Marketplace for Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008

Segments From This Episode

• What the GMAC bailout means for GM

  by Bob Moon

  GMAC, the financial arm of General Motors, received a $6 billion bailout from the Treasury Department. Now General Motors is offering 5-year, no-interest loans to prospective car buyers with low credit scores in hopes of boosting sales. But as Bob Moon reports, the government bailout could cause trouble for General Motors down the road.

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• Home prices continue to drop

  by Andrea Gardner

  The latest housing statistics are out, and they're pretty dismal. The Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller housing index dropped 18 percent in October from a year ago, a record fall. It's the 27th month in a row the housing index has posted losses. Sarah Gardner reports.

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• Who’s paying for those holiday sales?

  by Janet Babin

  Lots of stores offered deep discounts on merchandise to lure shoppers this holiday season. But who will pay the price for those door-busting sales — retailers or the companies who made the merchandise? Janet Babin reports.

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• Dissecting the auto industry pileup

  by Marketplace Staff

  You may have heard that the automobile industry got into a bit of trouble this year. Kai Ryssdal speaks with Alisa Roth about what went on in Detroit and what's yet to come.

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• Stock buybacks cause setbacks

  by Mitchell Hartman

  Companies may have thought buying back their own stock was a good idea a few years ago. But as Mitchell Hartman reports, those companies that used borrowed money to finance those buybacks are in trouble now.

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• A volatile market for home heating oil

  by Kai Ryssdal

  Prices for home heating oil looked like they were only going to continue rising this past summer, so many customers locked in winter contracts. Now, heating oil's dropped to less than $2.50. Kai Ryssdal speaks with oil retailer Peter Bourne about how his customers are feeling and how his business is doing.

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• Ethanol could kill your small engine

  by Marketplace Staff

  By 2022, the government says the U.S. must produce 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel. But the ethanol mandate could be disastrous for your lawnmowers, boats, and small engines. Peter O'Dowd reports.

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• Circuit breakers: Not just for electricity

  by Jeremy Hobson

  The New York Stock Exchange will announce the new numbers for its emergency circuit breakers Wednesday. So, what's a circuit breaker exactly? Jeremy Hobson explains in the latest Decoder.

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