moves forward. so a major health system here in northern california is trying to do something about that. >> brown: paul solman talks to authors joe nocera and bethany mclean about who's at fault for the financial crisis. >> even though in... you can argue that this was a run on the bank, it was a run on the bank created by the way wall street did business. so in the end they only have themselves to blame. >> woodruff: plus, we interview alaska's lisa murkowski-- the first senate candidate to win as a write-in since 1954. >> brown: that's all ahead. on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i want to know what the universe... >> looks like. >> feels like. >> from deep space. >> to a microbe. >> i can contribute to the world by pursuing my passion for science. >> it really is the key to the future. >> i want to design... >> a better solar cell. >> i want to know what's really possible. >> i want to be the first to cure cancer. >> people don't really understand why things work. >> i want to be that person that finds out why. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: general motors returned to life as a publicly traded company today. and though many questions remain, the move symbolized the rebirth of an american corporate icon that the government rescued from collapse last year. g.m.'s chief executive dan akerson rang the opening bell at the new york stock exchange this morning. accompanied by the roar of a chevy engine, he said he hoped it signaled a revitalized future. >> it's just a wonderful day for general motors. i think it's a wonderful day for the united states. and i'm particularly pleased for the employees and retirees of general motors. this is not the finish line for general motors today, in fact i'd say this is the beginning, a new beginning, a new chapter and a much better chapter than it has been in recent years. >> brown: the old g.m.'s stock had traded for less than a dollar before the company went bankrupt 16 months ago. today's initial public offering price for the new g.m. was set at $33 a share. by day's end, it closed just over $34 a share. shortly after the closing bell, president obama welcomed the day's developments. >> today, one of the toughest tales of the recession took another big step towards becoming a success story. general motors relaunched itself as a public company, cutting the government's stake in the company by nearly half. what's more, american taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in g.m. and that's a very good thing. >> brown: even so, the president of g.m.'s retiree association john christie said his members aren't getting excited just yet. >> having gone through some especially some of the older retirees, have had a lot of gm stock, which became almost worthless. they took a pretty good financial hit on that, so a lot of those folks are not real anxious to get back in and maybe are not even financially in a position to get back in. >> brown: g.m. itself was in critical condition not so long ago. it took a $50 billion federal bailout just to stay alive and underwent a radical reorganization. the auto maker closed 14 of its 47 plants as part of that process. and it shut down or sold its hummer, saturn, saab, and pontiac brands. the company also cut its debt from $46 billion down to $8 billion. the turnaround was managed by company and government officials, led by so-called auto czar stephen rattner. he was also in the news for another, unrelated reason today, after agreeing to pay more than $6 million to settle an securities case. rattner was accused of paying kickbacks to help his private equity firm win business from new york's state pension fund. as for g.m., it emerged from bankruptcy a leaner company, but one with the unwanted nickname government motors with washington holding a 61% stake. at the time, president obama >> brown: after today's stock offering the government role has been reduced from majority shareholder to a 36% stake. g.m.'s share price will still need to reach at least $53 within the next few years for taxpayers to break even. for a closer assessment of the new g.m. we turn to michael robinet, director of global production forecasting for i.h.s. automotive, an industry research group. and micheline maynard, senior editor of "changing gears," a public radio project focused on the future of the industrial midwest. she previously covered the auto industry for the "new york times," and is author of several books, including "the end of detroit: how the big three lost their grip on the american car market." michael robinet, i'll start with you. what does this i.p.o. tell you about g.m.'s success at turning itself around? >> well, we've got 40 years of hubris and accumulated legacies that were essentially and unfortunately in some respects washed away about a year ago. but this is sort of... this is a rebirth. this allows g.m. to go to customers and basically say "we are moving away from being government-owned, either the u.s. and canadian government." it also gives them more flexibility. g.m. is a global company now and has been but will be even more global and will have to make decisions as such. >> brown: and a clear vote of confidence from the markets? from investors? >> i think there's no doubt. it was clear over the last couple weeks it was going to be successful and i think all of us in the industry are actually fairly happy for g.m. this gives them a lot more ability to do the things they need to do and not really by encumbered upon by government ownership or some other issue. >> brown: well, mickey maynard, how much and in what ways... you've watches this company for a long time as well. how much have they changed and what questions are still out there? >> well, they've changed in a couple of ways. first of all, as your piece mentioned, four of their brands are gone. the top management in general motors is pretty much now from outside general motors. they're representatives as private equity, wall street, from microsoft. so the people at the top running the company don't have that old sort of baggage and the detroit legacy era. but the questions that remain are very simple. first of all, will people want to buy general motors products? will general motors introduce products that meet where customers needs are going not just where they were in the past? and then i think third and most important, will the national economy give sort of some weight some lift to the turnaround at general motors? because we still have