Fears the economy is heading into another recession. President obama continues to try to assure americans that things are Getting Better, which brings us to todays questions for our viewers today. Are you better off or worse off than you were eight years ago . Special lines for todays questions, if you feel like youre better off, 2027488,000. If you feel that you are worse off than eight years, 8001. If things are the same for you, call 2027488002. You can also reach us on social media, on twitter, cspan w. J. And on facebook. We start off by talking about that jobs report that was released yesterday that showed fewer jobs added to the payrolls this year this term. They break it down a little bit in the atlantic today. The job report, the atlantic writes, is out. Its a huge miss. On friday morning the Labor Department reported that the u. S. Economy added just 38,000 jobs, while the Unemployment Rate dropped 4. 7 . The Monthly Employment growth averaged 192,000 jobs added for the first four months of 2016, which was already a slowdown compared to 2015. Economists were expecting a modest 158,000 jobs to be added this month, meaning that mays disappointing jobs report will almost surely be read as a sign of a slowing economy. Its the smallest number of jobs added in a monthly jobs report since 2010. And this report comes out just as president obama has been reassuring the American People that the Economic Situation is Getting Better. Lets take a look at what he said about the economy. Would not have come this far if we hadnt made a series of smart decisions my administration, a cooperative congress, decisions we made together early on in my administration, we decided to help the auto industry, to restructure. And we helped families refinance their homes. Yes, [applause]. We decided to invest in job training so that folks who lost jobs could retool. We decided to invest in things like hightech manufacturing and clean energy and infrastructure that entrepreneurs wouldnt just bring back the jobs that we had lost, but create new and better jobs. And folks who lost work from a Construction Industry because the Housing Market collapsed could go back to work rebuilding america. And we can see the results not just here, but across the nation. By almost every economic measure, america is better off than when i came here at the beginning of my [applause] thats the truth. [cheering] opinion page gives a much dimmer picture than the president stated when it comes to the economy. It says in todays paper, president obamas Election Year campaign to make americans feel great about the economy again was rudely interrupted friday by the reality of the job market. The economy created a dismal 38,000 jobs in may, the worst performance since 2010. Who are you going to believe . The president or the bureau of labor statistics. Are you better off or worse than you were eight years ago . We begin with frank calling from new jersey. Frank, you say things are worse. How so . Caller i just think that as a Business Owner and, you know, starting in i started my business and i was laid off from a job and i did well. It seems like everything went downhill from there. You know, its not just the economy. Take the economy, put it on one side. I live in a highly diversed democratic area and, you know, my neighbors are blacks and mexicans and its just the division is awful. Host let me ask you this, frank. You said youre a Business Owner. Has it affected your ability to hire . Are you able to hire the number of employees that you need right now . Caller hiring employees is not a problem. Its revenue. Amazon has sucked the life out of retail. Host what sort of business do you own, frank. Caller retail business. Host what else would you like to see the Federal Reserve the president and the Federal Reserve to do to help Business Owners like you . Caller the federal government i wouldnt say to take a protectist view, but, you know, we really have to stop the wholesale goods into Retail Market in the United States. Retail is the backbone of our economy, basically consumer goods and the for stuff to come off the factory floor at wholesale price on internet and shipped through unvetted containers is ludicrous. Host that was frank calling from new jersey. A little bit more from the wall street journal and the president who claims the economy is doing better and recovering. It says the washington journal editorial calls it mr. Obamas miracle recovery tour. He touted the jobless rate as the vehicle industry has recovered. He knows his legacy is on the line in november and he the read can read polls that show donald trump is leading Hillary Clinton on who would do better for the economy. Thats his economic pep talk, an attempt to rebut what he called miss, read by republicans and the conservative media about slow growth and mediocre incomes, but his bigger beef is with mrs. Clinton and Bernie Sanders who have spent the last year deploring the Economic Conditions of americas middle class. So we see that this issue has made its way into the president ial election this year as folks decide which candidate would be better for the economy. Up next on our line we have perry calling in from fort lauderdale, florida. You say things are better for you than eight years ago. How so . Im kind of breaking even. Thats a perfect point. Eight years ago we were heading right into a recession. Ok . Republicans who keep saying we have slow growth, thats because republicans would rather hurt the country than to do anything to help this president. When the president got elected in 2008, he didnt just go out and say, ok, im going to give away money, do this and do that. He had met with economists and we would have been out of this depression even sooner had they given him the money that he wanted. The reason we have slow growth is because republicans will not pass jobs bills. And the only way they will do it is if you give so many tax breaks its ridiculous. Host can i ask you this . Do you think that all of this has to do with what is happening in washington . Might washington be reacting to whats happening in the markets rather than causing the situation . Caller yeah see, people misunderstand things. If you really want good government, if you want government to work together, the only way to do it is, youve got to get out and vote and make sure the democrats get in instead of republicans, because they stop this government from growing. Thats why were growing so slow, because they refuse to get off their ass and do anything. Host next, we have dee calling from california. You say things are worse off. Caller its not just for myself personally economically, but family and friends have been impacted. I get tired of hearing the Unemployment Rate went from 5. 