By calling. If you want to reach out on social media, you can do so off of twitter. 15 saying worried, 10 optimistic and you can send an email. The headlines were the inspiration for the question. When it comes to economic related matters the wall street journal on the jobs record. Tepid job growth fuels worry. We will highlight the use of the word worry. And in New York Times job creation is still steady despite worry. They talk about the jobs report. Turning to wall street and stock market, here is the Financial Times take, wall street ends at highest level since the financial crisis. Other stories talk about wall street saying wall street ends with a bang. If you want to look at the housing industry another indicator when it comes to the economy, the real Estate Section of the Washington Post this morning framework for renaissance is how they talk about a story looking at a reis surgeons not only resurgence in building and buying. We will read some of the stories as we go along. We want to frame the question to you about the economy for 2013 and your thoughts on it, if you are worried or optimistic. If you want to call, 2025853880 for democrats. 2025853883 for republicans and 2025853882 for independents. We have several people weighing in on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. This is off twitter. Worry, my job could be gone in a few months. That is one of the opinions about worried or optimistic about the economy. This is new york, new york. Anthony, democrat line weighing in on saying that he is worried about the economy. Tell us why. Caller im very worried about the economy because if you look they say jobs have been added but it is the same percent of unemployment and if jobs are added how is it the same percent . And i would like to make a comment on i feel very worried about the way the economy is going because i have seen tax increases on my family and my family makes less than 50,000 a year. Host you will see payroll tax increases or other increases . Caller my whole family is receiving tax increases and we make less than 50,000 a year. Like a Household Income and how can you continue to tax people more than what we have . It is hard for us to live the way we are now and then they keep taxing and taxing. But the rich never get taxed like we do. Host what is your job story . What do you do and other earnersearn ers in the family do . Caller im in construction and my mom is in healthcare because she is a home health aid. She just seen 20 in taxes and she is paid weekly and that was just that welcome, week. Host so you bring in about 50,000. Caller yes. And everyone who received a check has increased taxes. Host that is anthony from new york worried about the economy. Reach out to us on phone, twitter, facebook, about your optimism or worry. The caller mentioned taxes and weekend investor section of the wall street journal there is a breakdown of how taxes will be amongst particular earners. It shows various categories. This is the one for married couple with four children. They estimate say they bring in 650,000 which would include 70,000 in deductions and 180000 for investment amount. Their tax to be 74,000, 2019, 196,000 various categories. It is in the weekend investor section. Worried or optimistic in the economy . Bel air, texas, david is worried. He is on the republican line. Good morning, david. Caller good morning. Host tell us why you are worried about the economy. Caller it is not just that im worried. I believe that the economy is collapsing and it will from the government down. And i dont believe that measures are being taken to deal with spending. The federal government for all intents and purposes is legally bankrupt. Our Credit Rating has gone down. We are number seven in world competitio competition. Are happening. How are they going to generate revenue to pay off that debt . I dont see a solution there. We are borrowing from a communist country to pay the interest on a debt we cant pay. No one thought this would ever happen. And the end result is going to be some sort of collapse. Chaos. Civil unrest. Host when it documents comes to your personal situation worried or optimistic . Caller im 57. I have had my share of ups and downs. But i have never seen anything like this. Im not concerned about myself so much. It is just that you look around and there are so many Homeless People and people without work now. That is my concern. Host cindy off twitter adds this. Optimistic adding that slow improvement beats going backwards. Up next is jim from chicago, independent line. He is worried about the economy. Caller good morning. Im very negative about the economy because number one theres no Jobs Creation from the private sector or government. Federal reserve continues to print money which means inflation is down the road. Had jobs f people these jobs are not giving out any good benefits or a decent wage that. Is a problem. Where is the government going to get revenue . You cant continue to go after the rich because eventually they will run out of money. If people are not working where is the revenue going to come in . Host talk about your own personal situation. Caller i turned 55 in september. I have a nice pension and my own savings and no debt. So myself ill fine but im concerned about young kids, my neighbor and people who are clueless. A lot of people put their faith in the government and. Host whether did you do . Caller i was a counselor. Most people cant work more than five or 10 years because people do not want to keep their employees that long. Host about 20 comments on the Facebook Page but there is a poll. Category for worried or optimistic. If you are watching television you will see 21 said they are worried about the economy and 13 saying they are optimistic. Some of the comments here is mark who says he is neutral when it comes to the decision. I can tell you 90 are worried. Anthony said very worried with two exclamation points and 51 out of 100 voters voted to move forward with a far less progressive ideology. Other comments from facebook are there and give us a call. Whether you are