This is real money, and you are the most important part of the show. Tell us what is on your mind by tweeting us. President obama landed in brussels tonight in the heart of europe for a summit of seven industrialized countries. There is drama given the big topic is what to do with the big bear not in the room, russia. The g7 wants to show an united front. Today german chancellor Angela Merkel said act or face stricter economic sanctions from the west. In a way the g7 meeting is a slap in the face for the russians. The summit was originally build as the g8 meeting to be held in sochi, but after they were disinvited the venue was moved to brussels. Weve got new data illustrating europes economic problems, and those problems are hurting us. Americas trade deficit with the rest of the world s the imports to exports. A lot of it has to do with europe, the trade gap with europe grew 23 in april. So while americans can now afford more imported goods as the economy here improves, europeans are still feeling the pain. And its limiting their purchase power for american products. If europe continues to drag, it will be felt across the atlantic and squeeze us even more. As canada and japan wants britain, france and italy to increase their public spending to boost their economies. European Central Banks right now would be supportive of that stimulus effort because of the threat deflation poses to europe complies. A little inflation can be a good thing. It can push wages up, putting more money in peoples pockets, which gives them confidence to spend more and grow the economy. Thats why the u. S. Federal reserve and the European Central bank have set target rates of around 2 inflation as benchmarks for healthy growth. The associated 2 inflation with good economic conditions. A strong growth rate is also a steady growth rate. Reporter the latest reading on annual infliction was a 2 . But europe has been fighting with low inflation. It fell to half of a percent, well inside the danger zone. The big fair is that low inflation could ful tip into fullon deflation. The kind of scenario that sends chills down the spine. Reporter greece, portugal and slovakia is already in deflations grips. They enjoyed growth fueled by debt in the run up to the great recession. It has made it that much hard for pay down that debt and get their economies back on track. When the inflation is really weak the rate of gdp growth is also very weak. Its hard to generate the income and resources to pay off that debt. Thats what were seeing in places like greece and spain. Reporter while the threat of further deplacing bolsters the case of lending more money, whether these tools can offer a lasting fix is far from uncertain. I think bankers around the world are struggling to understand why these deflation near pressures seem so strong, why its been so hard to bring it back up to targets . Is it the legacy of the 20072008 crisis or is there something broader going on like globalization and weak demand . Reporter al jazeera, new york. The economic pressure facing europe complicate any coordinated g7 response for russia meddling in ukraines crisis. Europe depends on some russia some 40 of its energy supply. Mike viqueira is traveling with president obama now, what does the president hope to achieve in the next two days . Reporter well, david, here it is hot off the preys. The g7 communique on Foreign Policy notwithstanding the denials of vladimir putin, this very day the g7 convinced that russia is behind the un rest fomenting and provoking the unrest in the ukraine. The central question as the leaders gather on the g7, they say that the g7 stands ready to impose further costs on russia should events so require. Quote unquote. Thats the problem all along here david. There were triggers beforehand. The president was in europe two months ago threatening the broad sanctions. If russia from to interfere by the accounting o , if Russian Troops on the border of eastern ukraine, if they were to spill over or intentionally spill over into ukraine and start an overt military action, well, those more draconian stricter sanctions should be triggered. The question for this gathering what will be the trigger . And that communique makes it very big. The french depend on russia not only on energy, but trade, two warships. A sale going through to russia. The british depend on russia for the Financial Sector and germans in the Energy Sector. If anyone has skin in the games, if the costs of these burdens are shared not only by europeans but by the United States as well then everyone can speak with one voice. Thats president obamas challenge as he meets with these g7 leaders this evening in brussels and tomorrow over the course of the afternoon. Mike, does the issue are russia does that make it easier or perhaps more difficult for president obama to say to the european leaders to say, hey, we need to you have this economic stimulus to pick up your economy in the part because your economy is now being hurt by problems with russia . Reporter well, you know, its well documented the disagreements between the United States and germany in particular on that score. The United States government at least believes officials believe they are much more singing from the same hymn book. Lose now officials are encouraged by the moves in poland where president obama began his day and landed yesterday after a series of meetings. They want to increase their lng increase, an facility, and lng and even lifting the ban on export of domestic oil is making head way in terms of congress. But all that have is medium to longterm solution to what is happening here. In the meantime that is front and center. What can be done in the Energy Sector to wean Eastern Europe away from russian