With Congress home for its spring break, and the holidays now upon us, these facts on how the Country feels may be of interest:

· President Obama’s approval rating is at its lowest point in 16 months—48% disapproval;

· 46% blame the Republicans for the sequester;

· 71% think government officials should compromise to find solutions;

· Six in ten Americans believe the Country is moving in the wrong direction. In December, 55% saw the Country on the wrong path;

· 48% of Americans believe their personal family finances will remain about the same. Note: The proportion who think their personal finances will deteriorate has grown. Last March, only 14% thought their family finances would get worse;

· Americans are divided on what should be cut. For example:

- 65% would rather increase revenues such as taxes and fees than experience cuts to education spending.

- 60% would prefer to increase taxes and fees than cut Social Security spending. - 57% would prefer increasing revenues than reduce spending for Medicare.

- 53% would rather increase revenues such as taxes and fees than cut transportation spending.

· The current unemployment rate of 7.7% should be above 10% to account for the millions of Americans who have dropped out of the labor force;

· The big challenges are:

- Creating jobs;

- Creating high-productivity jobs—in the U.S., output per worker hour grew by 0.6% in 2011 and 0.7% in 2012. In the U.K., output per worker has dropped by several percent.

- Creating high-paying jobs—in 2011, median household income in America was $50,054, $570 less than it was in 1989.

Despite all the difficulties our nation faces, we believe that if you look back ten or twenty years ago, you will agree that life is better today and so long as we push forward in a determined way, we will continue to make progress.