New Cash for Clunkers Law Goes Into Effect Today
ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the</s>CNN NEWSROOM. LONG: Good morning, once again. Here's a look at some of the news making headlines this morning. An ultimatum in Honduras. The United Nations and the Organization of American States are both demanding leaders of the military coup in Honduras restore the ousted president to power. And a winner, an official winner at last. Nearly eight months after voters went to the polls, Al Franken has been declared the winner of the U.S. senate race in Minnesota. And lawyers could soon file a will for Michael Jackson in a courtroom in California. According to various reports, the seven- year-old document says Jackson's mother gets custody of his children. Well, you may not have a bank account to match the King of Pop, but that does not mean that you shouldn't put together a will. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins us from New York to tell us what we all need to know about creating a will. And first and foremost, who should be drafting one?</s>GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: You may not think you own a lot, but you probably own more than you think, especially if you have a home, a car, and maybe even a baseball card collection. That means you're a good candidate for making a will. Generally if you have assets, property money you want to direct to another person, you should make out a will. If you don't have one when you die, then the state decides who gets what and what typically happens if you don't have a will and you're survived by a spouse and some kids, the spouse will get up to half your assets and your kids will get the rest. Making out a will, though -- make sure your property goes where you want it to go and you can avoid nasty family squabbles if it's clear as a bell.</s>LONG: How do you get organized? How do we go about drafting that will?</s>WILLIS: If what you own, your estate plans are too complicated, say, what you have is a modest home and you don't have stepkids and a business, you can generally make out your will online. It will cost you 70 bucks, but if your situation is more complicated, say you have a vacation home or you're remarried, other things going on, you may look for a lawyer who specializes in estate planning. Keep in mind these lawyers can be expensive. They can cost anywhere from 600 bucks to $1,000 per will, sometimes more depending on your situation. Melissa?</s>LONG: You mention when somebody gets married. How often should you change the will and update it?</s>WILLIS: Any time you have a life-changing event. If you get married, divorced, you have children, you buy a vacation home, all of these are indicators you should get your will updated and don't keep your will secret. Your family should see it. They should know what's in it and know where to find the latest copy, and that copy should be kept in a safe place. Maybe a bank safety deposit box or at home in a fireproof case. Somewhere where people know how to get it. Because you know what? If they can't find it, you don't have a will.</s>LONG: Important peace of mind if you actually go through this and draft a will. Gerri Willis in New York, thank you very much. Sound advice.</s>WILLIS: My pleasure.</s>LONG: There is some reason for homeowners to take heart this morning. There are some new signs that the housing market may be stabilizing. Minutes ago, we learned that pending home sales in May rose one-tenth of one percent, and that is the fourth straight month of an increase. The National Association of Realtors reporting that credits lower home prices and, also, the $8,000 tax credit that is available to first-time homebuyers right now. Well, big cities have been having quite a revival. New census figures show that the trend moving to the suburbs is slowing. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, all showing population increases. The biggest growth has been recorded in New Orleans. Round Rock, Texas; Cary, North Carolina; Gilbert, Arizona and McKinney, Texas. People are staying put in the cities because the recession, this housing crunch and higher gas prices simply make it tough to relocate. Nearly half a million jobs lost during the month of June, but is it possible to find a silver lining in all this? We want a silver lining. Susan Lisovicz at the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Is there one? Good morning, Susan. Is there one?</s>SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some days are easier than others to find the silver lining. Pretty tough when it has to do with jobs, quite frankly, Melissa. So many of them, 473,000 jobs, to be exact. That's from ADP, which is a payroll processing firm, so it certainly keeps track of those things. Wall Street was expecting that number to be under 400,000. The silver lining, if you will, is that May was revised the previous month, I should say, was revised lower. That was May. Also, we have a separate report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas that shows the planned job cuts, the announcement slowed. That is the fifth straight month. So, that is encouraging. But let's face it, the number of job cuts is still very high and the unemployment rate is quite high. What is also high, and this is also silver lining, is the first day of July starting off on a positive note. The Dow is up 128 points, the NASDAQ is up 25. Good start, tough act to follow, though, the second-quarter rally that we saw. Melissa.