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The Inside Front
Monday December 1,1997
News
from campus, the state,the nation and the world
STATE
TOPEKA: The Kansas Legislature appears likely to approve tax cuts next year worth between $125 million and $150 million.
NATIONAL
WASHINGTON: Top U.S. and U.N. officials toned down angry rhetoric against Baghdad yesterday, speaking not of air strikes or Iraq human shields but of using diplomacy to resolve a dispute with Saddam Hussein about weapons inspections and of easing hunger in Iraq.
NEW YORK: Shoppers packed the nation's stores and malls in the first days of the holiday buying season, but many went straight for sale racks and bought only when the price was right.
WASHINGTON: Some economists suggest deflation may be reappearing after a six decade absence, but this may not be good news for consumers.
INTERNATIONAL
KYOTO, Japan: The chief scientist responsible for alerting the world to global warming said yesterday the Clinton administration's intentions may be good, but its ideas for dealing with the threat fall short of what is needed.
STATE
Tax cuts expected to pass Kansas Legislature easily
TOPEKA — The Legislature appears likely to approve tax cuts next year worth between $125 million and $150 million.
A package in that range would allow a mix of sales, income, business and other tax breaks. It also would permit lawmakers to increase spending for public schools and other items.
Legislators expect tax relief to be among the biggest issues after the 1998 session convenes in January. Tax issues are tied to spending issues, because the more money legislators commit to programs, the smaller the tax cuts they can make.
Moderate Republicans and Democrats decided the best tack would be to determine what they want to spend and draft a tax package to fit the budget, rather than draft a tax package and make the budget fit.
"I'm optimistic that we can come together early in the session on a package," said Senate President Dick Bond, R-Overland Park.
The state's strong economy continues to pump money into the state treasury, and lawmakers are expected to open the session with a bulge in revenues of about $400 million. The money represents unanticipated tax revenues the state collected before its 1997 budget year ended June 30 and rosy forecasts for tax collections during its current and 1999 budget years.
Gov. Bill Graves and his staff have suggested tax cuts of about $125 million, while moderate Republicans and Democrats would go higher. Bond's figure is $150 million.
NATIONAL U.S. proposes diplomacy to solve dispute with Iraq
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. and U.N. officials toned down angry rhetoric against Baghdad yesterday, speaking not of air strikes or Iraqi human shields but of using diplomacy to resolve a dispute with Saddam Hussein about weapons inspections and of easing hunger in Iraq.
As Iraqi demonstrators accused the West of starving Iraq's children, Ambassador Bill Richardson, the U.S. envy to the United Nations, and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan both voiced a willingness to improve the flow of food and medicine to Baghdad as soon as this week.
The powerful U.S. force patrolling the Gulf will remain as long as President Clinton considers it necessary, Richardson said. But he also made it clear that the U.S. priority is keeping the dispute at a diplomatic level, even if it means putting up with temporary Iraqi obstructionism.
"We're not going to put any artificial deadlines," Richardson said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Our policy has been steady. We want diplomacy to work."
Richardson said the Clinton administration was willing to consider boosting the food and medicine flowing to Iraq
through a program that allows the Baghdad government to sell oil for humanitarian supplies. And he said that decision would have nothing to do with Saddam's opposition to allowing a U.N. weapons team to inspect scores of presidential palaces for evidence of Iraqi chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.
NEW YORK — Shoppers packed the nation's stores and malls during the first days of the holiday buying season, but many went straight for sale rack and bought only when the price was right.
Trends have changed for holiday shopping
Stores that offered big discounts and low prices fared best during the Thanksgiving weekend, retailers said yesterday.
"Christmas time is no different than the rest of the year," said Kurt Barnard, a retail consultant and president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report. "Shoppers want to get more for their money, so they favor stores that offer the best prices."
Many stores unlocked their doors before dawn Friday, while others stayed open 24 hours. Some offered extra discounts to early morning arrivals—as much as 50 percent.
Despite mediocre sales during much of the year, retailers are optimistic about the Christmas season. But many are finding they must go to great lengths to lure shoppers.
"The big deals offered early Friday drove in shopers," said Ken Volk, marketing director for mall developer Simon DeBartolo Group in the New York City area. "We had hundreds of people on line at many of our malls before 7 a.m."
Discounters and moderately priced department stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Sears drew flocks of consumers with special promotions, good prices and wide selections of merchandise.
Many stores reported slower sales as the weekend progressed, with more people browsing than buying. Shoppers used to make most of their holiday purchases during Thanksgiving weekend, but now more favor the days before Christmas, when stores slash prices to clear out inventories.
For many stores, the trend toward a later shopping season is worrisome following a less-than-stellar 1997 and disappointments the last two holiday seasons. Retailers count upon the holidays for about half their annual sales and profits.
Deflation threatens U.S. as Asia's woes continue
WASHINGTON — Raldo Capitani's father sold Italian bread door-to-door during the Depression in Highland Park, Ill., near Chicago: 10 cents for a 1-pound loaf, 12 cents for a pound and a half.
His earnings didn't amount to much, but they fed a family of four. And the one thing the family didn't have to worry about during those hardest of hard times was rising prices. Prices, in fact, were falling.
