The people who make our laws and spend our tax money are in a heated debate over whether to bail-out the big three car-makers...and—if so—how.

Some lawmakers say...let ‘em go bankrupt, and make the changes they need to make to compete in this new reality of energy and economy.

A new poll shows 60 percent of Americans disagree,
including President-Elect Barack Obama.

He says we have to save Detroit, to save ourselves.

Millions of American jobs are stake—not just in Detroit and Indiana—
but in all fifty states that produce the metal, glass, plastic, parts,
and technology, used to build cars.

One out of ten jobs in this country is auto-related.

Objective observers have said, “As G-M goes, so-goes Wall Street,”
and the rest of the economy.

Some lawmakers say we should use a tiny percentage
of the 700-billion dollar Wall Street bailout.

25 billion would be about three and a half percent of that.

The White House now says it favors SOME kind of help for the car-makers—
just not from the 700-billion dollar bailout fund. 

Meanwhile, back on Wall Street...the top seven executives
at your bailout buddy Goldman-Sachs have given-up
their huge year-end bonuses. 

Last year, for example, the C-E-O a SEVENTY MILLION dollar bonus.

In fact, Goldman Sachs plaid record high bonuses,
in the year leading-up to the bailout.

And...bailout buddy A-I-G is planning to shell out a half-billion dollars
to its top employees, in something known as ‘deferred compensation.’ 

That’s where highly-paid executives put off collecting
some of their salary...to avoid paying taxes on it,
until they retire into a lower tax bracket. 

A-I-G says it has to do this, to attract
the kind of people who can run a business into the ground. 

And A-I-G promises none of this half-billion dollar payout,
comes from your bailout.

The credit-crunch brought-on by the crumbling of Wall Street
has hurt everyone.

And now, it’s jammed-up T-Boone Pickens’ plan
for getting us off foreign oil. 

The billionaire has a plan to create jobs,
developing new energy technologies...
and tapping some energy SOURCES we already have,
like sun, wind, and natural gas.

But even a billionaire needs start-up money...a
nd, in this economy, there’s none to be had. 

Pickens can afford to front a third of the money...
but can’t get loans to cover the rest.

So Pickens says the plan is now postponed. 

But, at 80 years of age, T-Boone Pickens hasn’t given up,
so neither should we.

Pickens says he’ll still be around when we start this project...
and he’s optimistic that as President, Barack Obama will get it done.

The two of them have talked more than once about this.

Pickens says:  Don’t let these temporarily lower gas prices fool you.

If it ever appeared that a President would hit the ground running,
it appears this next one will.

Even before the election on November fourth, Barack Obama sent letters
to the federal employees at the departments of Labor, Defense,
Veterans Affairs, and four other agencies...spelling-out his plans.

He promised to remove the duct-tape from the mouths of government scientists, to scale back on government contractors,
and to give money back to agencies that had been so severely cut,
they could not do their jobs.

He was talking mostly there, about the Housing department—
which he says he’ll use from day-one, to address one of the country’s
biggest economic problems—housing.  To stop the foreclosures.

That was BEFORE the election. 

Today, Obama is building his administration—
checking the finances of Bill Clinton,
to make sure there’s nothing to keep Hillary
from becoming—and remaining—Secretary of State.

Obama met today with John McCain, to talk about
how they might work together
to make government work more efficiently and effectively.

The President Elect’s top people were with him,
when he met with McCain, as they were when he met with Hillary Clinton.

Obama is clearly working from a frenemies list—bringing
former political rivals close—maybe for consultation,
maybe for a key job in his administration.

In Clinton’s case, that’s almost a lock.

Obama says there’ll even be at least one REPUBLICAN in his cabinet,
in much the same way President Lincoln surrounded himself
with opposing views, instead of yes-men. 

But Obama doesn’t just look back at history. 

He looks at his Blackberry.  A lot.  He says he’s addicted to it. 

But, because of a law known as The Presidential Records Act,
Obama may have to give up the device...or
be willing to have it published. 

The law says all Presidential correspondence has to go
into the official public record. 

That’s one reason President Bush avoided using e-mail altogether. 

And Obama says, as President,
he plans to put his weekly RADIO address on YouTube—complete with video.

In fact, he’ll start this Saturday, on his own website, Change-Dot-Org.

The weekly, Saturday morning Presidential radio speech
was launched by President Reagan

The first to give radio speeches was Franklin Roosevelt,
who tried to reassure Americans during The Great Depression.

Some notes about the upcoming holiday season, in this economy:

Fewer of us plan to use credit cards for our holiday shopping this year.
A 42 percent majority say they plan to use debit cards or cash, instead.

The numbers show we’re already using them less,
in addition to spending less, overall.

We are also less likely to use store gift cards this year.

With big retailers like Circuit City and Linens-N-Things going under,
it’s hard to tell which stores will be around in ’09.

The stores still open, meanwhile, are turning away applicants
looking for part-time work over the holidays. 

Big stores and small have cut back on holiday hiring...
by a little, and by a lot. 

A quarter of a million fewer people are being hired this year,
compared to last year. 

That also translates into...less floor-help.

They are also turning people away...at America’s food banks.

Donations are down.  And the line...has gotten 82 percent longer.

Many of the extra faces are confused...and wonder how this works...
having never had to ask for help before.

One bright spot in this economy is the good old fashioned Credit Union.

Credit Unions didn’t get mixed up in the high-stakes mortgage game...
and are now a go-to choice for first-time homebuyers.

Their mortgage lending has increased forty percent, since the crisis began...and other lenders began turning people away.

While banks and mortgage companies are now refusing loans to some TYPES
of borrowers...Credit Unions look at each case individually.

FINALLY:     

Today’s topic is...Complaints.

A bank robber appeared in a York Pennsylvania bank Thursday morning,
before the tellers’ cash drawers had even been filled. 

When he made his demand, the first teller fainted. 
The second and third tellers then nervously showed him
their empty cash-drawers.

The armed robber left the bank...but not until he threatened
to file a COMPLAINT with management.

There’s complaining all over the place in Saint Anthony Idaho,
where an effort was underway to kick the mayor out office. 

He showed them. 

He stormed into last week’s meeting, announcing that he was resigning
because he was tired of stupid citizens and the stupid people
with whom he served on the city council.

He told everyone to go to hell, and then he left...
to the biggest applause of his political career.