Is real money. Midterm elections are coming up. Democratic control of the u. S. Senate is in danger in the best of times. The party in power in the white house loses ground in both houses of congress during the midterms, even when the economy is doing well. Sure, more jobs are created, and housing in most markets are doing well. Many americans feel left behind six years after the recession. Im looking at the Economic Issues and how they playing leading up to the vote. Here is a look at benefits and concerns voters have about Immigration Reform. Home of passing Immigration Reform is dead. Its alive and well as a polarizing issue in the election. I oppose amnesty. Doubt the border patrol. Its getting worse. Reporter americas foreign born population reached are 40 Million People or 13 of the total. 11 million are believed to be undocumented. More than half that number, 6 million, are thought to come from mexico. The debate over u. S. Immigration breaks down into two camps those that want to give the undocumented immigrants local status, and those who prefer to kick them out. The answer is crystal clear, secure the borders. Forget amnesty the u. S. Senate passed a bill for Immigration Reform, that has gone nowhere in the republican controlled hughes of representative. The nonpartisan Budget Office estimates that the legislation, if passed into law, would increase employment by 3. 5 over the next two decades, and grow the economy by 5. 4, more than it would have grown over the same period. An estimated 9. 6 million new workers joining the workforce would mean for tax revenue for the federal government. That and shifting spending away from immigration and enforcement into other priorities would billion. Most republican lawmakers objects to one key component in the bill, giving an estimated 11 million workers legal status or amnesty as the republicans phrase it. They say they dont want blanket citizenship for everywhere. The republicans are more interested in what the Business Community wants, which is basically access to citizenship for high end white collar workers, and the developments are taking a broader view. Politically. Polling shows that immigration resonates with voters. 65 saying its an important issue, but it is bigger to republicans. 75 of them say immigration is important. 57 of democrats say its important. That discrepancy means democrats who are fighting to keep control of the senate are not likely to score points in traditionally red states by campaigning on Immigration Reform. Where the senate is contested, arkansas, louisiana, alaska, georgia, kentucky, et cetera are states that mitt romney won, and dont have big hispanic operations. Its a case where democrats face backlash over immigration. Reporter with control of the senate in the balance, thats why democrats in the key races are campaigning on almost reform. For more context on how the immigration is shaping key races i spoke to a professor of Political Science and an adjught constructor in Political Campaign management at new york universitys school of professional studies, shes a pollster by training and says some reform could be achieved if now. Steps. We can get a deal, and that is what republicans are pushing for, deading with these issues in segmented fractions. The democrat do not want to do that. We see a big push to do apprehensive returns. One thing i say as a polster thank you for acknowledging that is will the people like comprehensive reform. Many wanted comprehensive approach dealing with the border and amnesty, it will be hard to deal with. Why are we bad about this . Are the problems different of the other countries have sophisticated policies. Some why point systems, some are investment based. We seem to be stuck in a weird thing where we had people in the country for hundreds of years. We havent figured it out. We were moving towards it. Midterms stopped elections. We stopped president obama saying listen, we have to defer to the democrats. We are running tough red states with a 2 , 1 hispanic population. Moving on the reform will energyize the base, and democrats will be in a worse shape. The election stalled progress, but i think come november 6th, 7th, as we move into the 2016 talk, democrats will push hard on Immigration Reform, and republicans will have to follow suit. They dont fight the demograph. They wont get a president ial win. They can win the senate and keep the house not doing anything on immigration, but its not clear theyll win a presidency if they dont figure it out. Its clear they will not, by their own look at what happened in 2012, republicans came out and said we have to address the issue, but said we need to wait until after the midterms. The one hope is that its in the interests of both parties to do it for pragmatic reasons. What bill well get out of that is a big question. President obama has, for the third time, promised unilateral action. If he does that, it will be interesting to see how republicans respond. Is it too big an issue to use executive action. Dont we have to have a National Agreement on how we deal with millions of illegal immigrants, hundreds of thousands of people who we need to come. The country because of skills they offer. I mean, it cant be partisan, can it . It definitely will be partisan because of politics. Executive action can only take you so far on an issue, its akin to going executive action. Its not going to work. The issue is too big. That said, the president said repeatedly, if he gets republicans to work with him, hell make good on this. At this point he hasnt had a lot of hope. Looking at 2016, if the Republican National committee, people at the top of the party convince some in the districts that are beholden to the constituents, we may see movement. I dont thinks anyone is holding their breath. The process doesnt encourage the behaviour. No, its hard, given the way we jerry mappeder and the way we gerrymander and the way we run elections. Your position is moderate, not one held by republicans that get far in the primary. We are looking at a mid term tonne out. It will be turn out, it will be low. Interest is low and turn out incredibly low. That means its the most active, interested and most extreme that are getting out. And the politicians will appeal to them. You. Next how much longer will the fight against i. S. I. L. Last. The iraq war veteran that literally wrote the book. Plus a look at retirement in a new economy that and more when