2 to 4. 7. That is a false, false number. People feel it and they see it and they know it. Its because they dont report how many people were on unemployment stopped you know, exceeded their time limit on it, have stopped looking for jobs, are underemployed. We see it all over. The area that i live in, we see more and more homeless people. We see more and more people Walking Around asking for money at our shopping centers. It was unheard of in our area 10 years ago. What im saying, why were worse off is because we get lied to, the news that comes out very often is distorted. Theres been examples of it in the news this past week. Deleting things from our records. People dont have any trust or faith in the government. The last gentleman that just called, he wants the government to do more. You know what the government is doing . That big, beautiful city that you are in, that beltway, it keeps getting bigger and bigger. Host let me ask you this. Do you think theres any role for the government to play in helping to protect or boost the economy . For example, the Federal Reserve likely deciding to delay Interest Rate hikes . Do you think theres any role in government in boosting the economy . Caller i think the government is the problem. Its not the solution. We keep going back to the government. The government is so bloated, we are so regulated, we are so unfree compared to what it was when i was growing up. Theres just a feeling. Thats whats wrong in the country. Thats why were seeing things like the supporters for trump. A lot of them dont like but ill tell you something. The government is the problem. Host ok. Thats dee calling from california. Next, we have calling in from montana, marissa. You say things have gotten better for you. Caller good morning, cspan. Thank you for cspan, thank you for brian, thank you for book tv. Can i say one thing . Im grateful for you guys, but we dont get here in montana the cspan 3 with history tv because im just a cspan addict and i love cspan. Host you can contact your Cable Provider about that. Tell me about why you say things are better for you . Caller things are better since the dark days of the Bush Administration. Thank goodness for cspan. President obama has pulled us out of the dark days of recession and almost the greatest recession. They have done it through open dialogue. We can talk. Nobody is scared about what we can talk about. We can talk about anything we need to talk about as far as the economy goes. The important thing is, america, stop whining. I listen to you. Im a cspan junkie. All i hear about is republicans calling in. I shouldnt just say republicans. But republicans calling in and whining about everything. Lets get out there, we can work, make a better america if we work together. Host marissa, let me ask you this. The report shows a slight reduction in the jobless rate. But one of the reasons for that is that fewer people are out in the market looking for work, so that created an overall shrinking in the jobs market. Does that raise concern for you . Caller not at all. Where i come from let me point out three things. During the depression era, roosevelt put in the rodeo grounds, a ski area, the highway to cook city, which they call the anyway, our economy is still booming. Were still dependent upon those. Its important that the republicans finance. Its not obamas administration. Its the republicans definancing everything that he wants to do. Host thats marissa calling from montana. The wall street journal it says no getting around it. The may jobs report stink. But a longer run perspective offsets the gloom. Its worth bearing in mind that this is noisy data. And the economy rarely zigs or zags as often as or as dramatically as any initial set of numbers suggests. A better gauge of the underlying rate of jobs growth is to take an average over the last three months. By that measure, the job market is creating about 116,000 jobs a month. This is a slowdown from the 200,000 range over the last five years, but its a slowdown, its not a sudden stop. So its painting a slightly different picture as to what this jobs report from may can mean. Next on our line of callers we have elizabeth calming from st. Michaels, maryland. Elizabeth, things have gotten worse for you. Tell me how. Caller good morning. Ive been cleaning houses for almost 40 years. Economics up and down. Years ago i started losing jobs to the people that dont take america [inaudible]. I couldnt compete against somebody who would work for 7 an hour and then take my tax dollars and get food stamps. They dont pay for their [inaudible]. They get subsidized housing. They get everything. Host so, elizabeth, can you tell me how things have changed for you. How are you different than you were eight years ago . Caller [inaudible] maybe onethird less than what i was making cleaning houses. And i scrambled for that. But i will do anything to stay off of any kind of government subsidy. Im disgusted with the people who go, the government needs to do more. You know the government needs to do more like you want russia . Im sorry, their government does a lot and it doesnt work well for them as far as i can tell. They need to get rid of illegal labor. Im sorry, if i do something illegal, i get put in jail. If i cant earn a living, i cant go out and do something illegal like sell meth or do Something Like that. I have to work. Host thats elizabeth calling from maryland. Next we have calling in from sorry, hit the wrong button. Next we have calling in from peaceful joe ann. You say things are better for you than eight years ago. In what way . Caller i think the economy is booking. Under president obama weve had strong years of job growth. The Unemployment Rate is 4. 