high unemployment. we have a very sad housing situation. and we have consumer confidence that could be a little bit better. and those are the things that you need to really lift the auto industry. >> brown: well, michael robinet, what do you see in terms of those kinds of questions going forward? >> well, we're seeing... at least in the united states we're seeing the sales rate get better. but we can't forget that g.m. is a global company. they are doing very, very well in china. they're growing in india. they're doing well with their partner in thailand in the form of iz. they still have some work to do in europe. i think if there's one box that didn't get checked on the checklist it's europe. and they're addressing that. it takes a little bit longer to clean up some of the capacity and really right size the footprint. but that's a work in progress. i would also say that there's a... it's a very, very competitive marketplace. you know, the toyotas of the world, the hondas, the hyundais, the fords, nobody's taking a break. and certainly g.m. has been given sort of this rebirth by certainly going forward. it's not going to be a walk in the park. >> brown: mickey maynard, a lot of celebrating today, but what about the fallout or the human toll, i guess? we heard in our piece from suspect representing the retiree association. who's lost? who's been left behind here? what do you see? >> well, i see a few groups of people. first of all, retirees have really had a hard time. a lot of the white collar workers who worked for general motors bought lots of stock. they thought that would be one of the things that helped them through retirement. the stock is almost worthless. they also have seen their medical benefits cut. and so have blue-collar workers that general motors... now, the u.a.w. didn't have to grant any wage cuts, but some benefits that have been long held at the company went away. and then finally we've seen hundreds of dealers closed as part of this. and you have to remember that every one of those dealerships that you see that's now closed probably employed 100 people, maybe even 200 people. so there are a lot of jobs with people who didn't work directly for general motors who've lost their jobs because of what happened to general motors. >> brown: and so where you are in... you're documenting the changes in the midwest, we said. so there's a lot bigger story out there than just what happens on a given day like today you're saying? >> it's a significant story for us as a changing gears project. we're looking at how the midwest is trying to reinvent itself and certainly state of michigan has to reinvent itself. ohio, indiana, illinois, wisconsin. all of these are places that had big general motors plants. so it's definitely good for the midwest that general motors has gone through bankruptcy and survived. but there's going to be years and years to make up for here, and a lot of hard choices for people to make as well. >> brown: now michael robinet, a lot of people looking at this i.p.o. as not only a verdict on general motors but perhaps on the broader economy. but speak to that specifically about a verdict on the broader auto industry. what does this tell us, if anything, about that? >> there's a lot of optimism. certainly out of detroit there's a tremendous amount of optimism. i'll do with the vehicle parts suppliers and a number of them have had to go through a vetting process very similar to what we've seen g.m. do. they've closed capacity. they took out white-collar salary counts. they became more efficient. but they're at a point where everybody's break even has been lowered and we've got... the volumes are slowly rising. it's actually a very good environment to earn income in this industry. it's getting much better. it's going to be slow. and stable is key here. stable is very key. the manufacturers and the parts suppliers, they don't want volume moving up and down and gyrating a lot. they want a more stable environment they can play into and that's exactly what we have right now. >> brown: mickey maynard, what do you see in terms of the broader industry? >> well, obviously the auto industry is more than general motors, ford, and chrysler. more than half the cars sold in this country now are built by companies from outside the united states. so one of the things that people sort of forgot about in the whole debate over the bailout was what about the plants in the south? what about the hondas and toyotas and hyundais and mercedes benz? actually, they are foreign companies that are still coming to invest in the united states. so i think over the next few years we'll continue to see, as mike said, that very, very competitive auto market and general motors has to merge into sort of three lanes of traffic that are not going to slow down for it. >> brown: and mickey, finally, come back to g.m. and today. where do things stand in terms of the government's involvement in the company and, of course, the potential for taxpayers to be eventually, perhaps, repaid? >> well, there's a good comparison with the ford motor company because ford is a public company, but the ford family has control of about 40% of the company through a special class of stock. if you look at general motors, the government has control of general motors through about 36% of its stock. so it's really the government on one side, the ford family on the other. and both will say that they're not intrusive in either company and yet i think their influence will be felt. all of the c.e.o.s that have been named in the last couple of months, there are two people who ran general motors, ed whitacre and now mr. ackerson. they were directors chosen by the treasury department. and i think as treasury sees general motors is drifting in the wrong direction they won't hesitate to correct their course. >> brown: and briefly, michael robinet, what about the taxpayer's potential for get regular paid eventually? >> i think it looks fairly positive. it was interesting to see the canadian government didn't increase their allocation like the u.s. government did. i think that maybe they see that going down the road two or three years the stock's going to be higher and we'll be able to repatriate and really pay back and then some the funds that they put in to save this company. >> brown: all right. michael robinet, mickey maynard, thank you both. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: still to come on the "newshour": debating where to try terror suspects; finding more primary care doctors; laying blame for the financial crisis and winning in alaska. