Input: To take full advantage of the financial opportunities in this commitment, however, the corporation or professional firm must do more than negotiate the best purchase price or lease terms.


Input: It must also evaluate the real - estate market in the chosen location from a new perspective.


Input: Specifically, it must understand how real - estate markets overreact to shifts in regional economies and then take advantage of these opportunities.


Input: When a regional economy catches cold, the local real - estate market gets pneumonia.


Input: In other words, real - estate market indicators, such as building permits and leasing activity, plummet much further than a local economy in recession.


Input: This was seen in the late 1960s in Los Angeles and the mid-1970s in New York.

the mid-1970s

Los Angeles

New York


Input: But the reverse is also true: When a region's economy rebounds from a slowdown, these real - estate indicators will rebound far faster than the improving economy.


Input: Why do local real - estate markets overreact to regional economic cycles?


Input: Because real - estate purchases and leases are such major long - term commitments that most companies and individuals make these decisions only when confident of future economic stability and growth.


Input: Metropolitan Detroit was written off economically during the early 1980s, as the domestic auto industry suffered a serious sales depression and adjustment.

Metropolitan Detroit

the early 1980s


Input: Area employment dropped by 13% from its 1979 peak and retail sales were down 14%.


Input: However, the real - estate market was hurt even more.


Input: For example, residential building permits in the trough year of 1982 were off 76% from the 1979 peak level.


Input: Once metropolitan Detroit's economy rallied in the mid-1980s, real estate rebounded.

Detroit

the mid-1980s


Input: Building permits, for example, soared a staggering 400% between 1982 and the peak year of 1986.

between 1982 and the peak year of 1986


Input: Where, savvy corporations and professional firms are now asking, are today's opportunities?

today


Input: Look no further than metropolitan Houston and Denver, two of the most depressed, overbuilt and potentially undervalued real - estate markets in the nation.

Houston

Denver

two


Input: Of course, some observers have touted Houston and Denver for the past five years as a counter-cyclical play.

Houston

Denver

the past five years


Input: But now appears to be the time to act.


Input: Metropolitan Houston's economy did drop and then flatten in the years after its 1982 peak.

Houston

the years


Input: In the mid-1980s, employment was down as much as 5% from the 1982 peak and retail sales were off 13%.

the mid-1980s

as much as 5%


Input: The real - estate market suffered even more severe setbacks.


Input: Office construction dropped 97%.


Input: The vacancy rate soared more than 20% in nearly every product category, and more than 30% of office space was vacant.

more than 20%


Input: To some observers, the empty office buildings of Houston's `` see - through skyline'' were indicative of a very troubled economy.

Houston


Input: As usual, the real - estate market had overreacted.


Input: Actually, the region's economy retained a firm foundation.


Input: Metropolitan Houston's population has held steady over the past six years.

Houston

the past six years


Input: And personal income, after slumping in the mid-1980s, has returned to its 1982 level in real dollar terms.

the mid-1980s


Input: Today, metropolitan Houston's real - estate market is poised for a significant turnaround.

Houston


Input: More than 42,000 jobs were added in metro Houston last year, primarily in biotechnology, petrochemical processing, and the computer industry.

More than 42,000

Houston

last year


Input: This growth puts Houston in the top five metro areas in the nation last year.

Houston

five

last year


Input: And forecasts project a 2.5% to 3% growth rate in jobs over the next few years -- nearly twice the national average.

2.5% to 3%

the next few years


Input: Denver is another metropolitan area where the commercial real - estate market has overreacted to the region's economic trends, although Denver has not experienced as severe an economic downturn as Houston.

Denver

Denver

Houston


Input: By some measures, metropolitan Denver's economy has actually improved in the past four years.

Denver

the past four years


Input: Its population has continued to increase since 1983, the peak year of the economic cycle.

the peak year


Input: Employment is now 4% higher than in 1983.


Input: Buying income in real dollars actually increased 15% between 1983 and 1987 -LRB- the most recent year available -RRB-.

between 1983 and 1987

the most recent year


Input: The rates of increase, however, are less than the rapid growth of the boom years, and this has resulted in a loss of confidence in the economy.

the boom years


Input: In a self - fulfilling prophecy, therefore, the region's real - estate market all but collapsed in recent years.

recent years


Input: Housing building permits are down more than 75% from their 1983 peaks.

more than 75%


Input: Although no one can predict when metropolitan Denver's real - estate market will rebound, major public works projects costing several billion dollars are under way or planned -- such as a new convention center, a major beltway encircling the metropolitan area, and a new regional airport.

Denver

several billion dollars


Input: When Denver's regional economy begins to grow faster -- such a recovery could occur as early as next year -- business and consumer confidence will return, and the resulting explosion of real - estate activity will dwarf the general economic rebound.

Denver

as early as next year


Input: What real - estate strategy should one follow in a metropolitan area whose economic health is not as easy to determine as Houston's or Denver's?

