Congressional Republicans are moving to shut down President Obama's $30 billion program to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages, but the White House appears to have already found a substitute plan.
Financial markets have been rocked recently by predictions of a rash of municipal bankruptcies this year and talk among Republican leaders of drafting a law allowing states to go bankrupt as well.
Now that Detroit's automakers are back to financial health, they increasingly are looking overseas for sales.
General Motors Co.'s recent stock offering was staged to start paying back the government for its $50 billion bailout, but one group made out much better than the taxpayers or other investors: the company's union.
