By Daniel Costello

The future of Saab was thrown into doubt on Tuesday after General Motors announced a consortium led by Swedish investors pulled out of talks to buy the premium car brand.

The deal's collapse marks the second failure by GM in less than two months to sell a money-losing brand. In October, Penske Automotive Group abandoned a deal to acquire GM's Saturn because of doubts about securing a long-term supply of vehicles.

In February, GM said it was seeking a buyer for Saab, Saturn and Hummer as part of a drive to pare down its product portfolio as it prepared for US government-funded Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It now appears more likely than not that GM will shutter Saab and Saturn, and honor warrantees and other customer services through its remaining car units.

By Daniel Costello

Recent talk of a recovery in housing prices appears premature. Prices as a whole recorded an 8.9 percent drop in the third quarter, compared to a year earlier -- a big improvement from the 15 percent and 19 percent drops in the prior five quarters, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. But the drop for the closely watched 20-city index, 9.4 percent, was worse than expected.

Las Vegas remains the most depressed market in the U.S. Prices have declined for 37 consecutive months, with a peak-to-trough reading of -55.4 percent. While Detroit has seen some positive movement in recent months, the market is still at only 73 percent of its 2000 value. This compares to regions such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, which have maintained values of 70-80 percent above their 2000 averages, in spite of the market downturn.

By Daniel Costello

More than half of artists have seen their income fall in the last year, with nearly 18 percent of respondents reporting an income loss of more than 50 percent during the recent recession, according to a new study.

Incredibly, many artists also said they were inspired by the hard times, with some reporting they were happy to have more time to spend on their art because they were out of work. Three out of four of the 5,200 artists surveyed said that it was an inspiring time to be an artist, and 89 percent felt that artists could play a special role in strengthening their communities during turbulent economic times.

The report found the majority of artists work a second job (and about 20 percent work a third job) to finance their art; musicians and architects make more than painters and writers; and the majority have college degrees.

A press release goes up in the window of County Bank's Merced, Calif. branch announcing that state regulators have closed the bank, February 6, 2009. (Lisa James/AP)

By Caitlin Kenney

The FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund, which protects bank deposits, fell below zero in the third quarter of this year. Fifty U.S. banks failed, taking the fund down to negative $8.2 billion. It's only the second time in the agency's history that it has slipped into the red.

Despite the dip, depositors remain protected. The government agency set aside extra reserves of $38.9 billion this year to cover estimated losses. Adding in that additional money, brings the Deposit Insurance Fund's reserves up to $30.7 billion. The FDIC also has the ability to tap into an emergency credit line from the Treasury Department if it needs to.

So far this year, the FDIC has seized and sold 124 banks. The list of "problem banks" stood at 552 at the end of September.

Continue reading "FDIC In The Red" >

By Daniel Costello

Broad and rapid government stimulus measures helped the global economy to avert the worst of the recent financial crisis, but the global economy remains highly vulnerable to new shocks, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Monday. He said it is far too early to end fiscal interventions as an early exit may jeopardize a fragile recovery.

"The storm has passed. The worst has been averted," he said at the Confederation of British Industry annual conference in London Monday. With unemployment at historic levels, and still climbing, he said it's difficult to claim that the crisis is over and added global banking systems remain undercapitalized, weighed down by toxic assets and a rising number of non-performing loans.

The IMF is looking at a controversial plan for a tax on all financial transactions as a way of forcing banks to pay for any future bailouts. Critics of the plan say a punitive tax on the financial services sector could harm the recovery at a delicate time.

Continue reading "Morning Report: IMF Chief Backs More Stimulus; Early Holiday Sales Mixed" >

The impeached governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Bayelsa state leaves the Federal High Court in Lagos escorted by members of the country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. January, 2006. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images)

On today's Planet Money:

Nuhu Ribadu spent years fighting corruption in Nigeria. From his early days in the Nigerian police force to his later years as head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ribadu battled the corruption that strangled his country's economic growth. He had some success for a while, but after two attempts on his life, he was forced to leave his home country and come to the United States. He shares the stories of his struggle and says he hasn't given up yet.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Music: TV On The Radio's "Staring At The Sun." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

By Daniel Costello

The notion that lower-income people make up the majority of our armed forces has led to sayings like "rich man's war, poor man's fight."

Now, Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has an unusual ideato equalize the cost of war: a war tax on the rich.

An "additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000" a year, could fund more troops, Levin proposed in an interview for Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt," this weekend.

Continue reading "A War Tax On The Rich?" >

By Daniel Costello

Sales of existing U.S. homes increased 10.1 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.10 million, the National Association of Realtors estimated Monday. The rate was the highest since February 2007.

Sales were up 23.5 percent from the same time last year. Every region in the country experienced a pick-up. Meanwhile, the national median home price fell 7.1 percent to $173,100 in October compared to the same time last year.

Continue reading "Existing Home Sales, Oil Jump " >

By Daniel Costello

In 2007, riots broke out from Egypt to Haiti when food shortages grew around the globe. Food prices have been rising for years as overall demand continues to outstrip supply and structural problems with how food is grown and distributed around the world worsen.

Last year's recession eased food inflation but policy experts are worried prices could rise soon, impacting developed countries still hurting from the recession and poorer countries with little breathing room for even minor dips in the food supply.

Continue reading "A Coming Food Crisis?" >

By Daniel Costello

Microsoft Corp. and News Corp. have held talks to create a Web pact that would include Microsoft paying News Corp. to 'de-index' its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry, the Financial Times reports.

News Corp. initiated the talks although the Financial Times says that Microsoft had also approached other online publishers about removing their sites from Google's search engine in exchange for content payment.

Meanwhile, Chinese banking regulators are putting pressure on the country's banks to raise more capital and temper their rapid growth in lending, in the clearest signs yet of official concern about the sustainability of the nation's credit boom.

Continue reading "Morning Report: Murdoch Vs. Google; Suicides Up During Recession" >