April 3, 2008
CBS Poll: 81% Say U.S. On Wrong Track
CBS/NY Times Poll Shows Americans Deeply Concerned About Economy
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Poll: Country Headed Wrong Way
A CBS/New York Times Poll finds 81 percent of Americans think the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction. It is the lowest approval rating in 25 years. Harry Smith reports and talks to Jeff Greenfield.
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Asked to compare the state of the country to how it was five years ago, 78 percent say things are worse today - the highest percentage since CBS News began asking the question in 1986. Only four percent say things are better now.
The outlook on the economy is as bleak as views on the state of the country as a whole. Just 21 percent say the economy is in good shape - the lowest percentage recorded since October of 1992. That number is down from January of this year, when 38 percent said the economy was in good shape.
Complete CBS News Polls:The Economy And State Of The Country
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday that a recession is possible, but 66 percent of those polled say the country is already in a recession - a number that is unchanged from two weeks ago.
In light of those views, it is no surprise that the economy and jobs remains the top concern for Americans - 37 percent of whom name it as such - while the war in Iraq is the top concern for 15 percent of those polled.
As which economic problem facing the country is most important, 21 percent say it is gas and oil prices, while 14 percent named housing and the home mortgage crises. Eleven percent say the most important economic problem is jobs.
Despite rampant worries about the economy and concerns about the home mortgage crisis, Americans are relatively satisfied with their own financial status. Seventy-two percent rate their financial situation as at least somewhat good. But this number is down six points from February, and only nine percent of Americans say their financial situation is very good, which is down nine points in the last few weeks.
Most Americans admit that the state of the economy has taken a personal toll. Seventy-nine percent say they have had to make cutbacks in their daily spending in recent years, although only 28 percent say those cutbacks have been severe.
Although seven in ten Americans say the economy is getting worse, they are cautiously optimistic about its long-term future. Nearly half of Americans with families say they believe their children's standard of living will be better than their own. Twenty eight percent say they believe it will decline and 24 percent think it will be about the same as their own. Sixty-two percent of Americans think their standard of living is better than that of their parents when they were the same age.
Americans' negative views on the economy are taking a toll on evaluations of how President Bush is handling the issue. Only 21 percent of Americans now approve of the president's handling of the economy - his lowest rating to date. Mr. Bush's overall job approval rating stands at 28 percent.
The Campaign
The Democratic presidential race continues to be tight nationally, with Barack Obama maintaining a narrow lead. Among Democratic primary voters who have already participated in a Democratic primary held this year, or still plan to, Obama leads Hillary Clinton 46 percent to 43 percent. Those numbers are unchanged from a month ago.
Expectations that Obama will become the nominee have grown in the last two weeks, with 69 percent of Democratic voters now saying they expect him to defeat Clinton - up from 55 percent in mid-March.
Democratic primary voters view Obama as the more electable candidate. Fifty-six percent think he is better positioned to beat John McCain in November, while only 32 percent think Clinton is.
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See all 865 Comments10 years versus 1 and 1/2 years...You tell me who is more responsible.
You select as the GOP nominee someone who admits he knows nothing about economics.
Good job.
Good point.
If there is one good thing about a democrat taking over the white house, it is this - the neocons will finally make the president work for his salary.
However this time the Recession will be very deep and maybe even a Depression, due to greenspan keeping rates at 1% for too long creating a much milder Recession than what was needed allowing the system to carry on as usual without a necessary purge, thus creating more sizable problems later.
CBS, ABC, CNN, EVERYONE is harping about how we''re all going down the tubes 24/7
AND Then.. they think its news when they do a poll and find that everyone thinks the sky is falling.
Kudos to CBS for all the layoff notices of late. They ought to clean house and start over because this crew is dumber than a bag of rockks.
CBS, ABC, CNN, EVERYONE is harping about how we''re all going down the tubes 24/7
AND Then.. they think its news when they do a poll and find that everyone thinks the sky is falling.
Kudos to CBS for all the layoff notices of late. They ought to clean house and start over because this crew is dumber than a bag of rocks.
What is it that you doubt exactly?
1. You doubt that bankers pushed through flimsy mortgage approvals to meet end-of-year bonuses?
2. You doubt that appraisers over-appraised housing values because they received a percentage of their salary based on how expensive the house sells for?
3. You doubt that the FED kept interest rates at record lows to try to fix the dot.com bubble and all the issues associated with it?
You hold people more accountible for stealing loafs of bread.
Yes, and the news becoming more an entertainment vehicle (who is Anna Nicole''s baby daddy) is another reflection of the dumbing down in our society. Gotta get those ratings because we know people don''t like to think.
CBS, ABC, CNN, EVERYONE is harping about how we''re all going down the tubes 24/7
AND Then.. they think its news when they do a poll and find that everyone thinks the sky is falling.