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman in our newsroom. the veteran new york democrat acknowledged making mistakes, but said he was not corrupt. >> there was no intent for me ever to go beyond what has been given to me as a salary. i never attempted to enrich myself and that i walk away no matter what your decision grateful that i've had this opportunity to serve. publicly censured on the house floor. that is the most serious punishment the house can mete out, short of expelling a member. the house fell short today in a bid to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed beyond the holidays. the measure would have added $12.5 billion to the deficit. republicans insisted it be paid for, using funds from last year's economic stimulus bill. the number of americans applying for jobless benefits for the first time rose last week, but only by 2,000. and the four-week average of claims remained near its lowest point in two years. the numbers could indicate the pace of layoffs is slowing and some hiring is taking place. wall street rallied on the economic data and made up some of its recent losses. the dow jones industrial average gained 173 points to close at 11,181. the nasdaq rose 38 points to close at 2,514. the markets also were helped by news that ireland is moving closer today to accepting a bailout for its debt crisis. the head of ireland's central bank predicted the government will negotiate billions of dollars in loans from european partners and the international monetary fund. the irish finance minister said a proposed contingency fund for irish banks is a desirable outcome. president obama insisted today that ratifying a nuclear arms treaty with russia is imperative. the president called in former secretaries of state and defense from both parties. all of them support ratification of the new "start" treaty. mr. obama wants senate action before congress goes home for the year. he said today the u.s. cannot afford to wait. >> every month that goes by without a treaty means we are not able to verify what goes on in ground in russia. and if we delay indefinitely american leadership on non- proliferation and america's national security will be weakened. earlier this week, senator jon kyl-- the republican point man on the treaty-- said he was against holding a vote this year. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we turn to a verdict in a federal terrorism trial and what it could mean for prosecuting other alleged terrorists. ray suarez has that story. >> suarez: it's been a dozen years since the devastating attacks on the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania. 224 people were killed, including 12 americans. but on wednesday, ahmed ghailani was acquitted on all but one of almost 300 charges. he was accused of buying the truck and explosives used in one of the bombings. a federal jury in new york convicted the tanzanian man of a single count of conspiracy. afterward, ghailani's attorney said he would appeal that lone conviction. >> at the start of this trial, we believed that ahmed was truly innocent of all these charges. please understand that we still truly believe he is innocent of all these charges. >> suarez: the accused al qaeda operative was the first guantanamo detainee to face trial in a civilian court. his case was seen as a test for president obama's policy of moving away from military tribunals. >> some have derided our federal courts as incapable of handling the trials of terrorists. they are wrong. our courts and our juries, our citizens, are tough enough to convict terrorists. >> suarez: but the ghailani verdict cast a new shadow on plans to try other guantanamo suspects, especially khalid sheik mohammed, the accused mastermind of september 11. new york congressman peter king -- incoming chair of the house homeland security committee -- said the verdict demonstrates the absolute insanity of the obama administration's decision to try al-qaeda terrorists in civilian courts." ghailani will be sentenced on january 25. he faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. two views now on the implications of the ghilani trial and verdict. michael mukasey was attorney general during the last year of the bush administration. he is now an attorney in private practice in new york city. eugene fidell is president of the national institute of military justice, and he's a senior research scholar at yale university law school. eugene fidell, let me begin with you. what, if anything, does the gail gail verdict tell us about the idea of trying terrorist suspects in civilian courts? >> ray, i think the answer to that depends on your perspective going into the case. from my perspective, the case demonstrates that you can have a highly credible criminal prosecution in frat district court and come out with a successful outcome, namely a verdict in favor of the government, and at the same time honor all the guarantees of the u.s. constitution. i think that's a substantial achievement and, by the way, you can do that without shutting down the island of manhattan. >> suarez: judge mukasey, what do you think? >> i think it is... i can agree with gene fidell but to a certain extent it depends on your perspective going in. beyond that i think we disagree just about else. >> suarez: so your perspective going in was the exact different outcome of his. >> it's a less-than-satisfactory outcome to what i think was a very unwise and dangerous gambit which was to take this prosecution... this case, we already proved that the courts could be used to try this specific charge. two defendants were tried in this case already in the southern district of new york and convicted a couple of years ago. this man was undercharged not only in this case but for other acts as well, including being a document forger, a bomb maker, he was so well trusted that he was the cook to osama bin laden. he was ready to start his military commission trial at guantanamo. all of that was shut down so that he could be brought here and essentially used as an example, as it were, of being able to take somebody from guantanamo, bring him here, and conduct a trial even though this trial would no-no way be comparable to the trial of k.s.m. and even that experiment went aground. >> suarez: please expand, if you would, on your idea that the outcome tells us something about the process? would your view of a civilian