucial to White House goals on some of its top priorities: de-nuclearizing Iran and North Korea, global climate change and reviving the economy. But, it is the economy that may be the hardest issue for Mr. Obama to deal with because China and the U.S. fuel each other's bad habits.

Of all the arcane terms for the issue -- currency manipulation, hard pegs, non-convertible currency or rebalancing -- what it really comes down to is a "mutually reinforcing drug addiction," said Mike Green of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Green explains how it works: "We get cheap goods, they get great exports and economy growth, they get stuck with a lot of dollars, they don't want their currency to be convertible because that would mean they lose control of domestic, social and economic and political tools, so they recycle it back to the U.S., we get to keep borrowing more money, and so the cycle goes on," he said.

In other words, the U.S. buys Chinese goods. We pay them in U.S. dollars. They don't put the U.S. dollars back into their economy through their currency, the Yuan, because it is not convertible. Instead, they use those dollars to buy U.S. treasuries, our debt -- more than one trillion dollars worth, more than any other country. By financing our debt, the U.S. can spend more money on stimulus, wars, health care, and the debt rises, and China buys more and more of it.

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Calling the nation's high jobless rates "a challenge my administration is absolutely determined to meet," President Obama announced Thursday he will hold a jobs summit at the White House in December.

"We all know that there are limits to what government can and should do," Mr. Obama said. "But we have an obligation to consider every additional responsible step that we can to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country."

The president announced the summit, to be called the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, moments before departing for a trip to Asia. Mr. Obama said he will work on a global economic strategy while abroad and will continue to make the nation's economic recovery the focus of his administration.

The U.S. unemployment rate for October surpassed 10 percent, hitting the double digits for the first time since 1983. Claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, but economists still predict a "jobless recovery" from the recession.

Acknowledging the hardship Americans are undergoing, the president said "even though we've slowed the loss of jobs... the economic growth that we've seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need."

To address that, Mr. Obama said, the December forum will bring together CEOs, small business owners, economists, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to discuss job creation.

"It's important we don't make any ill-considered decisions... particularly at a time when our resources are so limited," he said. "But it's just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we've already taken to put America back to work."

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Even at 10.2 percent, the worst in more than a quarter century, the nation's unemployment rate has not topped out.

"More likely than not, it will get a little worse before it gets better," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs at his midday briefing today.

For months, the White House had been warning us to brace for a double-digit unemployment rate. It arrived this morning with a thud – like an anvil dropped from a 10.2-story building.

The jobless rate for October jumped four-tenths to 10.2 percent. President Obama calls it "a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead."

Speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden, he was quick to point out that "job growth always lags behind economic growth." Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter moved back into positive territory last week at 3.5 percent.

Nevertheless, Mr. Obama and his aides point out that the economy lost fewer payroll jobs in October than it did the month before. Job loss for October totaled 190,000 – down from a revised 219,000 in September. The administration views that as a hopeful sign.

Christina Romer, Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, says the numbers continue "the steady trend of moderating job loss that began last spring." (The White House posted a chart illustrating the trend is available on its Web site here.)

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New government figures show the economy grew 3.5% this summer, the first increase in a year and a sign that the recession is at an end. But there are other signs that this may be a jobless recovery.

The Obama administration is saying its economic stimulus and recovery packages have saved close to a million jobs. But the creation of new jobs has lagged.

"The great American job creation machine simply hasn't been generating enough jobs to absorb or offset what was really the greatest, deepest recession since the Great Depression," said Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

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With the Treasury Department poised to formally announce limits on compensation for executives at bailed-out Wall Street firms, President Obama said on Thursday that massive pay packages for executives at bailed-out firms offend American values.

"It does offend our values when executives of big financial firms that are struggling pay themselves huge bonuses even as they rely on extraordinary assistance to stay afloat," the president said.

Mr. Obama lauded Treasury's decision to limit compensation for executives from firms that have not yet repaid the government. He said Kenneth Feinberg, the special master at Treasury tasked with handling executive pay, "was faced with the difficult task of striking the proper balance between standing up for taxpayers and returning a measure of stability to our financial system."

"Under these competing interests, I believe he's taken an important step forward today in curbing the influence of executive compensation on Wall Street while still allowing these companies to succeed and prosper," said Mr. Obama. "But more work needs to be done."

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White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday the White House's strong rhetoric over the weekend on the expected massive bonuses for employees of bailed-out Wall Street firms represents more than just talk.

"This is not hope," Gibbs said at his daily briefing after a reporter wondered if there is anything the White House can really do to limit the bonuses. "This is -- this is more."

Another reporter asked if there is "anything you guys can do to force them to lend, other than, you know, kind of jawbone." Firms like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase have made massive profits this year in large part thanks to their investment banking businesses even as consumer lending has remained sluggish.

"Well, I think, look, that there are obviously constraints in the law, and I would -- just in terms of executive compensation, as we've said before, we're not, we don't want to be in the business of deciding executive compensation," replied Gibbs. "I think people know excessive when they see it. I think the president, as you mentioned, has extremely strong views on this topic, on the topic of lending. And I think we hope that the actions of the bank will be demonstrated."

Gibbs said "we are involved now in a debate about what the regulatory landscape is going to look going forward to ensure that we never repeat again what happened last September." Echoing administration officials on Sunday, he complained that bailed-out banks are now "working actively against [establishing] consumer protections."

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The American economy continues to struggle, but these are flush times for the employees of Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs.

The company this week posted a $3.2 billion third-quarter profit, well above Wall Street estimates. In the second quarter of this year, Goldman made even more: a record $3.44 billion. On an average single day this quarter, according to the Guardian, the company made about $35 million.

And with Goldman, like other Wall Street banks, setting aside roughly half its revenue for employees, that means massive bonuses for the 31,700 people who work there. Goldman's bonus pool through September 30th now stands at 16.7 billion; the average employee compensation this year is expected to approach $700,000. Top executives will each make millions.

There was a time, not too long ago, when this sort of news was greeted with a collective shrug. But that was before the economic collapse and the taxpayer bailout of many the very Wall Street companies that were partially responsible for it.

The Obama administration got a taste of the populist backlash to outsize Wall Street pay earlier this year, when a firestorm erupted following revelations that employees of the division that imperiled insurance giant AIG, a company that received a massive $170 billion government bailout, were being paid $165 million in bonuses.

To fend off a new round of criticism, Goldman can point to the fact that it has paid back the $10 billion bailout it got from the federal government last year, with interest. But the company was also a major beneficiary of the AIG bailout, as government funds were used to pay billions to Goldman and other companies that had taken out insurance with the company on their failed investments. And it has benefitted from support from the Federal Reserve and government backing on $30 billion of debt.

The company is aware of its public relations problem: CEO Lloyd Blankfein (left) has instructed employees to avoid conspicuous displays of consumption, and the company announced Thursday that it would donate $200 million to charity. (While that's clearly a lot of money, it's also less than Goldman made in the average week this quarter.)

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