</s>LONG: Of course, so many reports on housing and consumer sentiment, and they really gauge how the markets move and how investors react. A report that comes out tomorrow, however, a lot of people are really waiting for, is the government's official report.</s>LISOVICZ: That's right, Melissa. This report, this ADP report, private sector, very broad range of industries, but the government jobs report coming out a day early because the markets will be closed on Friday in observance of the Independence Day holiday includes both public and private, and we are expecting a big number there, as well. I mean, under 400,000, but we've been surprised before and sometimes unpleasantly surprised. We also expect the unemployment rate to tick higher, getting closer to 10 percent. 9.6 percent is the number we're expecting there. Remember employment, unemployment, jobs, a lagging indicator. Even as we get signs that the economy is starting to stabilize or even improve, the jobless rate is expected to rise. It is lagging indicator, Melissa. I can't say it often enough.</s>LONG: Susan, about 30, 35 minutes ago we got a look at the manufacturing figures out of a new report. What can you share with us about that?</s>LISOVICZ: When this rate goes higher, that is actually an improvement. We did see that the manufacturing index did improve slightly. Remember, this is a sector of the economy that has been really decimated. Just think of the auto industry. It has ticked a little bit higher, but, it was better than the Street expected, but still very weak. Melissa.</s>LONG: Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. All amongst the hustle and bustle this morning. Thanks, Susan.</s>LISOVICZ: You're welcome.</s>LONG: If you are considering trading in your gas guzzler for a more fuel-efficient vehicle, there is help from Uncle Sam. The new cash for clunkers law goes into effect today. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow is looking at who stands to benefit and who doesn't benefit. Hey, Poppy.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey, Melissa. Yes, this is a billion dollars of taxpayer money going into this new initiative. Federal officials still working out some of those details. But we want to run through the basics for you, so if you're in the market for a new car and lucky enough to be able to do that right now, here's what you need to know. If your old car gets 18 miles per gallon or less, you can get a government voucher -- a pretty substantial one between $3,500 or $4,500. Depends on how fuel efficient the car is. Now, here's the catch. The clunker can't be more than 25 years old. A lot of people don't have cars that old, but they can't be more than that. Another catch here is that those vouchers from the government, they are actually in place of and not in addition to the ordinary trade-in value of your car or your truck. So, if your old car is worth more than the voucher amount when you trade it in, you shouldn't even bother with this at all, Melissa. That's something a lot of people don't know. You really should know that. This is not on top of the trade-in value, it is in lieu of it, Melissa.</s>LONG: Looking at that car, 25 years of age. Kudos to that car company and that driver as well. With this cash for clunkers program, is this really going to significantly boost car sales in the U.S.?</s>HARLOW: That is the hope and the Big Three love this, they were in support of it. It was debated in Congress. What lawmakers are predicting is this will prompt sales of about 250,000 new vehicles. It runs through November 1 or when that billion dollars in funding runs out. We went on the streets in New York, we asked people about it, and not one person we stopped heard of cash for clunkers. After we explained it, here's what their reaction was.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in a recession and money's tight, and a little bit of money goes a long way.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government's going to give me money to go get another car that is better than the old car? I would run with it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just have this really fuel-inefficient -- it is like a big old Jeep, and I would rather be driving something that gives me a little more bang for my buck.</s>HARLOW: All right, her big old Jeep is probably going to qualify, but a lot of cars are not because their fuel economy isn't bad enough. One woman told us she wanted to trade in her 1990 Toyota Corolla. We looked that up. It gets better than 18 miles per gallon. So that's not eligible. Even though it's an older car. This is really going to help drivers of trucks and SUVs. You want to go on to this site, fueleconomy.gov. Find out if you qualify. Those are the details. More on CNNmoney. Melissa.</s>LONG: Poppy Harlow from CNNmoney.com. Thanks, Poppy. Fans, the longtime fans and now the new fans put Michael Jackson back on the Billboard charts. Josh Levs following this story for us. Morning, Josh.</s>JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Melissa. I'll tell you, we've got some brand-new figures. They're out right now. We're going to show you what the numbers are behind the skyrocketing album sales and a brand-new record, something that no one has ever done.