by Laura Conaway

Good morning. Here's what we're reading today:

UPDATE: Retail sales fell in September from the level in August, when the government's Cash for Clunkers program pushed a wave of buyers into car dealerships. Without that federal stimulus, the Commerce Department reports, sales were down by 1.5 percent from month to month, and down 5.7 percent from September 2008. Sales for the third quarter of 2009 were down 6.6 percent from a year ago.

The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved its $829 billion plan for overhauling U.S. health care. It includes a tax on so-called Cadillac plans and support for health care cooperatives. The measure passed with a lone Republican supporter, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.

Some members of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's kitchen cabinet are supplementing their government salaries with millions from big Wall Street firms, Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, Wall Street pay is on a record pace, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. requ'd.). For more average Americans, this has been the year of the pay cut.

The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts unemployment will reach 10.2 percent next year even as economic growth continues. Meanwhile, median home prices in Southern California have, miraculously, risen year-over-year.

The stock market continued its upward push after news that China's exports had dropped the least amount in almost a year. The Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein is worried that the market is reinflating old bubbles.

British unemployment rose in August by the least amount in a year.