Schieffer's True/False Test For Congress
Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.
This is not a commentary: It is a collection of facts.
598,000 jobs were lost in January. That's the largest loss in thirteen consecutive months of decline.
Since December of 2007, 3.6 million jobs have been lost, half of them in the last four months.
More than eleven and a half million people are now unemployed. Unemployment stands at 7.6 percent.
The underemployed - that is, those who have given up looking for work and those who are working part-time because they can't find full-time jobs - now stands at 21.7 million people.
More than thirteen and a half million Americans now owe more than their homes are worth.
Retirement accounts have lost more than two trillion dollars in a year.
The global economy is getting worse, which will make it harder to sell American goods abroad.
And the banking system is a mess.
The following is also not a commentary; it is a true/false test.
The process is underway, but in light of those numbers you just heard, wouldn't it be better for all of us (and for them, as a matter of fact) if Congress - Democrats and Republicans - now put less emphasis on partisan games from here on in and more emphasis on trying to resolve all of the above?