economy, and it s not good for out-of-work americans. the labor department reporting new claims for jobless benefits are up again, 418,000 new people filed last week. the disappointing number is new ed that layoffs evidence that layoffs are on the rise. bill: so we got some new polling just in on the race for the republican nomination. former massachusetts governor mitt romney continues to dominate the field. there is vulnerability there because his support said to be tepid be among tea partiers. the poll highlights how open the contest truly is. sarah palin and rick perry in the top five even though neither of them has entered the race. 18% for palin, 12% for bachmann. patti ann: and michele bachmann is responding to reports of her history of migraine headaches,
what does that do for our standing in the world, stu? is. well, our standing in the world, in my opinion, is about to take a hit. i think we are going to be downgraded. that is a downgrading of our debt, that s a technical term. what it means is our financial reputation will be taken down a couple of notches. right now we are aaa people, we are the gold standard for the world. we re going to be taken down a notch if, and i believe when we get a downgrade from these ratings agencies. our standing in the world is diminished, period. bill: you re going to pick up more on this, stuart, so we ll check you out over there on our sister network. thank you, stuart. six minutes past the hour. patti ann? patti ann: breaking news on the economy, and it s not good for out-of-work americans. the labor department reporting new claims for jobless benefits are up again, 418,000 new people filed last week. the disappointing number is new ed that layoffs evidence that layoffs are on the rise.
optimistic. but i m clearly . bill: several lawmakers sitting down with president obama to talk about raising the debt ceiling. we are just getting some new numbers and they are showing rising food and gas prices are pushing inflation to the highest level in 2 1/2 years. the labor department reporting consumer prices rose 2.4%. what does this mean and who will it influence? reporter: the official numbers show inflation is mild. it may be the highest level in a couple years, but officially it s mild. we have prices 3.2% higher today than they were one year ago. that s mild inflation. but if you go out and ask the
. startling new statistics on the lives of struggling american heroes. the labor department reporting the un rate among iraq and afghan veterans was 15% last month far out paces the national average of 9%. now one group, they are doing something to help those americans when hard times put them on the street. casey stegall is live in los angeles with more. reporter: the numbers don t get better. when you look at the number of homeless veterans calling america home, according to the national veterans foundation, a third of all homeless men in this country, are veterans that. is a sobering statistic. there are a number of that is a sobering statistic. there a number of reasons why. some facing money troubles when they are abroad. others have drug and alcohol addictions or are suffering
down. i would rather have imperfect legislation than no legislation. so i supported that. if this 1099 thing was a part of kind of trying to pay as you go with that, then i wouldn t mind doing the paperwork drill. i do know for smaller companies, jenna, six years ago, if i had to right now i have an accountant and an office manager, and they can, you know ci easily get these things done without too much pain. six years ago, if i was the only person wearing all those hats, like i was, then it would have been a great burden, and i think that s where the people that are rising up against this 1099 reporting situation, they re saying that if you re at a point where you don t have that office help and that accountant help, then it s really going to make it harder to do business. jenna: that s an interesting point, scott. and it s good to hear that your company is growing, and over the last six years, you ve seen that growth, and it was nice to talk to you again scott, and we look forwar