Good Tuesday morning. Here are the top stories our editors are keeping an eye on today. Check back with ConsumerReports.org throughout the day for updates and analysis on these topics and many more.
It's the morning after for General Motors and Chrysler, which were given a short time table for massive restructuring by President Barack Obama.
CR's Cars Blog has the information you need about the
announcement and about
the cars these companies produce.
White House Thinking About The Bankruptcy Option:
The Obama administration, wading deeply into the U.S. auto industry, is weighing a fix for GM and Chrysler that would divide their "good" and "bad" assets and send the auto makers into bankruptcy to purge their biggest problems. The potential move would transform two companies that have helped define U.S. industrial power over the past century. (
Wall Street Journal)
Rather than a bad thing, an appearance before a bankruptcy judge could actually be the key to saving the deeply troubled automaker, experts on the auto industry and administration officials suggest. A carefully controlled bankruptcy, they contend, would help free GM from crushing obligations to its bondholders, unions and other stakeholders (
Los Angeles Times)
Survey Says:
Chrysler and General Motors have adamantly resisted the bankruptcy route, fearing that consumers would be reluctant to buy cars from a bankrupt automaker. Well, according to a new pulse survey from the Consumer Reports National Research Center, they’re right! More than three-quarters (78 percent) of respondents said they were unlikely to consider buying a new car from an automaker in bankruptcy; 64 percent were very unlikely. (
CR Cars Blog)
Wall Street's Reaction:
Stock markets slumped early and stayed negative yesterday because of fears of bankruptcies in the auto industry and fresh concern over the health of the financial sector. The three major U.S. indicators closed down about 3 percent. (
Washington Post)
Some In Detroit Are Smiling:
With each passing day, Ford Motor Co.'s determination to forgo federal loans is giving the company a sharper edge over its domestic rivals, who must now answer to the federal government. While GM and Chrysler were scolded Monday by President Obama's auto task force, Ford remains in control of its destiny and aims to keep it that way. (
Detroit Free Press)
Detroit's Loss Could Be Seoul's Gain:
In the worst U.S. car market in 28 years, Hyundai Motor Co. is on a roll. The Seoul-based automaker has boosted sales in the U.S. The Genesis, Hyundai’s first luxury car for the U.S. market, won top honors at the Detroit car show in January and in three months the company will bring out its first hybrid in Korea. The stock has surged 34 percent this year. (
Bloomberg)
Change Doesn't Come Easy Or Free:
A group of taxi drivers and medallion owners is suing the City of Boston to block the requirement that all 1,825 cabs in the city be hybrids by 2015, saying the measure could put many of them out of business. The plaintiffs say they do not oppose hybrid cars and generally favor the greening of the fleet. But they bristle at a regulation that they must buy new hybrids instead of less expensive used ones, and want the city to delay the changeover. (
Boston Globe)
Health Nominee On The Hill:
President Barack Obama's second choice for Health and Human Services secretary is getting ready to make her Senate debut. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is expected to get a friendly reception from the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday. It was unclear whether the committee chairman, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who's been battling brain cancer, would preside. (
Associated Press)
Consumers Union's Take:
CU, the publisher of Consumer Reports, will be watching the HHS confirmation hearings closely. DeAnn Friedholm, campaign director for health care reform, said, "Governor Sebelius will make an excellent secretary of HHS, and we’re hopeful for a swift confirmation so she can immediately start fixing our nation’s broken health care system."
The Air We Breathe:
In its most sweeping effort to determine whether toxic chemicals permeate the air schoolchildren breathe, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce plans today to monitor the air outside 62 schools in 22 states. Texas and Ohio have the most schools on the list, with seven each; Pennsylvania has six. (
USA Today)
FDA Warns About Pistachios:
Stop eating pistachio nuts, the FDA says. They may carry food-poisoning salmonella bacteria. The new salmonella scare -- this time in pistachio nuts -- has led Kroger Co. to recall pistachios sold in 31 states. Because the nuts came from a large shipment of 1 million pounds of pistachio nuts sold to 36 different wholesalers nationwide, more recalls are expected, says David Acheson, MD, the FDA's associate commissioner for foods. (
WebMD)
So far no illnesses have been associated with the recall. The source of the salmonella has not been identified although a television station in Sacramento, California is reporting that a pistachio supplier is under investigation by the California Department of Public Health. (
CR Safety Blog)
Selling You On Recessionomics:
The recession has given the marketing world a twist: ads that boast about helping the newly unemployed. Some of the nation's savviest marketers also have figured out that the best way to get folks who fear job loss to spend money is to promise them a rebate, refund or special deal if they are laid off shortly after the purchase. (
USA Today)
How's He Doing?
The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama's election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. (
Washington Post)
Adding It All Up:
The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s. The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008. (
Bloomberg)
I Meant To Get To This One Earlier:
According to Joseph R. Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, some 20 percent of us are chronic procrastinators. Although the perplexing question remains why so many of us engage in such evident self-sabotage, a recent study suggests that consciously changing the way we think about things we have to do -- approaching them as concrete steps rather than abstract ideas -- may help even chronic procrastinators. (
Washington Post)
