The Morning Meeting: Big Three, Mortgage Rates, Layoffs & A White Christmas

We upended our broadcast last night to lead with the Chrysler shutdown announcement — which broke about 90 minutes before air — and that story is still with us this morning. In particular, what is the White House doing, or preparing to do for the Big Three? What’s the delay about — disagreement, or as an official told us late yesterday, a concern that rushing any help will do more harm than good? The other big question, of course: how is the news being taken at the plants in question?

We also have some remarkable news about mortgage rates today — a sharp drop that is welcome, both for those looking for mortgages and for the broader economy. Less bright is our poll finding that 1in 4 Americans say someone in their home has had their pay or their work hours cut in the last few months, and news breaking this morning about FedEx, Aetna and others who are cutting back in big ways.

Other news we’re watching today: rumblings about a coup that may have been foiled in Iraq, our team in southern China finds a workers’ protest, and as freak weather hits the southwest, a huge storm heads from the midwest to the northeast, and prospects for a White Christmas look good (or bad, depending on your perspective) in many parts of the country. Stay tuned…