worried or optimistic about the economy. Caller from memphis on the democrat line. I think maybe our first call that is on the optimism scale. Caller [no response]. Caller lets go to morris, san diego, california. Republican line. Caller hi, pedro. First of all, i was stunned that obama was reelected but im pessimistic about the nations economy and future of it. But for my own personal standpoint im optimistic about my situation. I have been unemployed a little over two years and i was under the impression i would get 99 weeks in california. But because of the formula i only got 70something and it is long gone. But i learned during the last couple of years that california used to be almost impossible to get permanent disability but now theres Attorney Services advertised on tv to say they wont charge unless you get a reward from disability. And they say there are ways to get it in california that you are probably not aware of. So im going monday to check that out. And i think that im a republican, of course, but i may join the democrats now. Im for the Welfare Society and entitlements. Im going to get permanent disability and be set for life. Host when you look at how you gauge whether you are worried or optimistic as a whole what do you look at . What factors do you look at . Caller unemployment is really high. We are getting taxed to death. And it will only get worse. Obama care was a disappointment to me. I cannot believe the Supreme Court upheld the mandate on that. But things will get better for me in california with permanent disability. I will make more monday on disability than when i was working. Host this is the headline from wall street journal 7. 8 Unemployment Rate announced yesterday. Saying that the latest jobs data indicated little potential for accelerated hiring. Growth is expected to continue at a moderate 2 barring new shocks to the economy, prospect for stronger upturn the first half of 2013 remain slim. Many economists worry about losing more ground especially if lawmakers launch a battle over raising the federal debt ceiling. Brooksville, florida. Randy joins us, independent line. For those worried about the economy. Caller yes, sir. What worries me the most is they keep making all of these free trade agreements and that sends the jobs overseas. If they would start stop all the free trade and start taxing the imports that come in, all the jobs would start coming back and it would create millions of jo jobs. Just get rid of all free trade agreements and taxing. Thank you. Host why do you think fixing that will, or adjusting that will automatically improve the economy . Caller it would cost a company so much more to import their products that they would rather build them here. That with bring back jobs. Host do you think there is longterm impact that would happen on companies and how they run a business, whether they can keep performing at the same rate or would have to cut staff, et cetera . Caller no, sir. It would create more jobs because it would be here to all the products would be manufactured here and they will sell them and it would be cheaper in the long run. Host louisville, kentucky, john is optimistic on the democrat line. Caller good morning. Im optimistic about the longterm of the economy but the sho shortterm im pessimistic somewhat because of the debt ceiling we are going to approach here in a couple of months. It is going to be interesting to see what happens in congress. But it is really silly to argue over that issue because this is money that has already been appropriated and spent. They can control what they spend going forward, theres also going to be a battle over continued funding of the government in march and on the short term im pessimistic. But i agree with the caller from florida about we need to create jobs with good pay and benefits. From what i have read i understand that 60 of the jobs that are being created are not even subsistence type wages. So, from the little bit of economics that i know, countries that prefer cheap goods have cheap labor and basically it gets dragged down to the point where the imports come from countries like germany, which have high labor and high costs of goods are the ones that have a sustained economy. Host that is john from louisville, kentucky, on the democrats lane. Philadelphia inquirer and other stories talk about the house vote on the 9. 7 billion approved for Flood Insurance programs for the members that are some members taking to the floor talking about the vote and talking about the debate over the Flood Insurance program overall. Senator schumer was quoted saying we should not have paraded down the street because the ma major work of helping th victims much sandy is still ahead of us. Bit more from e senator schumer yesterday talking about votes taken or lack of vote by paul ryan on the house bill and getting his comments. [video clip] Flood Insurance is an obligation of the federal government. In other words, people who pay Flood Insurance have paid hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars a year and in return the federal government says if you are flooded we will reimburse you for the damage you suffer. So i dont understand why anyone would not want to vote for that provision. I havent heard congressman ryans reasoning. [inaudible] . That is just terribly harsh to a homeowner who lost his home. Should they sit around and wait two years and lose their lives until we reform the promise . In is nothing wrong reforming the program but to hold the homeowners who desperately need this money and have paid in for this money as almost hostage to reform . That is unconscionable. That is wrong. And i would hope congressman ryan would reconsider. Host senator schumer from yesterday. You can see the full exchange if you want, several news conferences took place available on our cspan website. You can watch the whole event. Back to calls on whether you are worried or optimistic about the economy, rex from dayton, ohio, line, good morning. Go ahead. Caller yes, good morning. I wanted to say this and i have been saying it the last couple of