Caitlin Shamberg

We talked with “Outsiders” author SE about writing the quintessential young adult book and we put a call out to you , our readers, to find out what books changed your life. We’ve been inundated with responses – so here’s a list of some of what’s come in so far, mixed in with your comments. You can see what more people wrote on our website and on Facebook. (Personally. I think it’d be great to re-read some of these!)

Newsweek and Slate columnist, Dan Gross joined the show this morning to help us explore a sobering phenomenon: the growing group of unemployed, yet uncounted workers. The official unemployment rate is 9.5 percent; however, the actual unemployment rate, according to Gross, is 16.5 percent. This, says Gross, “is one out of six adults in this country whose talents, time and skills are not being utilized anywhere near the extent of their abilities.” We heard from many listeners, some of whom have been out of the workforce for a while and are struggling to find a way back to a job.

Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner talked about how to decide when to rent or buy on today's show:

"If you have good credit, if you have the money for a down payment, yes, it’s a great time to buy a home. But if you don’t have that money…and if you’re not planning on living in a home for at least three to five years, then renting can actually save you money."  

However, it's still a tricky issue. Although your mortgage might be affordable, the costs of owning (think: leaky faucets, broken appliances) may be high. We asked listeners to weigh in and share their stories.

Jerry Garcia passed away 15 years ago, but the legacy of his band continues. We heard from a ton of listeners who were influenced by The Grateful Dead. One listener told us, “The Grateful Dead was meaningful enough in my life that I named my daughter after one of their songs, Cassidy.” We also heard from others who shared their favorite songs.

 We also took a look at job security and temporary work. Here are some highlights from you, the listeners.

The jobs report came out this morning showing that the economy lost 131,000 jobs in July. This more than expected, even as the unemployment rate stayed at 9.5 percent. It’s still tough out there and we asked listeners to describe their level of job security.

Several Republican senators are proposing to repeal or change the 14th Amendment, saying that we should no longer automatically give citizenship to American-born children of illegal immigrants. This topic has obviously stirred debate among lawmakers and Takeaway listeners.

On yesterday’s show we considered the proposed Islamic center, which is planned to be built two blocks away from Ground Zero. The proposed building has caused controversy and stirred debate among our listeners. We heard some of those comments on today’s show.

Tim Smith called 877-8-MYTAKE to say:

I’m in the army, I’m an infantryman. I’ve been to Iraq twice. I believe that this should be a non-issue. This has nothing to do with the Twin Towers. Being Muslim has nothing to do with the whole thing. There’s a whole spectrum of religious extremism. And it’s not just Muslims who are doing it.

I’m not sure when I’ll ever be able to retire. In fact, I always sort of thought that I’d like my job so much that work would be an ongoing part of my life. But there’s also the financial reality. Even with social security, and even with some sort of 401K plan, retirement seems nearly impossible. Is the solution simply raising retirement age? We discussed this on today’s show and listeners lot to say in response.

We had a fascinating conversation this morning about adoptees rights and whether adoptees should have access to their own birth certificates. Several (seemingly discordant groups) like the ACLU and New Jersey Right to Life are trying to keep the certificates sealed. Diane Crossfield, an adoptee from Kentucky has been trying to access her original birth certificate for over twelve years. “It’s my identity, it’s my origins.” she says. And commenters agree. The conversation has continued on our website.

A federal judge blocked some of the controversial aspects of SB 1070, Arizona’s new immigration law, including the requirement for immigrants to carry papers at all times. As a limited version of the law goes into effect today, we talked to a range of people in Arizona, some who support the law and others who don’t. But the conversation goes beyond Arizona and it sparked a heated conversation on our website.

We’ve all been warned not to see the movie because the book is so much better, but we’re turning this idea around. On tomorrow’s show, we’re talking  to Patrik Henry Bass, senior editor of Essence magazine about what makes a great film adaptation. Ben Sherwood, author of "The Death of Life of Charlie St. Cloud" will also talk about watching his novel become a movie. To set up our conversation about adaptations we’re asking you, our listeners: What movie version of a book did you like better than the book itself? We’ve already gotten a bunch of responses!