7, low, low, low. Were hiring across the country in professional business services. If you cant get a job, something is wrong with your interview skills. Host you say you live in an area thats recession proof. What do you mean . Greensberg, pennsylvania was described as one of the top 10 cities to retire in. We have excellent lifestyle here. We have a moderate climate. We have closeness to the best hospitals in the area. Many people are working. Lets go back to president obama. Hes kept inflation low, even during extreme international upheaval. He has expanded Oil Production, quadrupled Oil Production in america. He reduced the number of uninsured to record lows. Weve seen the [inaudible]. Plus, hospitals, including the ones around here are writing off the smallest percentage of uninsured debt defaulted 25 years ago host we talked about how the economy is affecting the president ial race. Is it affecting how your choice in who you are voting for for president . Caller im voting for Hillary Clinton and i think donald trump would completely ruin america. I think what Hillary Clinton had to say in her political speech really played it out. His serious downside in flaws. I definitely think we should continue the Obama Administration policies and hillary and bill clinton would be a great asset. During the Clinton Administration it was a strong time of peace and prosperity. Our retirement plans were growing. Wonderful, wonderful jobs being created. Ill tell you what, there are a lot of games in professional business services. And the wall street journal always criticizes president obama. They were one of the original berthers, i remember reading an editorial page where they are asking for host ok, thats joe ann calling in from pennsylvania as we are talking about the latest jobs report from may and the impact on the economy and on the president ial race. Lets take a look at a little bit more of president obamas comments from his appearance in indiana where he talks about donald trump and the gops economic policies. Sometimes i dont get it. How it is that somebody could propose that we weaken regulations on wall street. Have we really forgotten what just happened eight years ago . [applause] it hasnt been that long ago. And because of their reckless behaviors, you got hurt. And the notion that you would vote for anybody who would now allow them to go back to doing the same stuff that almost broke our economys back [applause] [cheering] i dont care whether youre republican or a democrat or an independent. Why would you do that . [applause] less oversight on wall street would make another crisis more likely. Letting Credit Card Companies write their own rules will only hurt working families. It wouldnt make the middle class more secure. How can you say youre for the middle class and you want to tear down these rules . Host thats president obama talking about some of the gop policies as he sees them when it comes to the economy. Were talking about whether things are better or worse for you than they were eight years ago. Up next we have don calling in from houston, texas. Don, things are better for you. Can you give us an example of how . Caller things are better for me. Things are better for all of us because where would we be if he were not able to rescue the economy as a nation . But, yes, washington is the problem because when you look at facts, how many of our tax dollars now has been spent on the 15year war without a result . Is that investment worth the cost of our economy . Host you say washington is making things worse. Do you think its the job of washington to do things in order to help the economy or do you think that the folks here should be taking a more handsoff approach to caller washingtons job we have all been sold out, hood winked and given a bill of goods because how can we sustain getting [inaudible] on other nations money and american citizens are sleeping on the streets . If you look at some cities, they look worse than thirdworld nations. Our tax dollars are supposed to take care of us. But what has happened is that we have been made slaves for the corporation, by the corporation. Host ok. Thats don calling in from houston, texas. In another opinion piece in the wall street journal, marie kravits points its not just federal regulations that has made it more difficult for Small Businesses to thrive in this economy, Small Businesses being a big driver in the economy. She writes state and local regulators have notably through the growth of ok paksal licenses. In 1950, a license or certificate was required. Cosmetologists, man curists, many others have joined the ranks of licensed workers as the rate of private sector unionization all of these things are leading to the dismal jobs and Economic Situation that we see. Up next we have desirae calling from woodbridge, virginia. Desirae, you say things are better. In what way are things better . Caller i believe the opportunities to work are better. I think that obama has created eight million jobs during the time hes in office. I had the opportunity to come back from overseas and to have a unique opportunity to drive an 18wheeler because obama had offered scholarshi