FEELING SQUEEZED IN A SLUGGISH ECONOMY.
The Osgood File. Sponsored in part by ClearEars - the comfortable earplug that dries and removes water trapped in the ears. ClearEars - better than drops, safe for kids. This is Charles Osgood.
The recovery, they say, is being "sluggish."
That suggests we are making painfully slow progress - but that economically, we are moving forward.
Well, some people are - but others are not.
For them, things have been getting worse - as our CBS News colleague Anna Werner will report after this...
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The Fed has been keeping interest rates low to help the economy.
But for anybody living off interest income, that's not good, says Anna Werner.
VO - Anna Werner, CBS News Correspondent
"Money earned from interest income - like savings accounts - has also fallen, by 370 billion dollars since 2008." (:08)
People on fixed incomes feel squeezed.
VO - Anna Werner
"68-year-old Linda Trotter says she - and many seniors - are feeling the impact." (:05)
SOT - Linda Trotter
"I have a lady who went to the grocery store - and she stood in the grocery store and cried, because she couldn't afford to buy anything." (:06)
Kerry Wheeler started going to a food pantry outside Dallas last week.
SOT - Kerry Wheeler
"It really does make a difference - because a few cents adds up when you're trying to feed a family." (:05)
VO - Anna Werner
"Wheeler is trying to find a full-time job. Looking for work adds to her challenges as a single mother of two teenage boys." (:08)
SOT - Kerry Wheeler
"Being a mother - and trying so hard - because I want to work, and I want to be able to provide. And having to turn to ask for help - that's hard for me." (:09)
As for the working poor, says Werner...
VO - Anna Werner
"The working poor are bearing most of the burden of the sluggish economic recovery. Since 2009, pay has gone up 6.2 percent. But consumer prices have increased 7.2 percent." (:13)
The economists at the Fed can say inflation is under control - but...
VO - Anna Werner
"Now, gas is on the rise on again - drivers in 42 states are paying more for gas than they did a year ago." (:07)
Higher gas prices - and the drought - mean food prices are going up some more.
The Fed can't do much about the weather.
The Osgood File. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network. |
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