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Tuesday, July 3, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
U.S. still a debtor nation
The Associated Press
Figures from the Commerce Department show increase
WASHINGTON - The United States tightened its grip on the title of world's largest debtor nation in 1989, ending the year with a net debt of $633.7 billion, up a sharp 25 percent from the previous year.
The latest figures, based on data collected by the Commerce Department, are certain to heighten the emotional debate over whether the United States is losing control of its financial destiny to foreigners.
The Commerce Department report showed that U.S. holds of overseas assets rose by $146.9 billion last year to $1,412 trillion.
$2,076 trillion.
But foreign holdings in the United States climbed at an even faster pace, rising from $279.6 billion to
The $663.7 billion imbalance between what Americans own overseas and what foreigners own in the United States is the country's net debt position. Many private economists believe it will top $1 trillion within a few years.
As recently as 1983, the United States was still the world's largest creditor nation, a position now held by Japan. The 1983 surplus of $89 billion fell to $3.3 billion in 1984 and disappeared altogether in 1985, the year the country became a net debtor for the first time in 71 years.
The surplus was eroded by America's huge merchandise trade deficits as Americans transferred billions of dollars into foreign hands to pay for
imported cars and television sets.
Those dollars have been reinvested in everything from U.S. Treasury bills to prime real estate in many countries, and that foreigners are buying America.
The Commerce Department reported that 54 percent of the increase in foreign holdings in 1989 came from direct investment.
Britain retained its position as the country with the largest amount of direct investment in the United States at $119.14 billion, a 17 percent increase over the 1988 level. Japan was No.2 with $69.70 billion in direct investment, up 31 percent from 1988. The largest Japanese transaction last year was Sony Corp.'s $3.4 billion purchase of Columbia Pictures.
Fuel leaks still unsolved
The Associated Press
Lenoir, space flight director, said.
WASHINGTON — NASA engineers are focusing on a small misalignment of fuel tanks and spacecraft on two space shuttles and seismic leaks that have grounded the shuttle fleet.
The continuing mystery of the leaks is throwing the shuttle schedule into disarray and threatens to keep them out of summer, officials said yesterday.
Most of the 35 orbiter-tank combinations flown so far have had some misalignments, but the two found in the shuttles with the leaks are the largest to date, William B.
her spate tight unecro-
“One of the areas we are looking
at a angle of connection
between the external tank and the
orbiter.” Lenoir said. “I ideally you think of them to be really aligned (but it’s never perfect, it’s always some small degree of misalignment.”
Lenoir said the leak problem, which shows up while the tank is being filled with liquid hydrogen a few hours before flight, must be monitored to keep NASA anywhere near its ambitious flight schedule.
The schedule called for a Columbia launch in May on an astronomy
mission, Atlantis in July, Columbia again in August and then Discovery in October.
The hydrogen leak on Columbia in May and the discovery last week of a similar leak on Atlantis scrambled that schedule, and it was hard to recover the agency can recover in time to fly all the missions this year.
we're right on the edge of the point where two flights no longer fit in the schedule before the launch of Ulysses," said Lenoir. Fixing the leak, he said, will have to be quick and simple to avoid more changes in the NASA launch schedule.
42-vote margin in Nebraska decides closest election ever
The Associated Press
Election Data Services, a Washington-based consulting firm, said it was the closest primary or general election contest for governor in modern American politics.
LINCOLN, Neb. — An elections board yesterday declared Ben Nelson the winner of the Nebraska Democratic gubernatorial primary by 42 votes in the closest such election in U.S. history.
The State Board of Canvassers voted 4-0 to certify Nelson's victory over Bill Hopper. The vote means Nelson, an Omaha attorney, will challenge Gov Kay Orr in the November general election.
in the November meeting. Hopper, a former aide to Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., had urged the certification of his rival, saying he was still not satisfied with the way the recount was conducted but
The final tally showed Nelson with 44,721 votes to Honnner's 44,679.
believed Nelson had won. He said his party needed to get on with the effort to defeat Gov. Orr.
The board's decision came 48 days after the May 15 primary in which seven candidates sought the nomination.
It followed an initial recount mandated by state law because the election was so close and a second recount of so-called undervotes in 21 counties. Undervotes, are those who actually that initially showed no vote for the governor's race.
Attorney General Robert Spire made the motion to certify Nelson's victory. Spire said he was convinced Nelson had won.