UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, October 26,1994
9A
Economy isn't as good as expected
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - The economic news was mostly grim this week. Consumer confidence fell for the fourth straight month, the dollar hit an alltime low, worker wages are creeping up only slightly and interest rates are rising.
Taken together, the news suggested that the economy, which had been thought to be growing at the healthiest clip since the 1900-91 recession, isn't necessarily as robust as forecasters reckoned.
The freshest signals on the economy's direction came from the Conference Board, a New York-based research group. It found that consumer confidence dropped in October for the fourth straight month.
"I think the consumer confidence figures are among the first barometers that there's a sense of unease out there in the consumer heartland," said David Bostian, an economist at Herzog Heine Geduld, a New York investment firm.
That's important because consumers who lack confidence in the economy spend less and borrow less. That also means merchants sell less, factories cut back on output, and employers eliminate jobs. Consumers account for two-thirds of the nation's economic activity.
backdrop of anxiety over jobs but also a steady rise in interest rates — the cost of borrowing money — that began early this year when the Federal Reserve reversed a five-year era of lower rates.
In the bond market, a sensitive barometer of interest rate trends and anxieties about the future, the yield on the 30-year treasury bond exceeded 8 percent Monday for the first time in 2 1/2 years.
There was also evidence yesterday that ordinary Americans aren't necessarily benefiting from a more prosperous economy. The Labor Department reported that wages and benefits rose at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the July-September quarter. That is one of the smallest increases on record.
The Conference Board attributed the drop largely to a rising fear that there will be fewer jobs in the months ahead. Consumers also scaled back plans to buy cars and homes.
Shooting sets off racial violence The Associated Press
The results came against not only a
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Hundreds of Blacks roamed the city's downtown yesterday, overturning police cars and throwing rocks at whites after a police officer fatally shot a teenager in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
Several people, including at least one police officer, were injured, authorities said, but none of the injuries were believed serious. Police said a handful of people were treated at hospitals and released.
Before night fell and calm was restored, as many as 500 people took to the streets of downtown and the city's near east side, where the trouble began.
By dark, most people had left downtown, where police in riot gear were called out to protect government and court buildings. Substantial numbers of people remained on the streets of Black neighborhoods, however, some throwing objects at passing cars.
Police said trouble started after a white officer accidentally shot an 18-year-old Black man to death as he was arrested. The shooting was being investigated.
Although police said the killing was accidental, the young man's fiancee said her babysitter witnessed it and it was deliberate.
Hong Kong tops list of business cities
The Associated Press
So says Fortune magazine, which crowned Britain's capitalist enclave No.1 in its first-ever global ranking of the most attractive commercial centers.
Landlords charge outrageous rents, the streets are clogged with traffic and the takeover by Communist China looms less than three years away. But Hong Kong is the best place in the world for business.
New York City, once a symbol of U.S. urban decay, ranks No. 2, helped by its role as a mecca of the information age, with its advertising, television and other media conglomerates.
The rankings appear in *Fortune*.
Nov 14 issue due out next Monday.
The rankings appear in Fortune's Nov. 14 issue, due out next Monday. Hong Kong was on top in part because it adjoins China, which has the world's fastest-growing economy
and the biggest single consumer market.
The British colony also has superior telecommunications, shipping facilities and low business taxes, Fortune said.
Never mind that Hong Kong property owners charge some of the highest commercial rents anywhere. More than $96 a square foot annually, triple the New York rate. Never mind that Hong Kong is one of the most congested urban areas, with nearly 6 million people on a spit of land and adjoining islands.
Fortune said the impending takeover of Hong Kong when Britain's lease expires in 1997 isn't causing much anxiety. On the contrary, Hong Kong is now seen as the best steppingstone into China; it has a web of business and personal connections unmatched anywhere else.
Illegal chemicals hamper efforts to protect ozone
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON—Millions of pounds of ozone-killing chemicals are pouring illegally into the United States, confounding attempts to shift to a less environmentally harmful chemical.