real money returns. Keep i wanted to be in on the big many of these involved the fight against i. S. I. L. Has an official name. U. S. Dubs it Operation Inherent resolve. A retired general says the operation lacked resolve and has been inadequate. He is the author of a new book knife nights, a memoir of a modern war. He is an expert in counterinsurgency, a veteran of the iraq war and a graduate of west point and says America Needs a more aggressive strategy against i. S. I. L. Now. The president expressed firm, strong, correct goals for the mission. He wants to defeat and ultimately destroy i. S. I. L. He has not provided the resources. The iraqi army needs american advisors, special forces, a teams, embedded inside its battlians, brigades to provide intelligence, air support to put a steel backbone behind the iraqi units to enable them to overwhelm the i. S. I. L. Opposition. Without the advisors, and more american boots on the ground not fighting but helping the rickies fight we will not iraqis fight we will not meet the objectives. Are we talking about big numbers, versus special forces with every iraqi batt ation. Correct batt ation. Correct, we have 1,000 troops in headquarters, far back from the front line fighting we heard. In order to succeed, well need to increase by a fact of 10,000, 15,000 advisors, to put a dozen inside the battalions and brigade. Theyll have to get up close, and it means some are likely to get hurt. Hopefully none of them get captured. Thats what it will take to push i. S. I. L. Back. The time is urgent. This is what i was pointing out. I. S. I. L. Is very close to being able to if not capture the Baghdad International airport to render it unusable by u. S. And international forces. That will be a disaster. You will be involved in the training. Training the people who train the troops. You work with general john allen, special envoy with regard to i. S. I. L. They released a presser where general allen said that they reached on agreement to have turkey involved in the training of Coalition Fighters to be the Ground Troops to take on i. S. I. L. What does that mean. Turkey is going to provide more of the behind the line trainers. My guess is that will be the Free Syrian Army forces that will work on the other side of the fight inside syria. But we are talking about multiple mondays, if not years before the forces will be affected. We dont have the time to wait that long. I know you have been working on your book for a long time. Its a combination of your book and sense of history, it comes out at an important time. All of history contained in the book, night flights is relevant to the reality on the ground in iraq now. Tell me why when people read it, they will under a little more about what has to be done . So the book starts in operation desert storm, my first war in iraq. It notes that after the withdrawal of american Ground Troops from iraq, we continued an air operation southern watch over iraq for the next 10 years, and invaded iraq in 2003, unnecessarily. And badly. We ms handled the operation of iraq. Relearn classic encounter principles, and seized defeat from the jaws of victory by pulling the american advisors out, rather than keeping a presence behind after 2011. That decision, as well as not to arm moderate Syrian Rebels has gotten us into the mess we are in today. Its hard to understand how we got to the position, and what we need to do to get out with Baghdad International under threat. Reading the history will be crucial. Congratulations on the book. The head master at the haber ford school. Thank you sir have r. V. Will travel. I look at a growing number that thought theyd retire, but instead are hitting the road to find jobs. Back in 2 minutes. Real reporting that brings you the world. Giving you a real global perspective like no other can. Real reporting from around the world. This is what we do. Al jazeera america. Big Companies Like macies, ups, coles and the gap have plans to employ seasonal workers. Amazon plans to hire 80,000 temp workers across 50 fulfilment centers, a portion will be work campers, these are mostly retirement aged workers travelling around the country in r. V. S seeking out seasonal work. Since the 2008 crash its a necessity for many retirees to find work to survive. They flock to amazon and tourists attractions, farms. A couple you are about to meet, to camp grounds to find minimum wage jobs. They say is a lot more adventurous than being a walmart greeter. They work into their Twilight Years and are part of a new normal when it comes to retirement. Reporter this is sidney and vents rer tired. We thought the business would keep going and didnt think wed be required. Reporter the bentleys live out of their r. V. , working out of this camp ground in arizona. Organised. They had a Construction Business in las vegas, after the crash in 2008 life changed drastically for the couple. Business dried up. They held on for another three years, which they say in retrospect was a mistake. In so doing we consumed the money set aside for retirement, and finally said enough is enough, there was no more left. We dipped into the pocket until it was empty. I dont have regrets. Especially since we were able to get in, start doing what we are doing here. Reporter what they are doing is managing two camp sites outside of flagstaff arizona, and their work involves greeting campers, cleaning the grounds and bathrooms, and for clint, hauling water and pumping out the waste from the bathrooms. Thats the two opposite ends of the spectrum. Cindy and clint are part of work campers expending coast to coast and through canada. Its a unique market, retirees answering ads that hundreds post. Travelling by r. V. They do a raping of work, picking range of working picking raspberries, working at amazon, and welcoming tourists at attractions like dolly wood. Then there are camp grounds like the one where cindy and clint worked. They carved out a bit of forest teaming with chip monks and blue jays. The pay is not much, but there are perks. You have minimum wage, and your site. That could be worth 500, 600, you get the water, electricity, utilities. Warren manages hundreds of camp sites and employees more than 300 work campers and says demand for the jobs have gone through the roof since the recession hit. Since 2008 a lot more people are locking for us. Looking for us. I have a list of 25,000 names. Most of our folks are couples. Its 50,000 people who are applying for 50 jobs i have. After cindy and clint lost their business, the two tried to find jobs, to no avail. People our age do not get hired. They were able to keep their home, where they lived part of the year. To do so they turned to work camping. Without it they say their lives would be very different. Things would really, really be tight. The only income we have is social security. If we didnt have this additional income, we could day. It would be tight. Work campers are part of a trend. Retirement age americans forced to work longer because of the recession. 