dependence on the extraction of oil and gas. Mike viqueira at the g7 summit in brussels, as always, we appreciate it. Back in the United States for many middle class families with a mortgage to pay and mouths to feed the reality is that mom and dad both have to work. But that means paying for someone to take care of the kids. There is something systematically wrong when an associate proffe professor with a partner who is making some salary cant truly cant make ends meet. Coming up were going to look at the challenges of child care and how some families are trying creatively to meet them. Plus help wanted if you dare. Well take to you north dakota and show you some of the most dangerous and lucrative jobs in america. That story and more as real money continues. Saturday on techknow. The earthquake business, its similar to the weather business. Understanding our earth. But everything happens faster. Limiting disaster. These are the guts of the Early Warning system. Saving lives. Having 30 seconds of advanced warning is like a lifetime. Techknow, every saturday go where science meets humanity. This is some of the best driving ive ever done, even thought i cant see. Techknow. Weekday mornings on Al Jazeera America we do have breaking news this morning. Start your day with in depth coverage from around the world. First hand reporting from across the country and real news keeping you up to date. The big stories of the day, from around the world. These people need help, this is were the worst of the attack took place. And throughout the morning, get a global perspective on the news. The life of doha. This is the International News hour. An informed look on the nights events, a smarter start to your day. Mornings on Al Jazeera America the list of Financial Burdens squeezing American Families include rising rent, property taxes, transportation and health insurance. Tonight as part of our series americas middle class rebuilding the treatment focusing on another major cost that is causing hardship for many familieschild care. In 31 states in washington, d. C. Annual child care now costs more than an entire year of instate public college. As mary snow reports finding affordable child care is not just a problem effecting working class parents any more. For working parents karla and todd taking care of their 9monthold baby and getting 4yearold tessa up and ready could be nothing short of a miracle. [ baby crying ] but nulling the costs of child care for their two daughters has become the real daily struggle for this new york family. I would say that the third of our budget went to child care. The next third went to rent. When i buy the groceries i think ill check to make sure i have not overdrawn. A professor at a college. Todd run teaches music at a nonprofit. Despite an annual income of 110,000 they can barely pay for tessas preschool fees and daycare once a week. Which means working from home and getting anything done is tough. There is something systematically run between an sort associate professor with a partner making some salary cant truly make ends meet. Its the middle class thing. We fall in between. Child care is typically the highest household expense, and most regions, exceeded only on the west coast by housing. Lynette is a director of a nonprofit that studies the cost of child care. Their findings show that fees vary state to state. Massachusetts ranks at most e penstive at 29,000 for two Young Children in daycare with mississippi the lowest at 9,200 a year. But nationwide Child Care Costs have been growing at a rate five times that of family incomes. Were seeing a time in the United States of america where people are having babies literally off an economic i have. Cofounding moms rising, a Grassroots Organization with over a million members across the u. S. Though some Cost Increases can be explained by rising expenses at Child Care Centers she said the larger issue is a matter of supply. Daycares in 19 states had waiting lists or turned away families all together unable to keep up with the rapidly rising demand of todays labor force. 50 of our entire paid labor force are women for the first time in history, and threequarters of moms are in the labor force. At the same time nearly 50 of families are relying on moms wages as the primary bread winner. Yet the economic squeeze of child care has increasingly forced moms like Jessica Christie a washington, d. C. Mother of three out of full time work. Working for the Environmental Law Firm was one of the most satisfying jobs ive ever had. But it didnt make sense for me to continue there financially. Reporter christie gave up a litigation assistant job when her second son was born in 2009, but like many families in todays economy she could not forward to give up a second income all together. She picked up freelance work to keep their budget afloat. But even parents with fulltime jobs professional sacrifice is a constant. She landed a teaching position in the fall but worry they wont be able to afford the extra days of babysitting theyll need. The only hope is salary raises in the commonning months. If we cant get the Salary Increase that we need for next year, what will we do . What is plan b . There is no plan b. There is only reaction. We have a tiny bit in our savings that will go away, that wont be enough. Thats that. Mary snow, al jazeera. Studies have shown the expense and difficulties of finding child care hurt the overall economy according to a nonprofit focused on business and Early Education employee absenteeism related to Child Care Cost the country 3 billion each year. Lets discuss whether any Solutions Exist to help middle class families, we turn to our guests. Doctor, lets go to the policy level, are there any National Policies out there