Houston

Denver


Input: Generally, overcapacity in commercial real estate is dropping from its mid-1980s peak, even in such economically healthy metropolitan areas as Washington, New York and Los Angeles.

Washington

New York

Los Angeles


Input: Vacancy rates in the 15% to 19% range today may easily rise to the low to mid-20% range in a couple of years.

15% to 19%

low to mid-20%

today

a couple of years


Input: Under these conditions, even a flattening out of economic growth -- `` catching cold'' -- in the healthy metropolitan areas will create significant opportunities for corporations and professional service firms looking for bargains as the realestate industry catches pneumonia.


Input: Those looking for real - estate bargains in distressed metropolitan areas should lock in leases or buy now; those looking in healthy metropolitan areas should take a short - term -LRB- three - year -RRB- lease and wait for the bargains ahead.

three - year


Input: Mr. Leinberger is managing partner of a real - estate advisory firm based in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Leinberger

Beverly Hills

Calif


Input: Kysor Industrial Corp. said it expects its third - quarter net earnings to be between two cents and four cents a share, compared with 61 cents a share a year ago.

Kysor Industrial Corp.

third - quarter

a year ago

between two cents and four cents

61 cents


Input: Analysts had been projecting that the company's earnings would be between 25 cents and 30 cents a share.

between 25 cents and 30 cents


Input: The year - earlier third - quarter earnings amounted to $4.1 million.

year - earlier third - quarter

$4.1 million


Input: The company said a drop in activity in the powerboat industry reduced sales volume at its two marine - related operations.

two


Input: Also, the company said its commercial products operation failed to meet forecasts.


Input: Kysor, a maker of heavy - duty truck and commercial refrigeration equipment, said it expects its fourth - quarter earnings to be more closely in line with usual levels, which are between 30 cents and 50 cents a share.

Kysor

fourth - quarter

between 30 cents and 50 cents


Input: Common Cause asked both the Senate Ethics Committee and the Justice Department to investigate $1 million in political gifts by Arizona businessman Charles Keating to five U.S. senators who interceded with thrift - industry regulators for him.

Common Cause

the Senate Ethics Committee

the Justice Department

$1 million

Arizona

U.S.

Charles Keating

five


Input: Mr. Keating is currently the subject of a $1.1 billion federal anti-racketeering lawsuit accusing him of bleeding off assets of a California thrift he controlled, Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, and driving it into insolvency.

Keating

$1.1 billion

California

Lincoln Savings & Loan Association


Input: Fred Wertheimer -- president of Common Cause, the self - styled citizens lobby -- said Mr. Keating already has conceded attempting to buy influence with the lawmakers -- Democratic Sens. Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, Alan Cranston of California, John Glenn of Ohio and Donald Riegle of Michigan; and GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Fred Wertheimer

Keating

Dennis DeConcini

Alan Cranston

John Glenn

Donald Riegle

John McCain

Common Cause

GOP

Democratic

Arizona

California

Ohio

Michigan

Arizona


Input: Mr. Wertheimer based this on a statement by Mr. Keating that was quoted in a Wall Street Journal story in April: `` One question ... had to do with whether my financial support in any way influenced several political figures to take up my cause.

Wertheimer

Keating

Wall Street Journal

April

One


Input: I want to say in the most forceful way I can: I certainly hope so.''


Input: In a highly unusual meeting in Sen. DeConcini's office in April 1987, the five senators asked federal regulators to ease up on Lincoln.

DeConcini

April 1987

five

Lincoln


Input: According to notes taken by one of the participants at the meeting, the regulators said Lincoln was gambling dangerously with depositors' federally insured money and was `` a ticking time bomb.''

Lincoln


Input: Mr. Keating had complained that the regulators were being too zealous.

Keating


Input: The notes show that Sen. DeConcini called the Federal Home Loan Bank Board's regulations `` grossly unfair,'' and that Sen. Glenn insisted that Mr. Keating's thrift was `` viable and profitable.''

DeConcini

Glenn

Keating

the Federal Home Loan Bank Board's


Input: For the next two years, the Bank Board, which at the time was the agency responsible for regulating thrifts, failed to act -- even after federal auditors warned in May 1987 that Mr. Keating had caused Lincoln to become insolvent.

the next two years

May 1987

the Bank Board

Lincoln

Keating


Input: Lincoln's parent company, American Continental Corp., entered bankruptcy - law proceedings this April 13, and regulators seized the thrift the next day.

Lincoln

American Continental Corp.

this April 13

the next day


Input: The newly formed Resolution Trust Corp., successor to the Bank Board, filed suit against Mr. Keating and several others on Sept. 15.

Resolution Trust Corp.

the Bank Board

Keating

Sept. 15


Input: Mr. Keating has filed his own suit, alleging that his property was taken illegally.

Keating


Input: The cost to taxpayers of Lincoln's collapse has been estimated at as much as $2.5 billion.

