On the Road from "Recession" to "Recovery."
With economic numbers for the third quarter - July through September - reported and analyzed, the government can now speak of the recession in the past tense: it's over. And the R-Word question is now: Will the recovery hold?
Wall Street pointed thumbs up yesterday, with a nearly 200-point gain on the Dow. President Obama pointed to his 787 billion dollar stimulus spending.
"This is obviously welcome news and an affirmation that this recession is abating, and the steps we've taken have made a difference..." said President Barack Obama.
But that's not the whole story by any means, say economists.
"This is not just the stimulus package at work," said Anthony Mason, CBS News Business Correspondent.
"No, this is much broader than stimulus..." said Lakshman Achuthan, economist.
With the Gross Domestic Product up three-and-a-half percent in the third quarter, CBS News Business Correspondent Anthony Mason spoke with economist Lakshman Achuthan.
"For a lot of people, it doesn't feel like a recovery yet," said Anthony Mason.
"The positive GDP report tells us the recession ended this summer and the recovery has begun. It does not tell us that we are 'recovered.' This is very much in line with an economy that is growing of its own merit, not simply because of support from government," said Lakshman Achuthan.
Scott Wine, CEO of Polaris Industries, says business can't just wait for the government to create growth.
"We have to make growth happen - we don't expect tailwinds from the economy..." said Scott Wine, CEO of Polaris Industries.
Employers have to start employing again, but Mason says...
"Employers want to be confident the recovery's for real - that means it's going to last. Because, if you're an employer, you don't want to hire somebody again, and then have to lay them off again," said Anthony Mason.
The GDP was down more than six percent in the first quarter, so it's been nearly a ten-point turnaround since then.
"This is a strong number. Obviously, a lot of it was fueled by the government's stimulus plan, by Cash for Clunkers, by the 8,000-dollar credit for first-time homebuyers. But there's more than that in here that suggests the economy as a whole may be healthier than we thought," said Anthony Mason.
And that's why Wall Street is smiling.
"Certainly up is always more fun than down..." said Ted Weisberg, floor trader with Seaport Securities.
Obama, the Joint Chiefs, and Afghanistan.
As the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Military, President Obama meets today with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon's board of directors. This could be a pivotal meeting, as the President decides on the future of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As his Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday...
"This was a meeting requested by the President to see the Joint Chiefs - and to have a chance to talk to them and to other service branches about the ongoing assessment in Afghanistan and Pakistan," sai dRobert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary.
Not just an "assessment," but a decision, should be forthcoming soon.
Yesterday morning, President Obama got up in the middle of the night to go to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware - to be there at the arrival of the bodies of 18 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan.
"It was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day - not only our troops, but their families as well. Obviously, the burden that both our troops and our families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see these conflicts - and it is something that I think about each and every day," said President Barack Obama.
So, at today's meeting with the Joint Chiefs, says defense analyst Michael O'Hanlon of The Brookings Institution, he wants not only to explain his objectives - but to learn from them.
"Most people in uniform recognize the complexity of the mission, understand the need for this kind of scrutiny..." said Michael O'Hanlon, defense analyst at The Brookings Institution.
He may have some answers for them, says O'Hanlon - and some questions.
"I think he's asking the right kind of questions. We'll just have to see what kind of answer he comes up with in the end," said Michael O'Hanlon.
How Two NBA Rivals Became Best Friends.
Who would have thought that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, two of the fiercest competitors in the history of basketball...
"...Johnson fouled by Bird, as those two great stars..." said announcer during NBA Game.
...would ever become great friends - and even team up to write a book together, about basketball and their own rivalry. Not Larry Bird.
"He was always smiling. And as I told Magic, my goal my whole career was trying to knock out his two front teeth. (laughs) Then he wouldn't be smiling so much," said Larry Bird.
Not true, says Magic Johnson.
"When I saw Larry, I wasn't smilin'. Now, normally, I have a nice big smile. But Larry Bird took that smile right away. He was cocky and confident. He looked at you and he would tell you, 'You can't stop me. I'm gonna get about 40 tonight.' Then he would go out there and get 40," said Magic Johnson.
It would be wrong to say that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson didn't think much of each other. They thought about each other all the time!
Bird tells Jim Axelrod...
"I always said, 'I know what he's doing. I know he's still out there.' And I'd get up an extra 200 or 300 shots, just because of him. And I had other things I wanted to do that day, but I couldn't do it a lot of days, because of him," said Larry Bird.
"That can make you hate a guy," said Jim Axelrod, CBS News Correspondent.
"Well, I was wanting to hate him. That was in my mind. He was the enemy," said Larry Bird.
But behind the rivalry was a deep respect, says Magic Johnson.
"The ultimate respect that Larry Bird got - especially in the black community, the African-American community - was like, 'I don't care if he white or not, that guy can sure play basketball.' (laughs) And so, you know, you're sittin' in the barbershop and people are talkin' about 'Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird.' So, I'm sittin' there like, 'All right, hurry up and cut my hair, I gotta get into the gym!', you know?' It was drivin' me crazy," said Magic Johnson.
You'll see both Bird and Johnson when I see you on the television this "Sunday Morning" on CBS. The Osgood File. I'm Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
Are you Scared of your Boss this Halloween?
On Halloween, a lot of people will be dressed up as witches or ghosts or and goblins. But, you know what people really find frightening, according to a poll by CareerBuilder?
"One in five workers described their workplace as 'scary," said Allison Nawoj, a senior career advisor at Career Builder.
Especially their boss, says CareerBuilder's Allison Nawoj.
"Some workers said their bosses were like The Invisible Man, for example - never around..." said Allison Nawoj.
"I'll show you who I am - and what I am! (laughs maniacally)" said Claude Rains as "The Invisible Man."
That's just a power grab, really.
"Power to rule - to make the world grovel at my feet!" said Claude Rains as "The Invisible Man".
In the CareerBuilder poll of workers and what they think of their bosses and what scares them to death, vampires come up a lot.
"...Or Dracula: constantly sucking the life out of them," said Allison Nawoj.
"I am Dracula. I bid you welcome..." said Bela Lugosi as "Dracula".
Workers who like their bosses also invoked a witch, but not The Wicked Witch of the West.
"The number one Halloween likened their bosses to was the respected, and well-liked, Glinda The Good Witch..." said Allison Nawoj.
"Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" asked Billie Burke as Glinda The Good Witch from "The Wizard of Oz."
"Who me? I'm, I'm not a witch at all..." said Judy Garland as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz."
Allison Nawoj, a senior career advisor at CareerBuilder, says that many things that workers find so scary can often be tempered with open communication.
"So, it's important for workers and bosses to maintain those open lines of communication," said Allison Nawoj.
"How do you like that, eh?!" said NAT of Claude Rains as "The Invisible Man."
Happy Halloween, everybody...
E-Mail Story
Print Story
