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Home Ownership is High But so is Unemployment

Aired March 26, 2004 - 13:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Home ownership is high but so is unemployment. Those are the economic headlines, according to two main candidates for president today.
Here's what the country thinks. A third or less consider the economy in good or excellent shape. The rest say it's only doing fair at best.

Joining me with insights with what bodes for the polls in November, our CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. And "Money" magazine senior editor Marion Asnes, whose headlines we've borrowed for the conversation, "Dude, Where's My Job?"

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Bill, let's start with you. Economy, it's doing better but still no job. Is this going to overshadow terrorism and national security?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's a real competition between the two. Right now, voters who say that terrorism is their top priority are voting for Bush. Those who say the economy and jobs are their top priorities are voting for Kerry.

So it's a real question of who can dominate, who can control the agenda. Usually the president can, but as we saw in the past week with the 9/11 Commission hearings, he couldn't exactly control that agenda, because they challenged his commitment to the war on terrorism. Which is the issue he intends to run on.

PHILLIPS: Marion, what's going to dominate?

MARION ASNES, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: No doubt it's going to be bread and butter issue. Barring of course, the fact that there could always be another terrorist event, or another war breaking out, which will divert our attention. But if you look at American politics for decades, I mean for century, what really matter to the American people is how are they doing. And right now, although unemployment numbers may be falling, people are worry about their jobs.

PHILLIPS: Bill, John Kerry saying he can guarantee 10 million jobs. Can you guarantee jobs?

SCHNEIDER: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHNEIDER: People usually -- one of the problems we have in politics in this country and in many countries, is people look at the president of the United States as the commander in chief of the economy. Well, I've got a little news here. The president is not commander in chief of the economy. Nobody's commander in chief of the economy. The president can't order the economy to do this or to do that, any more than he can simply order gas prices to go down. Which a lot of people could and would right now, he can't do that.

He can do some things on the margins. He can make some differences. People think President Clinton was a great commander in chief of the economy. And what Kerry is trying to say right now is, I can do the same thing President Clinton did when all those jobs were created in the '90s. He probably got too much credit for doing that; just like President Bush may be getting too much blame for the job losses that's been experienced since then.

PHILLIPS: Marion, speaking of job losses; companies going oversea, outsourcing, big issue. Both candidates are bringing this up. Disney, prime example of outsourcing. How do you keep the companies here? Tax incentives, of course, is what candidates are talking about. But can they do it?

ASNES: Well, there's no magic solution and that's why voters are so worried about it. You know, one of the real issues that makes this spate of outsourcing different from the manufacturing outsourcing that's been going on for so long, is that it is moving up the economic ladder. We're talking about white-collar employees now who are worried about losing their jobs overseas. And that really distorts what's been kind of a foundation of our idea of economic progress.

You know, you come to this country, you may have no money, you may have no skills but you know you can send your children to school. They'll get a great education, they'll get skill and they will move up the economic ladder, as will their children and their children's children. That's always been the American dream.

What happens now, is white collar outsourcing, with things like computer software jobs moving to Bangalore and the like, is that people worry even education is not going to be able to help them achieve that dream.

I want to -- you know, want to talk to you a little bit about some figures that I brought with me. Because "Money" has been polling Americans, and in particular American investors, on what they're concerned with right now. And I have to tell you that national security is not the top of the list. The top of the list is health care. After that, comes job. And that's why you see -- I mean it's no accident that John Kerry's first campaign promise was for 10 million new jobs.

PHILLIPS: Bill, real quickly, former President Bill Clinton and also Jimmy Carter coming out supporting Kerry. Is this going to make a big impact? SCHNEIDER: Well, yes, Democrats pulling together in this race more than we've ever seen them in recent years. They are determined to beat Bush. That's why they rejected Howard Dean; they closed ranks around someone they saw as electable. The whole party is mobilizing behind Kerry as the guy who can beat George Bush.

Can he do that? We'll see. The Bush people have poked some holes in some of his claims. They're trying to argue he's wavering. He's inconsistent. But in the end this election is going to be a referendum on President Bush, not on John Kerry. And that's what's going to determine the outcome.

PHILLIPS: Our Bill Schneider and "Money" magazine's Marion Asnes, both of you thanks so much.

