Subsidies

Lis Sines of Hermosa Beach loves watching her electric meter run backward. When that happens, she knows that the 20 solar panels on her roof are producing more power than she needs to run her 3,800-square-foot home. The excess electricity flows to the electric company's grid, and she gets its full retail value credited to her utility bill. Sines' electric bill has plunged since she and her husband, William, installed a photovoltaic system on their roof three months ago.

Congress is about to approve a new federal program to pay car owners up to $4,500 for trading in gas-guzzling automobiles for more fuel-efficient cars, to the applause of the struggling auto industry. But the program is drawing heavy criticism from an unlikely quarter: environmentalists who are sworn enemies of big, old clunkers that get poor mileage.

A congressional watchdog has concluded that the federal government gave financial institutions a $78-billion subsidy last year by overpaying for stocks and other assets as part of its massive Wall Street rescue plan. In a report scheduled for release today, the congressional oversight panel for the bailout funds found that in some cases the government paid dramatically more than the value of the stocks at the time of the transactions. Ailing insurance giant American International Group Inc.

Southern California's first major seawater desalination plant moved forward Tuesday when it won public subsidies that could eventually amount to $350 million. Years in the planning, the private San Diego County venture would be capable of producing enough water to supply about 100,000 homes. The Carlsbad project is the furthest along of a host of desalination plants under consideration on the California coast. Backers said Tuesday's vote by the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was critical to getting private financing, the plant's next hurdle.

In a last-minute compromise seeking to secure a majority vote for a healthcare overhaul, House Democratic leaders agreed Saturday to essentially exclude abortion coverage from their bill except for insurance policies paid exclusively with private money. The amendment, offered just prior to the vote on the healthcare bill, passed 240 to 194. The compromise won immediate support from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which urged Catholics to "lend their full-throated support" to the Democrats' healthcare bill.

World leaders at the Group of 20 summit are set to pledge to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, according to a copy of a declaration scheduled for release this afternoon. The pledge is purposely vague, though it clearly intends to eliminate tax breaks and direct government assistance for oil, coal and other fossil fuels. It does not set a date for that subsidy phaseout, nor does it specify what would count as a "subsidy" or how countries would police compliance. Environmentalists hailed the pledge as a building block for international efforts to curb global warming and as a small burst of momentum in the run-up to international climate change treaty negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

In a bid to attract liberals and unify Democrats on his healthcare overhaul bill, Senate Finance Committee C hairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today proposed to boost subsidies for financially strapped people who would be required to buy insurance. He also slashed proposed penalties for those who did not comply with the insurance mandate and sought to limit how many people would be subject to a new excise tax on high-end -- or so-called Cadillac -- health plans. Baucus' proposals came on the first day that his committee began reworking his long-awaited blueprint.

Ely is a Nevada mining town with a population of 4,000. Located about a four-hour drive north of Las Vegas, it is perhaps most famous as the birthplace of former First Lady Pat Nixon. Ely also is a beneficiary of Essential Air Service, a federal program established in the 1970s after airline deregulation to prevent small communities from losing access to air travel. But opponents call the program wasteful spending, noting that much of the money provides service to areas with fewer than 30 passengers a day. This week, the Senate passed a transportation bill that includes a $38-million funding increase for the program, which now stands to receive $175 million.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. With little fanfare, a deal is moving forward to provide billions in tax dollars and tax breaks to an unlikely beneficiary -- the giant British liquor producer that makes Captain Morgan rum. Under the agreement, Diageo in London will receive tax credits and other benefits worth $2.7 billion over 30 years, including the $165-million cost of building a state-of-the-art distillery on the island of St. Croix in...

It's not a good time to be a dry cleaner in downtown Tehran. "I just bought a month's supply of detergents and softeners and the cost was 40% higher than four months ago," said Reza Salimi, standing behind the counter in his shop on Taleghani Street. "But inspectors from the Ministry of Commerce come to make sure I don't raise my prices. They're not allowing us to balance the rising costs we face." Stop in any store and the gripes are the same. Oil prices are down and unemployment and anger are high.