President Bush offered the American auto industry $13.4 billion dollars in short-term financing that will be drawn from the $700 billion dollar Wall Street rescue program. Another $4 billion dollars will be added later. The President said that the only way to avoid a collapse of the U.S. auto industry was for the executive branch to step in. However, there are some serious stipulations attached to the loan. Joining The Takeaway is Micheline Maynard, Senior Business Correspondent for The New York Times, based in Michigan, and Todd Zwillich with Capitol News Connection.

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The price of gas is dropping, but statistics show Americans are clocking fewer miles on the road.

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"Obama is going to form a working coalition and put people in it that give him the votes when he needs them. If you think that you're going to have all Democrats, all highly partisan people, you may be disappointed."
--Lynn Sweet on the president-elect's cabinet choices

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Illinois Democratic governor Rod Blagojevich must find a replacement for President-elect Barack Obama, who will resign his Senate seat Sunday. The first-term Senator was the only black in the Senate and the choice of his successor will be a huge political gift to whomever gets it (for Blagojevich as well — he's become reviled since his election in 2002). But with no choice expected soon, Democrats retain a tenuous majority in the Senate — McCain supporter Senator Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., is a wild card — as lawmakers consider economic stimulus legislation.

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"The controls that might have been written six weeks ago when this bill was signed would perhaps be defunct at this point because of the change in policy. That exposes the soft underbelly of the overall process."
— Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen speaking about overseeing financial bailouts

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The brilliant young men and women who were plucked from college by booming banks are now looking for other options. This is a good thing, and history proves it, says Stephen Dubner, co-author of the "Freakonomics" book and blog. Americans can look forward to talented, hard-working people spreading out through the economy, in ways that may buoy our GDP.

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In an election defined by complaints of partisanship, bruising primaries and the longest of campaigns, how do the rallies of the Republicans and Democrats differ days from the election?

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Takeaway contributor and "Freakonomics" author Stephen Dubner grapples with the balancing act of being a responsible parent and telling his children some cold, hard truths. Dubner wonders when is the right age — and what might be the wrong moment — for a dose of adult-strength reality.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a brilliant man. By the age of 13, he had written concertos, sonatas, symphonies, a German operetta and an Italian opera. He took Europe by storm and even wrote a requiem, which he intended to commemorate his own death. Today, the music of Mozart is heard in elevators, at a quiet volume. Terrance McKnight, host of WNYC's Evening Music, has been broadcasting from the “Mostly Mozart Festival.”

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Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted on seven counts of making false statements. The 84-year-old Alaska Republican and former chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee is accused of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home. In 2005, Stevens became a lightning rod for critics of wasteful spending when he backed a costly "bridge to nowhere" in his home state. It ultimately was not funded.

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The waters of the Cedar River are starting to recede in eastern Iowa, an area that was forced to evacuate nearly 24,000 people after heavy rains pounded the area. As residents slowly return, they are finding high waters remain. Iowa public media correspondent Dean Borg speaks with The Takeaway from his home outside Cedar Rapids.

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Tragedies like Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami and the Sept. 11 attacks prompted billions of dollars in donations. But following an earthquake in Pakistan that killed 80,000... not so much. How much do Americans give to charitable causes? And why? Stephen Dubner, author of "Freakonomics," has numbers and answers. More: Dubner's Freakonomics blog

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