ASNES: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Second hour of LIVE FROM right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired March 26, 2004 - 13:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Home ownership is high but so is unemployment. Those are the economic headlines, according to two main candidates for president today.
Here's what the country thinks. A third or less consider the economy in good or excellent shape. The rest say it's only doing fair at best.

Joining me with insights with what bodes for the polls in November, our CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. And "Money" magazine senior editor Marion Asnes, whose headlines we've borrowed for the conversation, "Dude, Where's My Job?"

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Bill, let's start with you. Economy, it's doing better but still no job. Is this going to overshadow terrorism and national security?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's a real competition between the two. Right now, voters who say that terrorism is their top priority are voting for Bush. Those who say the economy and jobs are their top priorities are voting for Kerry.

So it's a real question of who can dominate, who can control the agenda. Usually the president can, but as we saw in the past week with the 9/11 Commission hearings, he couldn't exactly control that agenda, because they challenged his commitment to the war on terrorism. Which is the issue he intends to run on.

PHILLIPS: Marion, what's going to dominate?

MARION ASNES, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: No doubt it's going to be bread and butter issue. Barring of course, the fact that there could always be another terrorist event, or another war breaking out, which will divert our attention. But if you look at American politics for decades, I mean for century, what really matter to the American people is how are they doing. And right now, although unemployment numbers may be falling, people are worry about their jobs.

PHILLIPS: Bill, John Kerry saying he can guarantee 10 million jobs. Can you guarantee jobs?

SCHNEIDER: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHNEIDER: People usually -- one of the problems we have in politics in this country and in many countries, is people look at the president of the United States as the commander in chief of the economy. Well, I've got a little news here. The president is not commander in chief of the economy. Nobody's commander in chief of the economy. The president can't order the economy to do this or to do that, any more than he can simply order gas prices to go down. Which a lot of people could and would right now, he can't do that.

He can do some things on the margins. He can make some differences. People think President Clinton was a great commander in chief of the economy. And what Kerry is trying to say right now is, I can do the same thing President Clinton did when all those jobs were created in the '90s. He probably got too much credit for doing that; just like President Bush may be getting too much blame for the job losses that's been experienced since then.

PHILLIPS: Marion, speaking of job losses; companies going oversea, outsourcing, big issue. Both candidates are bringing this up. Disney, prime example of outsourcing. How do you keep the companies here? Tax incentives, of course, is what candidates are talking about. But can they do it?

ASNES: Well, there's no magic solution and that's why voters are so worried about it. You know, one of the real issues that makes this spate of outsourcing different from the manufacturing outsourcing that's been going on for so long, is that it is moving up the economic ladder. We're talking about white-collar employees now who are worried about losing their jobs overseas. And that really distorts what's been kind of a foundation of our idea of economic progress.

You know, you come to this country, you may have no money, you may have no skills but you know you can send your children to school. They'll get a great education, they'll get skill and they will move up the economic ladder, as will their children and their children's children. That's always been the American dream.

What happens now, is white collar outsourcing, with things like computer software jobs moving to Bangalore and the like, is that people worry even education is not going to be able to help them achieve that dream.

I want to -- you know, want to talk to you a little bit about some figures that I brought with me. Because "Money" has been polling Americans, and in particular American investors, on what they're concerned with right now. And I have to tell you that national security is not the top of the list. The top of the list is health care. After that, comes job. And that's why you see -- I mean it's no accident that John Kerry's first campaign promise was for 10 million new jobs.

PHILLIPS: Bill, real quickly, former President Bill Clinton and also Jimmy Carter coming out supporting Kerry. Is this going to make a big impact? SCHNEIDER: Well, yes, Democrats pulling together in this race more than we've ever seen them in recent years. They are determined to beat Bush. That's why they rejected Howard Dean; they closed ranks around someone they saw as electable. The whole party is mobilizing behind Kerry as the guy who can beat George Bush.

Can he do that? We'll see. The Bush people have poked some holes in some of his claims. They're trying to argue he's wavering. He's inconsistent. But in the end this election is going to be a referendum on President Bush, not on John Kerry. And that's what's going to determine the outcome.

PHILLIPS: Our Bill Schneider and "Money" magazine's Marion Asnes, both of you thanks so much.

ASNES: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Second hour of LIVE FROM right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com