Bush And Obama's Bad Blood?
CBS
Transcript
the president elect honored America's veterans today at a solders memorial in Chicago but he spent most of the day out of sight at his transition office where AIDS say he is intensely focused on plans for easing the economic crisis and the American people appear to be eager to give him a chance the new CBS News poll says 71% of Americans feel optimistic about the next four years with Mr Obama as President only 177% are pessimistic 78% have at least some confidence that he will make right decisions about the economy and Mr Obama has made no secret about what he sees as decision number one I want to see a stimulus package sooner rather than later uh if it does not get done in the lam duck session it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States but with Congress and President Bush far apart on the stimulus there has been resistance from Democrats to even hold a lame duck session nobody's going to get on a plane and travel from their dist District until the deal has pretty much been hammered out but speaker Pelosi's call today for immediate aid to the Auto industry now makes a special session a real possibility as early as next week meanwhile there were signs of possible bad blood between the bush and Obama camps after published reports on yesterday's White House meeting suggested Mr Bush had pushed for a deal that he would support a stimulus package only if Congress passes his treasured trade agreement with Colombia but the White House today vigorously denied that the president proposed any kind of deal in that meeting and late today a senior Obama advisor agreed that those published reports that there had been a proposed deal were wrong and that both sides continue to work in a collegial and Cooperative manner Katie okay chip Reed thanks very much chip
GM Borders Bankruptcy
CBS
Transcript
let's bring in our business correspondent Anthony Mason Anthony how significant is this latest move very because Katie to put a floor under the economy you got to put a floor under these housing prices that means you got to stop foreclosures and that's what this is trying to do and you also have more on the potential bailout of the Auto industry right house Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress will craft emergency financial assistance package for the automakers using some of the $700 billion bailout money everyone agrees the clock is ticking for Detroit and the casualties are already mounting it's the end of the road for Jamestown Industries in morine Ohio we're just an example of what's going on everywhere the company is an independent supplier of components to this GM truck plant in Marine but when the plant shuts down on December 23rd Jamestown will go down with it 120 employees will be out of work the Auto industry is crashing GM sales fell 45% in October it's bleeding $2 billion in cash a month and can't borrow the world's biggest automaker is on the brink of bankruptcy we're down to days maybe maybe a couple of weeks if even one of Detroit's big three fails according to a new study 2 and a half million jobs could be lost as the impact spreads from workers to dealers to suppliers this is not a vacuum this is not just one company this is a domino effect where one company goes down you're going to see the industry go down as well in 1979 the government famously bailed out Chrysler with a billion a half dollar loan which the company paid back just four years later but this time critics complain GM Ford and Chrysler should not be rewarded for bad management The Big Three make products that Americans don't want to buy uh so shouldn't you at least do that if you're going to ask for a subsidy from the US taxpayer Detroit says he just needs a $25 billion bridge loan to get through this rough patch and Rebecca lindland says that won't be enough I I think that realistically it's closer to $50 billion actually um and it won't be spent at the spa she's referring of course to the half million dollars AIG spent to send its employees to a California Spa after it got a bailout GM stock fell below $3 today Ford is now below $2 so five bucks will get you a share in both companies but as one analyst told me the sad part is there are better things you can do with your money Katie kind of a demonic laugh there right Anthony thank you so much
Helping Main St. Stay Alive
CBS
Transcript
for homeowners drowning in mortgage debt help is on the way today the federal housing finance agency which recently took control of mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac threw a lifeline to help keep homeowners afloat by modifying their loans this affordable payment will be achieved through a mix of reducing the mortgage interest rates extending the term of the mortgage or even deferring payment on a part of the principal the impact could be substantial fannie and freddie own or guarantee half of all u.s home mortgages nearly 31 million of them and it bolsters similar initiatives by other mortgage holders the fdic got the ball rolling offering to modify crushing housing loans when it took over pasadena-based indymac in july j.p morgan chase bank of america hsbc all lowering interest rates for hundreds of thousands of borrowers now today giant city group is weighing in reaching out to a half million borrowers to see who needs help keeping our borders in their homes works not only for our customers but it also works for us to have a responsible customer in their home making their mortgage payment all of this to keep the u.s housing market from sinking further homeowners in many counties nationwide already are under water their houses not worth what they owe most of these in zip codes in four sun belt states which saw housing prices explode now implode nowhere more so than zip code 95391 mountain house california where almost 90 percent of homeowners owe more than the current value of their house curtis and bonita norman bought their dream house five years ago on prosperity street here i believe i owe around 690 and with the fines and fees it'd probably probably be more but today it's worth only 430 thousand dollars and they are scrambling to pay what they can and who qualifies for the new federal relief those who owe 90 percent or more of the value of their home and are at least three months behind in their payments katie bill whitaker thanks very much bill