Consumer Reports Morning Update[SIZE=-1]Good Thursday 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.
The White House is shifting from bailouts to budgets today, announcing a plan to reform health care system and to pay for it with taxes on wealthy Americans.*
Today in Washington:
- The president budget delivers remarks about the 2010 budget
- The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission releases its final report
President Obama will propose further tax increases on the affluent to help pay for his promise to make health care more accessible and affordable, calling for stricter limits on the benefits of itemized deductions taken by the wealthiest households. (New York Times)
Obama is proposing to begin a vast expansion of the U.S. health-care system by creating a $634 billion reserve fund over the next decade, launching an overhaul that most experts project will ultimately cost at least $1 trillion. (Washington Post)
The president's first budget also holds out the possibility of spending $250 billion more for additional financial industry rescue efforts on top of the $700 billion that Congress has already authorized. (Los Angeles Times)
Obama's budget includes hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues from a greenhouse gas emissions trading system. (Reuters)
The 2009 Budget:
The House yesterday passed a $410 billion bill to fund government operations through September. (Washington Post)
The new bill, a reflection of Democratic priorities, increases spending on domestic programs by an average of 8 percent in the current fiscal year, which began in October. (New York Times)
Auto Industry:
General Motors Corp. says it lost $9.6 billion in the fourth quarter and burned through $6.2 billion in cash as it sought government help to avoid running out of cash. The nation's biggest domestic automaker lost $30.9 billion for all of 2008 as it struggled against a U.S. sales slump and a global recession. (USA Today/AP)
Bank Bailout:
The Obama administration unveiled plans Wednesday aimed at assessing the health of the nation's 19 largest banks in order to determine the size and scope of future bailouts. Under the so-called "stress test" program, which was first hinted at earlier this month when the White House rolled out its financial recovery plan, banking regulators would examine major financial institutions estimating firmwide losses for the next two years if economic conditions worsened and the bank's ability to absorb such losses. (CNN Money)
Citigroup Inc.'s bid to boost its equity capital could result in the federal government raising its stake in the troubled bank this week to as much as 40 percent, a person familiar with the talks said. (Associated Press)
CU's view: As the government helps combat the credit crisis, Consumer's Union (the publisher of Consumer Reports) is urging the Treasury Department should restrict the types of credit card debt that can be supported by public dollars to only those credit cards with fair terms, including a timeline for working out of penalty interest rates. *(DefendYourDollars.org)
Why The Economy Matters:
President Obama and senior administration officials have begun receiving a daily CIA report on the global economic crisis in addition to briefings on terrorist threats and other national security issues. (Los Angeles Times)
Food Safety:
The national salmonella outbreak linked to more than 2,600 peanut products could last as long as two years, as contaminated foods sit like ticking time bombs on store shelves and in kitchen cabinets, federal health officials said Wednesday. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The Texas Department of State Health Services lab confirmed that peanut meal samples taken from the Peanut Corp. of America plant were contaminated with the same strain of salmonella that has sickened more than 660 people in 45 states and is suspected of causing at least nine deaths. (Houston Chronicle)
First Look At The Second Kindle:
Consumer Reports used Amazon?s Kindle 2 at our Testing Center, the new electronic book reader sustained the promise shown in demos when the device was announced on Feb.9. (CR Electronics Blog)
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