NPR News 2009-02-25 加文本
NPR News 2009-02-25
From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Speer.
President Barack Obama is expected to discuss details of his administration's economic recovery package in an address before a joint session of Congress tonight. Presidential Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says Mr. Obama will be "honest about where we are" in the prime-time address. Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics says the president also needs to say the government is taking concrete steps to end the recession. "This financial collapse was caused by Wall Street and it can be remedied by Washington. President Obama needs to give people confidence that we're gonna get out of this mess within the next twelve or eighteen months. It's not a five year proposition." Presidential address is expected to outline plans for Mr. Obama’s first year in office and comes at the time the president has overall a relatively high 68% approval rating. Tonight’s address comes two days before the White House delivers a budget blueprint to Congress.
The housing market continues its downward plunge. The latest number for the closely watched Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed record declines. NPR's Chris Arnold has more.
Home prices nationally were down 18% in the fourth quarter as compared to the year before. Pat Newport is a housing economist at IHS Global Insight. "Though it's a pretty grim report, prices are dropping at record-setting rates. They're dropping in every city covered in the survey, and they were dropping at over 20% rates in several cities." Prices are falling faster in areas with the most foreclosures including Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami. There were more modest declines in Dallas, Denver, Boston and New York. Overall in nationwide Newport expects price to stop falling some time next year. But he doesn’t expect to see home prices start rising at all again until some time in 2011. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
The US Airways pilot who successfully landed his plane in the Hudson River appeared before Congress today to share his concerns about the airline industry. NPR's Carol Anne Clark Kelly reports.
Pilot ‘Sully’ Sullenberger says the experience of his crew played a role in his ability to safely ditch in the Hudson. But rather than talk about what went right last month, Sullenberger says he'd rather focus on what’s happening to his profession. "We've been hit by an economic tsunami: September 11th, bankruptcies, fluctuating fuel prices, mergers, loss of pensions and revolving-door management teams who have used airline employees as an ATM, have left the people who work for the airlines in the United States with extreme economic difficulties." Captain Sullenberger told lawmakers he's taken a financial hit by staying in the airline business. He warned that if pay and pensions continue to shrink, airlines will still find people to be pilots. It just won't be the same ones doing it now. Carol Anne Clark Kelly, NPR News, Washington.
On Wall Street, stocks rebounded today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 236 points, ending the session at 7,350. The NASDAQ gained 54 points today.
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Senator Roland Burris, the man appointed by the former governor of Illinois to fill President Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, appears to ignore the suggestion from the Senate's No.2 Democrat to be stepped down. Comments from Burris reportedly came during a meeting with fellow Senator Dick Durban, who says he told Burris that he would have little luck next year in winning the seat and should resign. Burris was appointed to the Senate post by disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich was impeached amid charges he sought to sell the vacant seat. Burris has faced repeated calls to resign, but so far has refused to do so.
A satellite that was launched this morning to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ended up in the ocean instead of in orbit. NPR's Richard Harris has more.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California shortly before 2 am local time. But something went wrong with the rocket that was supposed to carry it into space. NASA says a preliminary investigation shows that a protective shroud around the satellite failed to break free. And as a result, the Orbital Sciences Corporation rocket and the satellite ended up in the ocean near Antarctica. The satellite was supposed to be a powerful new tool to study carbon dioxide - a key component of global warming. A Japanese satellite with similar abilities is currently in orbit and operating successfully. Even so, the launch failure is a costly disappointment. Scientists had been working on this mission for more than eight years. NASA is convening a team to investigate the failure. Richard Harris, NPR News.
Discount airline AirTran Airways announced today it’s cutting fares to everywhere it flies to the middle of this fall. Fare cuts will quickly match by other airlines including American and Continental. Industry analysts say locking in fares so far in advance is unusual, on the part it appears to be removed by the airlines to generate future business at the time of economic uncertainty.
I'm Jack Speer, NPR News in Washington.
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