Politicians in Washington have yet to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Many other Americans have other concerns.
Last night on ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour, Huffington Post Media Group Editor-In-Chief Arianna Huffington, senior correspondent for FOX Business Network Charlie Gasparino, former Clinton Budget Director Alice Rivlin and journalist George Will sat down to debate the question on the minds of many Americans: What's more important -- the federal deficit or the jobs deficit?
Polls continue to indicate that Americans say jobs is the more important issue facing America. The roundtable discussion on This Week, however, painted a more complicated picture. And while Charlie Gasparino says an agreement over the federal deficit might allay the hiring fears of small businesses, Arianna Huffington says the primary hurdle facing the jobs crisis is the lack of demand.
"The jobs issue is a demand issue," Huffington said. "Corporate America has $2 trillion dollars in cash they are not spending, corporate profits are up 60 percent, the problem is not the lack of cash, the problem is not that [businesses] can't borrow money at very reasonable rates."
"The problem is [businesses] don't trust demand," Huffington continued. "By capping spending we're going to make demand even weaker."
Watch the debate on the jobs and federal deficit question on "This Week":