STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's business news starts with an appeal from the steel industry.
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INSKEEP: Think of it as a steel bailout. Since September, U.S. steel output has plunged about 50 percent, five-zero. That is largely due to declines in construction and auto manufacturing. Steel output is now at its lowest point since the 1980s. And now, according to our friends at the New York Times, the struggling industry is urging President-elect Obama to give them some help. They're not asking for a direct cash infusion the way that the banks were, but they do want a stimulus plan that would include up to $1 trillion for public works. That plan would include funds to build things like bridges, highways, electric-power grids, mass-transit systems - things that need a lot of steel. The president-elect has not yet released details of his planned economic stimulus, but aides have suggested it will include significant infrastructure spending.