to try to help middle class families. With child care in particular . Remarkably little. Im sure that some of your viewers know. There are programs for poor families. But for those above the poorest of the boor, there are only two areas, there are two areas that would help families in two segments. One is the national tax credit. There is a tax credit. Its help 68, its not enough, but its important. Essentially parents who spend money on child care can deduct about a third of those costs up to a certain limit it depends on their income. It comes to about 1,000 a child per year. About 4 million families use it. Given the costs that we just heard, thats not really enough. The tax credits dont go as far as a lot of families need. Are there subsidies or things that other countries are doing that might have a greater impact . Thats true. But before i go to the other countries, let me mention something that is important in the United States and growing, and is very important in europe. Thats the development of preschool which were hearing a lot about in new york city, new york state and all over the country. We dont have a federal program for preschool but 40 states have public support for preschool, and its growing in new york as weve been hearing. Neither of these are the tax credit or preschool, they dont cover enough children. Preschool does not kick in until kids are four, which is too late. Its wellknown that these programs are much more developed in northern and western europe includes child care, paid family leave and the regulation of working time which is an important support for working parents as well. Those countries and the policies of those countries see this as an investment. Explain what that means. Where is the pay off when countries engage in the policies that they have . Well, i would say its a multi facetted pay off. First of all there is interest in school preparedness. A lot of studies show for every dollar spent. Does seem to bethere do seem to be invest paves later in life. Also very important. Something that would hint at in the segment is there is a tremendous loss of women in labor because of the poverty of these programs. Because the absence of strong child care and paid leave in this country we have this persistent gender gap in the labor market, and it is a big deal and it remains and in some places worsening. There is a pew study that found 30 of moms now stay at home and thats a greater share than at any time in the past two decades. Whats causing that . This is very interesting. There was a study done by two labor economists at cornell last year that got a lot of attention, and they started with a startling fact. In 1990 among the 22 richest countries in the world, womens employment participate rated 6. 20 years later, its near the bottom. Why, because these other affluent countries developed packages of policies and shoring up womens employments and all of other countries pass this. While the United States used to be regarded as a leader in womens employment, were now considered a lagerd. There are some things that companies and businesses might be able to do to make sure that their employees are not missing work taking care of the kids. What are some of those things . Thats a good question, and i might add people ask why do we have so little Public Policy . Because we do have a history and tendency to leave things to the market. We leave the child care to Consumer Market and employers. There is good in that, but, indeed, some employers provide child care subsidies, paid lea leave, flex time. Two things to say, its not enough. Not enough employers. Thats why the average level of provision in all of these services is way below the countries that provide it publicly. But also as im sure you can imagine its very regressive in the way its distributed. Its highly scored workers who have access to these workplace packages through their employers, but lowerskilled workers have almost none of these rights or benefits. Professor of Political Science and sociology, thank you for coming in, appreciate it. Thank you. You have not made it in america until you own your own home. Thats what generations of middle class workers were raised to believe, but thats changing. These days a lot of americans say its not worth it to buy when you can rent. Well have more on that coming up. Plus chinas great economic divide. Well look at who has gained ground and who has gone nowhere in the 25 years since Tiananmen Square. Al jazeera americas presents the system with Joe Burlinger observing a crime a shocking number of these eyewitnesses get it wrong how much would you remember . Dark complected. Medium height. You described most of the majority of the men in america sometimes witnesses get it right when you have an eyewitness to say i saw him do it, that is the best evidence. And sometimes sometimes they dont no one is listening to us. George is innocent. The system with Joe Burlinger only on Al Jazeera America start with one issue education. Gun control. The gap between rich and poor. Job creation. Climate change. Tax policy. The economy. Iran. Healthcare. Ad guests on all sides of the debate. This is a right we should all have. Its just the way it is. Theres something seriously wrong. Theres been acrimony. The conservative ideal. Its an urgent need. And a host willing to ask the tough questions how do you explain it to yourself . And youll get. The inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on Al Jazeera America these days for Many Americans it feels like the ability to attain that dream of homeownership is slipping away and fast. So much so those who do own homes cant afford the homes theyre in. 52 of American Renters and homeowners have had to make Financial Sacrifices in th