Nation/World
7
University Daily Kansan / Wednesdav. June 12. 1991
Nation/World briefs
Manila, Philippines
U.S. troops evacuate air base
Coup attempts, an earthquake, murderous Communist rebels and cries of "Yankee, go home" were trouble enough for members of the U.S. military stationed in the Philippines.
what else can happen other than the island sinking? Air Force Sgt. Joe Nyro told the U.S. military newsaper Stars and Stripes.
Now, a volcano is blowing its stack.
About 14,500 U.S. citizens who were evacuated from Clark Air Base because of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo woke up yesterday morning on Friday to watch the sailors' quarters at Subic Bay Naval Base.
About 1,500 troops, mostly Air Police force, stayed behind at Clark, which is one of the largest U.S. military bases overseas. It is about 10 miles east of the volcano.
The evacuation took place at a time when the future of the U.S. military presence was in doubt. The lease on the bases expires in September, and negotiations on an extension have been deadlocked over the Americans must pay and how long the bases can remain.
The volcano is just the latest in a series of traumas suffered by the 30,000-strong U.S. military community since President Corazon Campos in 1968 revolution that toppled Ferdinand Marcos.
For decades, the Philippines was known as
stations in the Pacific,
especially for single-prod.
It was a place where prices were low, the beer
i
Activists against the U.S. presence complained the free-for-all atmosphere encouraged prostitution and drug addiction among Filippino immigrants, a main military towns of Angeles and Olongano.
Aquino's victory led to a wave of nationalistic sentiment, which took on an anti-United States counterpart.
Washington
Asian population doubles in '80s
The United States' huge Chinese community more than doubled in size during the decade, to 1.6 million. The number of Filipinos grew by more than 80 percent, to 1.4 million.
The smaller Indian, Korean and Vietnamese communities each grew more than 125 percent.
Asians and Pacific Islanders were the nation's fastest-growing racial group in the 1980s, more than doubling their 1980 numbers. But at 7.3 million in 2014, they represent of the national population of 248.7 million.
Most of the growth came from immigrants, and most of those immigrants settled in California.
Springfield, ill.
EPA may ease radium limits
More than 15 years ago, the federal government told hundreds of cities they had too much money to spend.
Now environmental officials have decided radium is not as dangerous as they thought when the limits were adopted in 1975. In the past, radium was used for the treatment of dollars on remedies they may no longer need.
An Environmental Protection Agency proposal expected to be presented this week may ease the limit on radium levels to one-eighth the current standard, said Greg Helms, a regional environmental specialist in Drink Water in Washington. The proposal will go through a lengthy review process.
The EPA estimates that more than 1,000 water systems nationwide contain more radium than natural water.
If the new standard is adopted, about 100 water systems would be in violation, he said.
The reduction is based on scientific studies that show radium, a natural byproduct of radioactive materials that has been linked to bone cancer, is less dangerous in drinking water.
But that doesn't satisfy local government officials' money to comply with the existing standard.
"We just poured 860,000 down a rat hole." said Mayor James Washburn of Morris, a city of 8,800 people about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.
Foreign contributions lift U.S. trade figures
From The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The United States postponed its first quarterly trade surplus in nearly nine years during the first three months of the year, but only one month later. In a move to preserve Persian Gulf War, the government said yesterday.
The Associated Press
The Commerce Department said the rare $10.2 billion surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of the nation's trading performance, is mainly due to exports from Saudi Arabia, Japan and other countries.
However, the government said that the nation's trade performance also was aided by an all-time high in U.S. export sales and a drop in imports stemming from the recession.
The Bush administration said the trade report supported its belief that strength in exports would be a key factor.
President Bush said yesterday that although the recession had lasted longer than he expected, a turnaround in the economy appeared in the making even though some sectors remained sluggish.
he said the May unemployment report showed that more than half of all industries added to their payrolls last month and that other reports showed industrial output on the rise.
"There's reason to be optimistic," Bush said in an address televised to the American Advertising Federation. "I think things are looking much more promising."
In less favorable news yesterday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said that the nation's 12,246 commercial banks earned 8.8 percent less than the same period of this year than during the same period in 1990.
He said that the number of bank failures could approach 440 for this year and next and that a turnaround in bank profits was not likely before the end of the year.
FIDC Chairman William Seidman blamed the
pilot squeeze on the recession and an increase in
business.
The $10.2 billion surplus in the current account followed a $23.4 billion deficit in the October-December quarter. It marked the nation's first positive trade balance since 2007 and a positive trade flow in the second quarter of 1982.
The current account is considered the most important trade statistic because it measures not only domestic exports and imports but also net transfers.