Industry and government officials said yesterday that the illegal imports of chlorofluorocarbons — perhaps as much as 20 million pounds a year by some estimates — had created a lucrative black market in a type of CFC used as a refrigerant for automobile air conditioners and commercial and home cooling systems.
The illegal imports have grown to such a level that by some estimates they are costing the federal government $100 million a year in lost excise taxes alone, said Kevin Fay, executive director of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy.
The availability of cheap black-market CFC for refrigeration is "substantially discouraging the shift to new materials or practices that can reduce the emission of these compounds," added Fay, whose group represents companies producing CFCs and their substitutes.
The chemical is being eliminated because it can damage the protective ozone layer, a thin film of gas which blocks the sun's ultraviolet radiation.
Teen-ager birth rates drop for the first time since 1986
WASHINGTON - Theater at which America's teen-agers are having babies has dropped for the first time since 1986.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that the sudden 2 percent drop in the 1992 teen birth rate was a turning point. From: 1986 through 1991, that rate had skrocketed 27 percent.
"We feel it's a real change," said Stephanie Ventura, a statistician with CDC's National Center for Health Statistics who wrote the report. "It
reverses a pattern where it had been going up 5, 6, 7 percent a year from 1986 on."
But that good news was shadowed by the 1982 birth record card's finding that many babies, 7.1 percent, are still born too small.
"The nation's objective for the year 2000 is to reduce the percentage of babies born at low birth weight to no more than 5 percent," said March of Dimes President Dr. Jennifer Howse. "Right now, it doesn't appear to me that we have any chance of making it."
The center calculated the nation's
birth trends by analyzing the 4.07 million birth certificates filed in 1992.
For every 1,000 women aged 15-19 in 1992, the center reported 60.7 births, down from the 62.1 births reported the previous year. But the drop actually occurred only among teens 15, 16 and 17, whose rate declined to 37.8 births per 1,000 from 38.7 in 1991.
Ventura cited other studies that show a trend toward sexual abstinence and improved use of condoms as possible reasons for the sudden change.
Troy Findley Standing up for KU
A vote for Troy Findley is...
a vote for limited, efficient, and accountable government with citizens more actively engaged in problem-solving.
a vote for improved school systems and adequate funding to ensure educational excellence.
a vote for tougher penalties for criminals.
a vote for creating jobs that pay a living wage.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE • 40hrs Paid for by Kansas University Young Democrats
The University of Kansas Homecoming Weekend Friday, October 28 thru Sunday, October 30 Schedule of Events
Parade
Friday, October 28, 2:20 p.m., From the Chi Omega fountain to the Adams Alumni Center Come see the KU Band, Student Organization floats, EX.C.E.L Award Winners and more!
SUA Movies
Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29 The Crow, 7:00 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. The Shining, Midnight Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union All shows $2.50/Midnight - $3.00 or free with movie card Tickets Available at SUA Box Office 30 minutes prior to the show.
Football Game-KU vs. OSU
Saturday, October 29,1:00 p.m. kickoff,
Pregame at 12:40 p.m.Memorial Stadium
Call Allen Field House at (913)864-3141 for ticket information.
Concert, Sugar
Saturday, October 29, 9 p.m., Kansas Union Ballroom Tickets are $12 w/KUID and $14 general public Available at the SUA Box Office, Level 4, Kansas Union.
Halloween Horror Festival
The University Theatre and the KU Bands present a weekend of classic silent films with live musical accompaniment by the Bijou players of Des Moines, IA. Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall $3.50 with KUID, $7.00 General Public Call (913) 864-3982 for more information. *Phantom of the Opera Saturday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m.
*Nosferatu (The original Dracula) Sunday, October 30 at 2:30 p.m.
*The original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Sunday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m., Starring John Barrymore
SUA Movie Studio Sneak Preview
Sunday, October 30, The War,
Starring Kevin Costner and Elijan Wood
Lied Center, 8:00 p.m., Free with voucher
Call SUA at (913) 864-3477 for more information.