It’s official. BP CEO Tony Hayward will step down and Bob Dudley (a real American from Mississippi) will take his place. Hayward is off to Russia to work on a joint venture between BP and Russian oil companies. Unfortunately, this change of face doesn't necessarily mean better environmental practices for the company. Alice Schroeder, columnist at Bloomberg News, was on the show today, where she said that just sending the CEO far away doesn’t mean BP is going to stop drilling. “It’s unfortunate that money trumps everything,” she said.

So what can the new CEO do? We asked you this question.

As part of our DIY Checkup series, we took a look at the necessity of sleep. Essentially, getting enough sleep is linked to your health. Listeners (who sleep between four and eight hours) wrote in to tell us about their experiences with sleep. M. Hunter from Dearborn writes on our website:

My motto is "When you're hungry eat. When you're tired, sleep." Little is more important to me than a good night's sleep - usually 8 hours, 9 on the weekend.

The internet is forever. So why do we continue to post embarrassing photos and status updates? And why can’t we take this information offline if we want to? We talked about this issue today with George Washington law professor, Jeff  Rosen, and Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.  

Rosen's recent New York Times Magazine article,  "The Web Means the End of Forgetting," explores this issue and he proposed an interesting solution on the show. “The most effective solution is expiration dates for data,” said Rosen. “Imagine how all this would go away if Facebook said, ‘Do you want to store this drunken photo forever, or do you want it to disappear after three months?’ Listeners weighed in as well.

The media frenzy surrounding Shirley Sherrod had us all talking. Did the White House get played by a right-wing blogger? Why didn’t the NAACP and others take the time to look at the evidence before denouncing Sherrod? Is it the fault of the 24-hour news cycle? We talked with Sherrod yesterday, who explained her comments and told us about her personal journey that had her rethinking her relationship with a white farmer. Listener comments came pouring in.

The national unemployment rate for June was at 9.5 percent, a minor drop from the month before, but still high enough that many are concerned with how to find work. Some good news for unemployed workers came last night as the Senate overcame a filibuster to extend unemployment benefits, but there still aren't enough jobs. We wanted to know where they've gone. Have they gone overseas or just been eliminated altogether? We asked you to help us figure this out and found that the jobs have disappeared in almost every field.

“We’ve just seen wave after wave of foreclosure, and there’s really no relief in sight.”

— Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance Publications

Folks are still losing their homes and leaving behind neighborhoods with decreasing property values. And things aren’t looking up. The number of foreclosures is growing and the country is on track to see one million foreclosed homes this year. Listeners living in these neighborhoods shared their stories of how things continue to change.

We continued our DIY Checkup series this morning with Newsweek health reporter Kate Dailey. She says the stigma associated with having a mental health problem is still preventing people from seeking out helpful treatment. And that sometimes people don’t even realize that they may need help. Listeners have a lot to say on the topic.

So Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $550 million to the SEC in order to settle the fraud suit that was brought against the company in April. The suit basically alleged that Goldman Sachs fraudulently misled their investors. A settlement would be good news for the company as it clears their bad reputation and protects them from class-action lawsuits. And since $550 million is just 4 percent of their yearly profits, they almost come out ahead. All of this made us consider whether the fine is a big enough punishment for the company and whether it's enough of a deterrent to keep Goldman, and other financial firms, from committing fraud in the future. We got comments on Facebook and our website from listeners who think a more stringent punishment is necessary.

A federal court struck down an FCC policy on indecency this week and now the government can no longer enforce its ban on the use of “fleeting expletives” (think: Janet Jackson). We wanted to know what words you would ban and we got some creative responses!

Gurukarm Kaur Khalsa writes on Facebook:

I'd ban the dead air and the little pings that replace the bad words. It's not like everybody doesn't know what was there, anyway. The non-replacement is MUCH more annoying than the word.