The $2.7 billion in payments received for Desert Storm were part of $55 billion pledged by allies toward the war effort. These payments and some further gains in export sales were expected to match this year's current account deficit to around $4 billion, less than half of last year's $2.12 billion total.
such as tourism, and investment flows between nations.
However, economists said they looked for the deficit to shoot back to the $7 billion to $80 billion range in 1992, reflecting the absence of Desert Storm payments as well as weakness in U.S. export sales caused by recessions in many of the United States' major overseas markets.
"A lot of this year's dramatic improvement in trade will be reversed," said Bruce Steinberg, an economist with Merrill Lynch in New York. "Economic weakness in other countries will slow export growth, and U.S. imports will start to pick up again once this economy turns around."
Robert Brusca, chief financial economist at Nikko Securities Inc. in New York, said he thought the administration's forecast for an imminent U.S. rebound was overly optimistic given expected weakness in exports and other areas such as government spending.
"The economy is going to be hit by flagging exports, somewhat increased imports and tremendous problems in municipalities where budget cuts are needed to raise taxes and lay off workers," Brusca said.
He said he did not think the recession, already nearly a year old, would be over until the January
The foreign contributions to Desert Storm helped give the nation its first-ever surplus of $16.94 billion in the foreign-aid category. The total cash payments from the allies were offset somewhat by regular U.S. foreign-acid grants and Social Security payments to U.S. citizens living overseas.
Also in surplus was the services category at $6.99 billion and the investment category at $4.65 billion, indicating that U.S. citizens earned more on their U.S. holdings than they were earned on their U.S. holdings during the first quarter.
These positive figures were reduced by an $18.37 billion deficit in merchandise trade, the smallest imbalance in this category in almost eight years, and the biggest decline since 2014 while the recession dampened import demand.
Price tag on S & L bailout could triple Bush's estimate
The Associated Press
The Resolution Trust Corp. will have spent all of the $80 billion Congress had authorized for the bailout so far, plus an additional $5 billion, by creating or merging 684 associations, Bowsher said.
General Accounting Office chief Charles Bowser told the Senate Banking Committee that the bailout would cost $150 billion through 1992 and civilization was likely to continue in 1993 and beyond.
He predicted the administration would be forced to ask for at least $50 billion and maybe $75 billion in funding.
WASHINGTON — An additional $50 billion to $75 billion in taxpayer money will be needed to continue the savings and loan associations bailout next year, Congress was told yesterday. That meant the cost to more than triple the estimate made by President Bush when he took office.
That figure is likely to soar in future years as the government sells off, at huge discounts, the tens of millions in mortgages, real estate, securities and other assets seized from failed thrifts, Bowser said.
When he took office 29 months ago, Bush said the bailout would cost taxpayers only $40 billion, but he asked for another $10 billion as a cushion in the event of economic hard times.
But more than a year ago, Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady said the bailout's costs could reach $90 billion to $130 billion, and Congress agreed earlier this year to give it another $30 billion.
Utah Ten. Jake Garn, the senior Republican on the banking panel, said, "As we all knew in the spring, we'll be back here in the fall to provide more money to the RTC."
Desiree Tucker-Sorinil, an acting assistant Treasury secretary, said the administration con-
timed to think the cost would fall within Brady's estimate.
She said the appraisal by the GAO, an investigative arm of Congress, was not inconsistent with the Treasury's.
Brady's $130 billion estimate was expressed in 1989 dollars. Adjusting for inflation, the actual bailout cost could be somewhat more than $130 million. The estimated salvage amount of the original estimate, Tucker Sorin said,
But Bowser characterized the $130 billion as the minimum necessary if all of the failed or ill thrills are saved.
If the life of the bailout is extended by a year, as the administration is considering, the RTC will need another infusion of cash from Congress. Bowser said.
"Due to the current economic recession, we are seeing a slow but steady increase in the number of institutions with negative earnings and negative or negative lending for unemployed hirts will eventually require resolution."
In addition to the money authorized by Congress, the RTC has borrowed some $100 billion in working capital to acquire and manage the real estate and other assets of failed triffts, until they can be sold.
The agency already is planning to raise those borrowings to $113 billion, and Bowser indicated that the prices the government is getting for the assets as it sells them are not sufficient.
The agency, for example, already has decided to sell distressed real estate and other property it acquires at a 20 percent discount. If a buyer cannot qualify, the agency will then acquire it at 50 percent. After 18 months, it goes to 50 percent.
Several senators, however, relayed complaints from voters back home that they have to go through a maze of RTC officials in trying to buy them their homes for foreclosed homes and other assets of failed threats.
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