weeks. Any business in the United States that has employees that does tphnot do their job are le go. What i say is lets let the congress go. I want to say go home. Every one of you go home. We have people that can replace you. You are not doing your job. You havent done it for four years. You are stalemated and it is a recurrence of the fiscal cliff every few months is a ridiculous situation. It is bringing damage to our country and it is time to get off the pot so to speak. Now, the only way i can think to do that is the American People join and get a majority of the vote and seriously kick them off the seat. There are people ready to take their place. Lets get people in there to get something done. Host were talking about the economy and whether you are optimistic or pessimistic. Call us and let us know. Facebook, there are 33 people so far into have contributed to our poll saying they are worried about the economy. 22 people said they are optimistic. Beverly spence from twitter says shes modestly optimistic. She cant believe the g. O. P. Blow the u. S. And global economy. John, redford, michigan, independent line, optimistic. Caller how are you doing. Im very optimistic. I will tell you why. Because the Political Climate is changing. The tea party and republicans will go to the wayside of dinosaurs. People are starting to see the and billionaires can puff all they want it the media. Come the election in 2014 there will be more democrats and progressives and it is time to let go of the past. All the old president s and all that crap. Host but if you get more progressives how does that make you more optimistic . Caller because the masses and people that want to work and work hard. They are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. It is time to leave the old ones behind. Host do you think the progressive specifically in congress are accomplishing that . Caller yes, they are. They are laying the foundation and i see nothing but a good future, finally, finally, after 30 years of reagan we are moving forward. Host the Washington Post in their real Estate Section looks the housing industry. Here is whether they write. The writer says a housing renaissance has begun. It may be hard to believe after the sixyear crash in home sales and construction and house home prices but housing turned a corn last year and it will take off in 2013 driving this optimism is one certainty. Owning a home has never been as attractive. Such a home buyers have two sets of decisions. First, determine whether they can afford to make a purchase, then they determine whether owning is a better financial choice than renting. Are the costs of owning a home lower than the costs of renting . That is from the Washington Post in the real Estate Section. Scottsdale, arizona, tkaeufdavi democrats line. Optimistic. Stkpwhra i would like to say as an optimistic person with the economy and touch base on one of your previous callers, all Flood Insurance is issued to fema, the federal government. You can purchase it through them by going to their website or talk to your own agent. I would suggest that people do that and that might quicken the result to the sandy situation. Host ok. Before you go, you are optimistic about the economy. Tell us why. Caller as americans we know what we need to do and we just need to get out and do it. Shop, shop less at the big box stories and go to specialty stores. Buy stuff that is grown or built in your areas and support those that will support you back. Get ahold of your agent. Host double stories in the papers reflecting this story from the l. A. Times that president obama is expected to nominate chuck hagel to be defense secretary officials said setting up a confirm atiation be critical of his views on israel and iran. Officials said he had not formally offered the job but others familiar said it could come monday. Also this morning, a story on the f. D. A. New changes and decisions from the f. D. A. Specifically when it comes to food safety. Here is stephanie strong the lead story in the new yonew yo times saying they proposed two sweeping rules to prevent contamination of produce and processed foods. The rules represent a sea change to the way the agency polices food a process that currently involves taking action after contamination is identified. It is a long awaited step for codifying the law Congress Passed two years ago. Changes include requirements for better record keeping, contingency plans for handling outbreaks and spreading them. Food providers would have latitude to execute the rules and farms would have to ensure water and irrigation and processors would find ways it keep fresh food. Kathy, good morning. She is joining us from linesburg, michigan, on the republican line, worried about the economy. Caller good morning. I want to say that i just tkpgoy first paycheck of the year and now i have 50 from the paycheck to spend. Host because of the payroll tax cut . Caller because of the payroll increase, the 2 and cost of medical insurance went up that much. Weve cut or staff back tremendously where i work. And i think our government needs to get a wakeup call. It is kind of our own fault because we live in a society of democra democracy. We didnt mind sharing what away made with others less fortunate. But now it has become it is no longer taking a little bit. We gave them an inch and they took 10 hundred thousand miles seminars i as far as im concerned. Raise. Utomatically get a i wont get a raise because there is no money for a raise. Host now that you have received your first paycheck, now that you have seen that there is money missing, how do you adjust as far as budgets are concerned at the house . Caller have to go without some more things. My husband, hes worked in construction and their business, the place he worked at the last four years, has hardly ever been able to get a job. He will qualify for Social Security in april, thank goodness. And you just make due. But i think so it is very unfair to have put the middle working class people pretty much out of work or having to work so much that you dont get to enjoy life li