9 million workers aged 65 or over are actively working or seeking work. As boomers hit retirement it is expected to increase by 62 to 13 million by 2022. The new normal is working longer. We are the the Labour Force Participation rate of workers is the highest its been in half a century. Thats as far as the record goes, it could be longer. During the recession, 401ks and iras lost 200,000. Those ready to retire got hit the highest. People in the 65 to 64 age, have nothing at all. About 10 have very little. Not enough to buy a car. Its gorgeous. What this means for the work campers who are of retirement age, they have to work. If not to survive, to subsidise their retirement. Thats the case for jerry and rose who have been workcamping for a decade. They have their own version of what the new normal for retirement means for them. Its not what we expected is to be. We made the effort to make it better for us. For many, spending the retirement in the r. V. And working is not a story of desperation, its one of making the best of their situation, and enjoying their retirement. This morning i was enjoying retirement bugling. Its an awesome sound. This is my backyard. American baby boomers saw retirement fall by a trillion during the financial crash. After the wild rollercoaster ride many probably thought here we go again. With few options, americans rely on 401ks, and iras to save enough money. New numbers by the Federal Reserve show older boomers experienced decline in savings between 2010 and 2013, even though the stock and Housing Market saw recoveries over the same time frame. I spoke about this to Monique Morey si. An economist at a liberal think tank in washington. Her specialty is looking at retirement. The entire 401k system is broken. What happened to a lot of boomers is that some of them lost jobs, or were forced to dip into saving at a time they should have saved the most, when earnings should have been peaking and savings peaking. Timing was worse for the boomers, and they didnt see much of a rebound. People could have pulled their money out of the market after the downturn, and didnt put it back in, in the same way or have it in fixed income. Research shows whatever it is, the decline in the net worth is astounding. In 2006, boomers had a median of 167,000 in net worth. Thats a 45 decline from the previous generation, those worth 315,000 at retirement. Thats remarkable. What do you attribute that to . Exactly what ut mention. With some of the older retirees, theres issues about whether they see declines that are cam flannelinged. Some may take money out of pensions and put it in retirement. That is not necessarily good much it will boost their number. Focussing on the boomers, you are right. A lot of them locked in their conservative. Its understandable. Where is we saw a bounce for younger workers, some of that is younger workers are invested in target date funds, invested in stocks and benefitted. What we are seeing it depends on who you are. A lot of boomers, if they lost jobs, got worried, they dipped into the savings, invested conservatively, they lost jobs when they should have made the most of their careers. Most of us were surprised to see period. Its data showing an imbalance in wealth that we see in the united states. We see a lot of volatility. People are worried about the 401ks like its 2008. The point of moving from peptions to 40 pensions to 401ks is so people could manage their own retirement. Its not worked that way. From my perspective, no country wants so much of their people. When 401k came no existence, it was accidental, a little law that was supposed to apply to people in wall street and other savvy investors, no one planned it that way. We became more reliant. I dont think its as big a surprise that it didnt work out. Theres no doubt that the 2008 downturn was unprecedented and took a big bite out of peoples sayings. What is the solution. Should people be more savvy investors, revert to a different system. What is the solution. We cant have all of our retirees not making ends meet. That will come back and bite us. One of the solutions is to reverse the cuts to social security. Instead of it provides income when people need it, especially during the recession. It injects money into the economy, as opposed to 401ks. I think we need to reverse some. Social security cut. For an individual, that will not help them fl it happens, it will be a while. I do think for a lot of people the only solution is to keep working. That is not realistic. A lot of work campers are resourceful and adventurous. A lot is back breaking works, they get the aches and pains other people get. A lot of it therell be a lot of hardship. There are not as many jobs as there used to be. Young people are competing with older people. Which is why younger people are working in older age jobs. Good to talk to you. Thank you for being with us. An economist is at the Economic Policy institute that is the show for today. Real money airs 7 00 p. M. America votes 2014 on Al Jazeera America focusing on what matters to you what are the issues that americans need to know about . Everybody needs healthcare. Lower taxes. Job opportunities. Reporting from the Battle Ground states. Alaska. Kentucky. Iowa. Local elections with National Impact were visiting with the people making the decisions. Covering what it all means for you. The mine shut down, it hurts everything. I just keep puttin one foot in front of the other. Were fighting for the future of our state for straight forward unbiassed political coverage. Stay with Al Jazeera America on america tonight the weekend edition. An investigation, they worked on the worlds most Critical Nuclear projects on the most contaminated site in america. But the government is turning them away. Thats what theyre waiting to do. They dont want to care for you. They want you to die. America tonights lori jane