Time Magazine refers to it as the Obama administration's "stealth stimulus," pumping more government money into the economy without packaging it as a politically unpopular second economic stimulus plan. One of the new ideas is a proposed one-time $250 payment to seniors who for the first time in years won't be getting a cost of living increase in their Social Security checks because inflation's down.
Most Americans like state lotteries and think they’re one thing that state governments should run them rather than the private sector.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of American adults now say that the U.S. economy will be stronger in five years than it is today. That figure is down from 58% in July and 64% in March.
With the health care debate raging in Washington, D.C., there’s one change Americans clearly believe in: Members of Congress have now surpassed corporate CEOs to hold the least favorably regarded profession in the country.
President Obama in a speech on Wall Street this week repeated his call for greater oversight of the U.S. financial system, but opposition to more government regulation in that area of the economy has now risen to 53%.
Members of Congress have expressed concern that economic stimulus funds are not being properly directed to major infrastructure projects, and it seems most Americans also lack confidence that the money will be correctly used.
So much for the ongoing secrecy of the nation’s independent central banking system. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Americans favor auditing the Federal Reserve and making the results available to the public.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of Americans now say interest rates will be higher a year from now, a 20-point jump from April.
Confidence in the U.S. banking system has fallen again despite billions in federal bailout funds and record profits being declared by two of Wall Street’s top financial firms.
Americans are slightly more confident that the economy will be better one year from today, while hopes for its long-term recovery hold steady.
Following news reports that Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs received a liver transplant this spring, 31% of American adults say publicly held companies should reveal when top managers are ill.
Forty-six percent (46%) of Americans say the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board already has too much power over the economy, even as the Obama administration proposes expanding the Fed’s regulatory controls.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of Americans oppose more government regulation of the U.S. financial system, while 33% disagree and say more regulation is a good idea, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Forty-eight percent (48%) of U.S. voters say it is too easy to sue a doctor for medical malpractice in the United States today.
Wal-Mart’s still number one, and Costco has a way to go to catch up.
With two of the nation’s Big Three automakers in bankruptcy and the economy still a mess, Americans continue to view corporate chief executive officers as the lowest of the low.
President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner both said this week that they see optimistic signs in the U.S. economy, but the short-term and long-term perspectives of most Americans remain unchanged over the past month.
Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans say it’s likely there will still be a need for the U.S. Postal Service in 10 years, even as increasing numbers pay their bills and send personal letters via the Internet. Fifty-one percent (51%) say it is Very Likely there will be such a need.
Seventy-four percent (74%) of Americans say it is at least somewhat likely that the price of a first class postage stamp will be $1 or more within the next 10 years. Forty-six percent (46%) say it’s Very Likely.
Three-out-of-four American voters (75%) say that businesses do a better job than government agencies when it comes to handling customer service issues. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that only 11% take the opposite view and believe that government bodies do a better job.
