Another positive signal for the economy today as it was revealed that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent. The economy added 243,000 jobs, more than expected. What does this mean for the economic recovery? Joining the program is Kelly Evans from The Wall Street Journal. 

Poverty and homelessness disproportionately effects those who have served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard. While the reasons are diverse — the lack of perceived skills by civilian employers, physical and psychological injuries sustained during service, a sluggish economy — the reality is undeniable: veterans make up only ten percent of the population, yet seven percent of veterans live in poverty and one in five are homeless. Of those that have served, the group hardest hit have been National Guard veterans. 

On Tuesday evening following his Floriday primary victory, Mitt Romney told Soledad O'Brien that, "I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair I'll fix it." The following day, The Takeaway followed up with a segment about the changing face of poverty in America. As part of a continuing conversation about this topic, Ron Robinson joins the program. Robinson is a homeless father of twins who lost his job at AT&T in 2010, and has been moving his family in and out of homeless shelters in Detroit, Michigan ever since. Alex Kotlowitz, journalist, author of the book "There Are No Children Here," and producer of "The Interrupters" also addresses the subject. 

This week, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich battle for votes in the Florida Primary. Republican candidates then move on to Nevada, where the state will caucus on Saturday. Both Florida and Nevada have a significant Latino population, and the candidates will likely use their campaigns to attract Latino voters across the United States. As the Republican candidates duke it out in Florida, the Senate will introduce the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act), to prevent lawmakers from trading stocks based on information from Congressional briefings.

Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley have been outspoken critics of income inequality in America. The late aughts were shaped by the subprime mortgage crisis, subsequent stock market crash, international debt problems, and record levels of long-term unemployment. Between 2006 and 2010, there was a 27 percent increase of people living in poverty across the U.S. And despite signs of recovery, growth has been slow and decidedly uneven with Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and California hovering at 12 percent or higher unemployment rates.

As evidenced by the Congressional debt panel's failure, MF Global's $600 million missing investor funds, and lagging employment numbers, the U.S. has a long way to go in terms of solving the economic problems that created the 2008 financial crisis. And there are plenty of potential pitfalls abroad — China's inflation rate is at 10 percent, and the euro zone's ongoing debt crisis. Yet, there are bright spots with many manufacturing, energy, and tech sector jobs growing.

Since 2007, the number of people collecting social security disability benefits, or SSDI, has grown by 3.4 million. Two new studies, one co-produced by the Obama administration, document a direct relationship between those seeking SSDI after their unemployment benefits run out. With 10.6 million Americans receiving payments of roughly $1,000 a month plus access to Medicare and Medicaid, there are concerns that the Social Security Trust Fund will be completely depleted by 2017.

One of the bright spots in the American economy right now is coming from the manufacturing sector. According to the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly survey of purchasing and supply executives, activity at U.S. factories has grown at its fastest rate in five months. And in the automobile sector, the growth rate is translating into new jobs.

Since President Obama introduced the American Jobs Act in September of this year, he has spoken publicly about it more than 50 times. The jobs report for November comes out this morning and the consensus call is that 125,000 new jobs were created this month. Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, speaks about the latest jobs numbers as well as specific economic and educational reforms that are trying — with mixed success — to remedy the situation.

The latest job numbers from November reveal that the number of jobs created last month won't be enough to bring down the country's nine-percent unemployment rate. 

Over the weekend, U.S. retail sales climbed 16 percent, hitting a record total of $52.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. The average shopper spent $398.62 during the holiday weekend. Despite these promising retail numbers, other economic indicators aren't as positive this week. 

Most economists agree that the recession ended in the summer of 2009. But, because of persistently high unemployment, many Americans are still feeling the economic pain. Across the country, there are almost five percent fewer jobs than there were when the recession began. And, according to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are now more pessimistic about the job market than at any time in the past 10 years. About 90 percent of Americans currently say that it is a "bad time" to find a quality job. 

In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement yesterday the Senate passed a small segment of President Obama's jobs package that aims to help unemployed veterans seeking jobs. Financial incentives of up to $5,600 will be offered to employers who hire veterans unemployed for longer than six months. The hope is that it will help the thousands of veterans unable to find employment. 

The U.S. economy added 80,000 jobs in the month of October, pushing the unemployment rate down to 9.0 percent from 9.1 percent according the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In October, the private sector added 104,000 jobs, though 24,000 government workers lost their jobs. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve forecast that unemployment will likely only drop to between 8.5 and 8.7 percent in 2012. Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, analyzes what these figures mean for the economy.

The markets responded positively to the news last week of a euro zone deal to try and turn around their two-year financial crisis. Marcus Mabry, editor-at-large of the International Herald Tribune, which is the international edition of The New York Times, tells us how he expects the markets to continue to go this week and to be on the lookout at Italy, which could be the next euro zone country to be in financial trouble. Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for WNYC and The Takeaway, looks at the upcoming G20 Summit in France this week, and if they can come up with a framework to deal with Europe's economic troubles.

With unemployment holding steadily at 9 percent and little sign of an upturn, it is hardly surprising that most Americans have a negative outlook on the state of the economy. According to a recent Associated Press poll, more than 7 in 10 Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. Less than 40 percent of respondents feel that President Obama's jobs proposals will significantly raise the unemployment level from its current level.

The national unemployment level continues to hover around 9 percent. But among African-Americans, that number shoots up to about 16 percent. On Friday’s program The Takeaway spoke with Robert Johnson, founder of BET and CEO or RLJ Companies. Johnson, who was the first African-American to become a billionaire, has a new idea for how to get black Americans out of poverty.

The financial crisis has hit just about every corner of the economy but it has been disproportionately harmful to African-Americans. The unemployment rate among black Americans stands at 16 percent. That's nearly 7 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate of the population as a whole.

Employers added 103,000 jobs in September, keeping the unemployment rate at 9.1 percent. Employers have added an average of only 72,000 jobs in the last five months. The economy must create twice as many in order to keep up with population growth. The figures rebuff grim warnings from economists in recent weeks that the U.S. is headed for a double-dip recession. Many economist continue to be concerned over the growing European sovereign debt crisis, which President Obama said in a press conference on Thursday "could have a very real effect on our economy at a time when it's already fragile."

Economist Jeffrey Sachs has a new book, "The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity," and the heart of it is a single argument: all of the nation’s current economic, political and productive woes share a similar root cause: that America’s financial and political leaders are failing to take the moral steps necessary to restrain a society of markets, and policies run amok, and that we need to become a "mindful society."