Kudos to CBS for all the layoff notices of late. They ought to clean house and start over because this crew is dumber than a bag of rocks.
Has Already Received His PERSONAL BAIL-OUT
Under Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson%u2019s .. Former leadership at
Goldman Sachs, the company has been instrumental to its penetration of Western
capital and other markets. - - Henry Paulson was vastly effective in Communist
China%u2019s .. Interests and enabling their access to Western economic assistance
and high technology
In late January 2006, Goldman Sachs purchased a stake in the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China%u2019s biggest bank, for $2.58 billion
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson''''s .. Personal stake .. In this transaction
was $25 million
A PERSONAL BAIL OUT for : Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and His
Criminal Friends
Posted by occams_taser at 07:09 PM : Apr 03, 2008"
He still has a 100% approval rating with the "my mammy and daddy were siblings" crowd.
Nobody ever helped Islamic Radicals like their PSYCHOTIC CHRISTIAN BROTHER in the White House!
Bush: (We must do everything to increase home ownership in America).
Alan Greenspan: (Subprime loans are a good vehicle to obtain the American dream).
If they are not partially responsible, then neither is Charles Manson.
CBS, ABC, CNN, EVERYONE is harping about how we''''re all going down the tubes 24/7
AND Then.. they think its news when they do a poll and find that everyone thinks the sky is falling.
Kudos to CBS for all the layoff notices of late. They ought to clean house and start over because this crew is dumber than a bag of rocks.
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Posted by jona_vark at 07:09 PM : Apr 03, 2008
+ report abuse
So you think we shouldn''t be told that the Banks are going belly up? You think we should know we have a 9.3 Trillion Dollar Debt! I mean YOU are completely INSANE! Nothing and I do mean NOTHING works in our government, it''s as incompetent as any in the world. We are up to our eyes in a war that was NOT needed and NO ONE wants... This IS NOT the fault of the MEDIA bootlicker... this is the fault of the Fuhrer. He''s an INCOMPETENT LOSER who hasn''t a clue how to run our government or this country. Sieg Heil Bush
1.) gas and oil prices
2.) housing and the home mortgage crises.
3.) jobs.
I interpret this as
1.) Inflation,
2.) Inflation,
3.) Contraction
I am wondering if any of the follwoing "Shame on the government options" were given in this poll (notice that I did not differntiate between the Demicans or Republicrats):
1.) High Rate of government spending in proportion to GNP.
2.) Accumulation of effects due to high rate of spending- i.e. a friggin rediculous deficit.
3.) The government subsidization of risk - I guess this is related to the mortgage meltdown.
4.) Destruction of consumer purchasing power due to the printing press we call the federal reserve bank.
I could grab a front page of a newspaper out of the trash can, throw darts at it, and come up with most of the options mentioned in this column. From what I am seeing, it doesn''t look like the pollsters are even making an attempt to scratch the surface. Either that, or they inentionally don''t want to expose what is happening.
These are facts from PBS and BBC not spread by CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, FOX, etc:
By BBC Washington Correspondent Nick Bryant
The largest budget surplus in history, the lowest unemployment rate in more than 40 years, the fastest growth in real wages for more than two decades, and the biggest drop in welfare rolls seen during any administration.
If "It''s the economy stupid" was the mantra of his campaign to win the presidency, it has also fast become the stock answer from the White House about what President Clinton''s legacy should be.
That he has presided over the longest economic expansion in US history is undeniable. The US entered its 107th consecutive month of growth last February.
Mr Clinton can also point to the fact that while he inherited the biggest federal budget deficit in history, it now shows the largest surplus ever - a huge $230bn.
PLEASE BE FAIR! Mr Obama IS exploiting the race card!
He can''t even express a clear thought if it is not written! He needs to read!
He%u2019s a Marketed Product, WHO is the Vendor??? WAKE UP!
Yeah your right. you should only borrow 4X earnings at most not ten times, unless your a moron.
And, the banks are partially at fault. These are supposed to be the smartest guys in room. If they have the responsibility of a dog giving out loans to anyone who ask for one, then they need start being compensated accordingly.
The bonus structure in most of these banks created crack dealers giving addicts their required doses.
If the person who borrows is a moron, what do you call the enabler? If it''s so clear to you that someone making $30K a year shouldn''t get a $300K mortgage, why wasn''t it clear to the banker?
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Posted by jamesm12341 at 07:17 PM : Apr 03, 2008
+ report abuse
So YOU think that''s all that''s wrong here? LOL We''re just going to skip all the regulations trashed that allowed those loans? We''re just going to ignore the Bankruptcy laws that were trashed by the Republican''s. We''re just going to forget the BILLIONS and BILLIONS borrowed each month by OUR Government in order to bail out those Loan Company''s? I could go on here for HOURS about all the blunders, the stupidity and outright Incompetence of George W. Bush and the Republican Party but you are a simple minded bootlicker and would only find someone else to blame! Sieg Heil Bush
Posted by speakinup
Are you really stupid enough to believe that a majority of one puts CONgress in control of the Dems? I believe you are!!!