Economists call the phenomenon deflation, and they're debating whether it's on
Deflation may sound good to consumers with memories of skyrocketing prices during the 1970s and early 1980s. But, as Capitania, a 77-year-old retiree in Port St. Lucie, Fla., explained, there was a downside: declining wages and high unemployment.
"Everything was relative. If you paid a dime for a loaf of bread, you had to work hard for that dime," he said. "There were a lot of people ... who got their salary slashed, and they had to take it or leave it. There was always someone waiting in the wings who was ready and willing to take your job."
the verge of reappearing after a six-
decade absence.
Why are economists thinking about deflation when the unemployment rate, at 4.7 percent, is at a 24-year low and consumer confidence is near a 28-year high?
The answer is Asia. Financial crises are halting once red-hot economies in Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea. Sharp currency devaluations mean affected countries will be hard-pressed to buy U.S. goods. Their own goods will sell cheaply when purchased with strong dollars.
That, in turn, puts pressure on U.S. manufacturers to cut prices or lose sales. Computer makers have coped with deflation for years. But the pressure is spreading. New car prices were down 0.6 percent last month from a year ago.
"If this situation is allowed to spread and worsen and fester, then the consequences will be very dire," said economist Richard Berner of Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh.
Inflation, after hitting a post-World War II high of 13 percent in 1979, is running at a 32-year low of about 2 percent this year. So, it wouldn't take much to transform disinflation — progressively smaller price increases — into declining prices.
INTERNATIONAL Global warming scientist denounces U.S. solution
KYOTO, Japan — The chief scientist responsible for alerting the world to global warming said yesterday the Clinton administration's intentions may be good, but its ideas for dealing with the threat fall short of what's needed.
"The U.S. proposal is a positive step in the right direction but inadequate — certainly in the long term, maybe even in the short ten. $ \alpha. $ " Bert Bolin said.
The Swedish climate scientist, in an interview the eve of final negotiations for an international accord to combat global warming, also noted that British climatologists last week projected 1997 will end up as the planet's warmest year in more than a century of record keeping outgoing 1997.
This are the kind of data Bolin and his colleagues use to press their case that climate change is imminent.
Global warming is not something you can prove, he said.
"You try to collect evidence and thereby a picture emerges." he said.
Bolin, 72, recently stepped down after nine years as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N-sponsored network of hundreds of climate scientists that concluded, in a pivotal 1995
report, human activities were warming the atmosphere, principally through the burning of coal, oil and gas.
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere allow sunligi:t through but trap heat Earth emits back toward space.
The panel projected continued emissions at current rates would raise average temperatures by up to 6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, disrupting climate patterns and raising ocean levels up to three feet through heat expansion.
Their findings spurred governments to try to negotiate legally bindings reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by industrial nations. The targets are to be incorporated in a protocol to the 1992 Climate Change Treaty.
The Associated Press
Some have proposed cutting emissions by as much as 20 percent below their 1990 levels by 2005. The United States proposed a low end plan for the Kyoto talks: reducing emissions to, but not below, 1990 levels by 2012.
ON THE RECORD
A KU student's 6-inch-by-6-inch piece of plexiglass was damaged at 1:30 a.m. yesterday in the 1500 block of Tennessee Street, Lawrence police said. The damage was estimated at $10.
A KU student's CD case, $2 and other items were stolen at 10:1 p.m. Friday from the 500 block of Locust Street, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $1.17.
A KU student's box of crafts and antique fire hydrant were stolen between 2 and 11 a.m. Thursday from the 1200 block of Ohio Street, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $800.
A KU student's Giant mountain bike was stolen between 3 and 4 p.m. Thursday from the 3000 block of West Seventh Street, Lawrence police said. The bike was valued at $600.
A KU student's 1985 Mercury Cougar was stolen between a 8. a.m. and 4.15 p.m. Wednesday from the city at large, Lawrence police said. The car was valued at $6,000
A KU student's Kenwood CD stereo and two subwoofer speakers were stolen, and a window and panel of a car were damaged between 10 p.m. Nov. 20 and 6 a.m. Nov. 21 from the 1900 block of Stewart Avenue, Lawrence police said. The items and damage were estimated at $800.
A KU student's Panasonic .CD stereo was stolen and 1994 Toyota Corolla damaged between 2 and 11 a.m. Wednesday from the 1200 block of Massachusetts Street, Lawrence police said. The item and damage was estimated at $1,850.
A KU student's ATM card and other items were stolen between 11 p.m. Nov. 24 and 7:30 a.m. Tuesday from the 1100 block of Louisiana Street, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $244.
A KU student's right rear window was damaged between 8:30 p.m. Nov. 24 and 7 a.m. Tuesday in the city at large, Lawrence police said. The damage was estimated at $100.
A KU student's black wallet, driver's license and other items were stolen between 8 a.m. Nov. 12 and 8 a.m. Nov. 14 from the 1600 block of High Drive, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $75.
ET CETERA
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RECYCLE
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- December 8th and 9th come visit our table in the Kansas Union. We will be answering questions and talking about the traditions of Hanukkah.
- Food and Fun at our annual Hanukkah Party! 3:00 p.m., December 7th, Hillel House, 940 Mississippi
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