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House Representatives are expected to vote today on the controversial $700 billion Wall Street bailout package. With a subsequent vote in the Senate that could come as early as Wednesday, President Bush called for expediency in passing the bailout saying “every member in Congress and every American should keep in mind that a vote for this bill is a vote to prevent economic damage.” In other news today, as debates continue over the financial crises, Citigroup, the world’s biggest bank agreed to acquire the banking operations of the Wachovia corporation. Meanwhile, a new report by the Center for Economic Policy Research poses the “Reagan Question,” asking if potential voters are better off now economically, than they were eight years ago. In 23 out of 25 economic indicators people are indeed faring worse economically than they were at the start of the Bush era. Unemployment and inflation rates as well as the Misery Index, which is the sum of the two, are predictably higher now than eight years ago. The study was done before the current Wall Street meltdown.

GUEST: John Schmitt, Senior Economist with Center for Economic and Policy Research, Co-Author of the Report, “The Reagan Question: Are You Better Off Now Than You Were Eight Years Ago?”

Related Links

• Center for Economic Policy Research
• The Reagan Question: Are You Better Off Now Than You Were Eight Years Ago?