Well said.
The money was lent to insiders...the banks were empty shells...and the depositors were reimbursed for their deposits and the well-heeled jumbo-certificate holders for their $100,000 a pop limit...which they wisely refrained from exceeding as they received double-digit interest payments as the institutions spiraled toward insolvency many times over.
This is a private and corrupt system that only serves the oxygen pirates of the banking fraternity, their lawyers, accountants and running dogs in Washington...IT IS WAY PAST TIME FOR REVOLUTION!!
They gambled that if the mortgage holder defaulted they could repossess the house sell it and make a profit, if houses were still rising in prices of course. The crash happening put paid to all that, granted they were stupid in thinking the market would rise forever.
I''m no fan of the banks BTW
Posted by MCVet at 07:23 PM : Apr 03, 2008
Sarge--meet jwind11 same idiot different name.
I know! Why don''''t we bomb other countries that have schools, water, power, and police for their people? We can quickly lower the population, while creating enemies for our industrial military complex?
How''''s that sound Republicans?
Bush Sees "Defining Moment" In Iraq? He saw WMD, Al Qaeda; mobile weapons labs, terrorist training facilities, missiles that could reach New York, 45-minute ready chemical weapons, none of which were there.
What he will see is his legacy and his Parties demise, but at least I got my $600 tax-rebate check from China!!
You wanna get some?....lets go.........other wise go sit in the corner with your talking point spewing fallacy of a constituency.....
So true.
Everyone along the chain had every monetary reason to turn his head away.
I think I''m going to ask the bank tomorrow for a billion dollars, because they are not responsible for figuring out how much money you can afford to borrow.
Self-denial, vanity, fear to face the music, and greed are at play. It has nothing to do with US security. The fiasco has made us less secure, drained lives and money, and now we are the laughingstock of much of the world.
Don''t believe in polls? Well, how about the value of the US dollar on world exchanges?
Let Iraqis rule Iraq, whether by federation, partition, or unitary state. Any model we impose will crumble the day we leave, whether that occurs now or in 100 years. Iraq will not be pro-US, pro-Israel, or pro-anything we favor so long as we occupy them, or as long as we contrived to have privileged access to their oil.
Medieval Europeans wasted 250 years on their venture. Better to learn from them, plus from Britain''s troubles in Iraq in the 1920s onward, rather than repeat a futile imperial exercise.
The trillion plus we waste in Iraq could have done so much more for our security or economy if spent on just about anything else.
I agree. I think the borrowers are to blame as well. But, many people will borrow beyond their means. This is why we pay bankers the big bucks. They are supposed to gatekeepers.
Never said. The only difference between you and us is we think all parties are responsible. You give bankers and corporate america a license to steal.
Not just the borrowers they didn''t know better. It was the bubble blowing Fed that led them on.
Just asking.....I wonder what Jesus would do?
Posted by FloydZepp "
great question Zep!
%u201CGod bless America.%u201D This phrase is used correctly when it conjures an image of God helping people cope with the great losses they have incurred, when it pulls members of the nation together to help and serve one another, and when it asks for the healing of our brokenness that only God can offer. This phrase is used incorrectly when it implies that God should bless our nation at the expense of others, that the United States should enjoy special privilege in the sight of God, or that the lives of Americans are inherently more valuable than the lives of any other people in the world."- unknown
Posted by jamesm12341
I''m 62 and the only bright spot I see is you young punks who''ve never experienced hard times getting to see what a depression is all about! Maybe some time in the service would have clued you primma donna''s in to what it''s like to be on the bottom rung of the ladder with no control whatsoever. However your cockiness will be knocked down a peg or two once you lose your job to offshoring. Don''t worry about me I worked hard and retired a millionaire. Unfortunately the door has closed on making it in America any longer unless you''re old money!!
Posted by getcentered at 07:30 PM : Apr 03, 2008
You''ve made more sense than any politician in 7 years.
If you run for president-I''ll vote for yoU!
But, the fact remains that people need a place to live...and, the rental market may well have been even more prohibitative. There are quarter million dollar homes in the DC area that are no great shakes....I''ve seen them on the Maryland side of the capital so ill constructed that the floors were almost like trampolines and packed so close together that semi-detached would best describe them.
Pleny of politicians have said this....
Most of them are Democrats and many are Republican.......
That was a very good summery of the "housing/funding problem".
Thanks...
yeah it should have been been on modernizing the Nations infrastructure creating a construction boom and record employment. Hitler did (sorry) this in the 30''s with his autobahn building and got unemployment down from 6 million to 1 million in 3 years.
Posted by getcentered at 07:36 PM : Apr 03, 2008
You''re right, but no one is doing anything about it.
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