NPR 2009-03-23

The Obama administration is hoping to draw significant private investment into its effort to buy up troubled assets from banks in order to free up lending to businesses and families. Treasury 1 Secretary Timothy Geithner is slated 2 to announce details of the plan tomorrow. But economist 3 Diane Swonk with Mesirow Financial says whether private investors 4 will be willing to participate is still unclear. “Unfortunately because of all of the backlash to AIG bailout bonuses, etc, um, many private investors may be somewhat leery to do anything with the government’s aid, because it may expose their entire business to a level of scrutiny 5 that they are just not comfortable with.” The administration’s plan reportedly includes establishment of a new government entity 6 to hold banks’ toxic 7 assets until they can be sold.

The administration is warning Congress not to go too far in pursuing the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses paid to executives at American International Group. The White House says the president has problems with the House bill that would impose hefty taxes on these bonuses. NPR’s Robert Smith has more.

President Obama’s economic team said on the Sunday morning talk shows that the president would consider the House plan to tax AIG bonuses at a ninety percent rate but they warned that the President doesn’t wanna govern out of anger. Jared Bernstein is the economic advisor 8 to vice 9 President Joe Biden. “I think the president would be concerned that this bill may have some problems in going too far. The House bill may go too far in terms of some legal issues, constitutional validity, using the tax code to surgically 10 punish a small group. That may be a dangerous way to go.” Bernstein was speaking on ABC’s “This Week”. The plan to tax the AIG bonuses now goes to the Senate where it’s likely to be modified. Robert Smith, NPR News, New York.

The head of the White House Council of Economic Advisors 11 Christina Romer says she feels incredibly confident about the prospects 12 for the US economy. She says she believes the economy will be growing again by the end of this year.

British officials have confirmed that they have received a video tape showing one of five British citizens who were taken hostage by militants 13 in Iraq nearly two years ago. NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro has more from Baghdad.

Peter Moore and four of his British security guards were seized by heavily armed men in police uniforms in May 2007 from the Finance Ministry 14 here. At the time of the kidnapping, Iraqi officials blamed Shiite militiamen loyal to anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but it’s now believed the men are being held by a Shiite splinter group. There had been no news of the men for over a year. Embassy officials here say that in the video, a British man who is reported to be Peter Moore looks well. It’s believed that the rest of the men are still alive. The British Embassy here says it’s working for the men’s safe release.  Lourdes Garcia-Navarro NPR News, Baghdad.

Pope Benedict has wrapped up his trip to Africa. He told a gathering 15 in Angola that it’s nearly always women who protect and defend cultural and religious values.

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A trouble plate device on the International Space Station that’s designed to recycle urine into clean drinking water is on the blink again, despite new components 16 delivered by the space shuttle Discovery. NASA wants the gizmo operating properly before expanding the crew on the orbiting outpost from three to six in May.

A fourth police officer has died in Oakland California of wounds sustained in the showdown yesterday with a man who was wanted on a parole violation 17. Mina Kim of member station KQED says the deadly clashes began with a routine traffic stop.

Oakland police officer John Hege was pronounced dead at 11:25 Sunday morning local time. Hege was one of the two motorcycle officers that stopped a vehicle Saturday afternoon. The driver Lovelle Mixon reportedly shot and killed one policeman and gravely wounded Hege during the stop. Mixon then fled and was cornered by a SWAT team in an apartment building. Mixon fatally shot two police officers before he was shot and killed by police. Arrangements are being made for donating Hege’s organs. For NPR News, I’m Mina Kim in Oakland.

Gasoline prices have dropped a bit over the past two weeks: down one cent a gallon to a national average of $1.95 for self service regular. It’s the first decline in prices at the pump this year. But industry analyst 18 Trilby Lundberg says there are a number of reasons that gas prices are likely to resume their upward trend in the coming weeks. “All of the indicators 19 point to a pump price increases: crude oil up, gasoline demand up. Environmental regulations that make gasoline cost more are seasonal 20 and they will kick in very soon.”  Lundberg says the highest gas prices in the most recent survey were found in Honolulu, the lowest were in Cheyenne, Wyoming.