Consumer Reports Morning Update[SIZE=-1]Good 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.
Fixing The Housing Market:
President Obama announced a $75 billion plan to help up to 9 million troubled homeowners stay in their homes. The plan "will give millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild," Obama said. (USA Today)
The federal government doubled its commitment to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, promising to reimburse the companies for up to $400 billion in losses on their investments in mortgage loans. (Washington Post)
There is doubt among economists about whether the initiative will be bold enough and swift enough to succeed where other efforts have failed. (Los Angeles Times)
Americans who don't qualify for federal aid under the president's programs aren't happy. The plan essentially shuts out wealthy borrowers who would like to refinance but can't because they own expensive homes financed with so-called jumbo mortgages, which are too large to be owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Wall Street Journal)
And some Republicans aren't happy either. House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, along with Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, sent a letter Wednesday to the president "seeking clarification on six important questions about [Obama's] broad housing proposal." (CNN)
New buzzwords: Boomburg/Boomburb (CR Home & Garden Blog)
- A boomburg is one of the countless cookie-cutter suburban communities that sprung up like mushrooms during the housing booms of recent decades.
- A boomburb is a rapidly growing, sprawling city of 100,000 or more on the edge of a major metropolitan area.
Although President Obama's stimulus package provides about $144 billion directly to state and local governments, a few Republican governors are suggesting they might reject some of the money. (USA Today)
Other Republican governors have been more receptive to federal aid. (Politico)
Republicans are preparing to pounce on any wasteful spending in the $787 billion stimulus package as they refocus their criticisms of a measure whose success could hurt their 2010 election prospects. (Associated Press)
The Economy At Large:
Fears are mounting about losing a job, not having enough money to pay the bills and evaporating retirement accounts, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. Nearly half of those surveyed said they worry about becoming unemployed ? almost double last year?s number. (MSNBC/AP)
The U.S. Federal Reserve Open Market Committee said the economy would continue to shrink through 2009, noting a sharp contraction had yet to abate. (UPI)
HHS Nomination:
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, an early Obama ally with a record of working across party lines, is emerging as the president?s top choice for secretary of health and human services, advisers said Wednesday. (New York Times)
White House spokesman Bill Burton cautioned that "no final decision has been made" on the post. The other candidates who have been considered, according to Democratic officials, include Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, and former Democratic Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey. (CNN)
Auto Industry:
Sales of new cars and trucks this month are collapsing almost too fast to track. The February sales pace through the first half of the month appears to be at an annualized rate of fewer than 9 million. (USA Today)
Chrysler, which is pushing forward on an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA, said it believes a partnership with General Motors is still the "best option for the U.S. auto industry." (Detroit Free Press)
What will the future of cars be? Consumer Reports will serve as the official active safety testing partner for the Progressive Automotive X Prize, an intense competition that will award a $10 million prize for creating a car that gets 100 mpg; can be mass produced; and could be sold for a reasonable price. (CR Cars Blog)
Facebook Flap:
Hours before Facebook executives decided late Tuesday to reverse a new and controversial user policy, an unnamed Facebook executive had made a deal with a leading Internet privacy group to hold off filing a complaint with a federal agency against the company. (San Jose Mercury News)
On Feb. 17, word that Washington-based consumer watchdog Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) was preparing to file a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission sent Facebook scrambling to the defense. (BusinessWeek)
Consumerist, which like Consumer Reports is owned by Consumers Union, was one of the first to spot the changes to Facebook's terms of service. Ben Popken explained on the NBC Nightly News:
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