Lincoln

as much as $2.5 billion


Input: Details of the affair have become public gradually over the past two years, mostly as a result of reporting by several newspapers.

the past two years


Input: In the midst of his 1988 re-election campaign, Sen. Riegle, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, returned $76,000 in contributions after a Detroit newspaper said that Mr. Keating had gathered the money for him about two weeks before the meeting with regulators.

about two weeks

Riegle

Keating

the Senate Banking Committee

Detroit


Input: Sen. DeConcini, after months of fending off intense press criticism, returned $48,000 only last month, shortly after the government formally accused Mr. Keating of defrauding Lincoln.

DeConcini

Keating

months

only last month

Lincoln


Input: In addition, Sen. McCain last week disclosed that he belatedly had paid $13,433 to American Continental as reimbursement for trips he and his family took aboard the corporate jet to Mr. Keating's vacation home at Cat Cay, the Bahamas, from 1984 through 1986.

McCain

Keating

last week

from 1984 through 1986

American Continental

Cat Cay

Bahamas


Input: Sen. McCain said he had meant to pay for the trips at the time but that the matter `` fell between the cracks.''

McCain


Input: Mr. Keating, his family members and associates also donated $112,000 to Sen. McCain's congressional campaigns over the years, according to press accounts.

Keating

McCain

the years


Input: But Sen. McCain says Mr. Keating broke off their friendship abruptly in 1987, because the senator refused to press the thrift executive's case as vigorously as Mr. Keating wanted.

McCain

Keating

Keating


Input: `` He became very angry at that, left my office and told a number of people that I was a wimp,'' Sen. McCain recalls.

McCain


Input: In July, California newspapers disclosed that Mr. Keating gave $850,000 in corporate funds to three tax - exempt voter registration organizations in 1987 and 1988 at the behest of Sen. Cranston, who conceded that soliciting the money was `` a pretty stupid thing to do politically.''

July

California

Keating

Cranston

three


Input: In addition, Sen. Cranston received $47,000 in campaign donations through Mr. Keating, and the California Democratic party received $85,000 in corporate donations for a 1986 get - out - the - vote drive that benefited the senator's re-election campaign that year.

Cranston

Keating

California

Democratic

that year


Input: Also in July, Ohio newspapers disclosed $200,000 in corporate donations by Mr. Keating to the National Council on Public Policy, a political committee controlled by Sen. Glenn.

July

Ohio

Keating

Glenn

the National Council on Public Policy


Input: That was in addition to $34,000 in direct campaign donations arranged by Mr. Keating to the Ohio senator.

Keating

Ohio


Input: Mr. Wertheimer said the Senate Ethics Committee should hire a special outside counsel to conduct an investigation, as was done in the case of former House Speaker James Wright.

Wertheimer

James Wright

the Senate Ethics Committee

House


Input: Wilson Abney, staff director of the ethics panel, wouldn't comment.

Wilson Abney


Input: Sen. Riegle said he would cooperate with any inquiry, but that his conduct had been `` entirely proper.''

Riegle


Input: Sen. McCain said he had been `` deeply concerned'' at the time of the meeting that it might seem to be improper, but decided it was `` entirely appropriate'' for him to seek fair treatment for a constituent.

McCain


Input: Sen. Glenn said he had already made a complete disclosure of his role in the affair and `` I am completely satisfied to let this matter rest in the hands of the Senate Ethics Committee.''

Glenn

the Senate Ethics Committee


Input: Sen. DeConcini said, `` When all is said and done, I expect to be fully exonerated.''

DeConcini


Input: Sen. Cranston, who had already volunteered his help to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in any investigation of Mr. Keating, portrayed his role in 1987 as prodding regulators to act.

Cranston

Keating

the Federal Bureau of Investigation


Input: `` Why didn't the Bank Board act sooner?'' he said.

the Bank Board


Input: `` That is what Common Cause should ask be investigated.

Common Cause


Input: Trinity Industries Inc. said it reached a preliminary agreement to manufacture 1,000 coal rail cars for Norfolk Southern Corp.

Trinity Industries Inc.

Norfolk Southern Corp


Input: Trinity estimated the value of the pact at more than $40 million.

Trinity

more than $40 million


Input: Trinity said it plans to begin delivery of the rail cars in the first quarter of 1990.

Trinity

the first quarter of 1990


Input: It said the 1,000 rail cars are in addition to the 1,450 coal rail cars presently being produced for Norfolk Southern, a Norfolk, Va. - based railroad concern.

Norfolk Southern

Norfolk

Va.


Input: When China opened its doors to foreign investors in 1979, toy makers from Hong Kong were among the first to march in.

China

Hong Kong

first


Input: Today, with about 75% of the companies' products being made in China, the chairman of the Hong Kong Toys Council, Dennis Ting, has suggested a new sourcing label: `` Made in China by Hong Kong Companies.''

Today

about 75%

China

Hong Kong

China

Hong Kong

Toys Council

Dennis Ting


Input: The toy makers were pushed across the border by rising labor and land costs in the British colony.

British


Input: But in the wake of the shootings in Beijing on June 4, the Hong Kong toy industry is worrying about its strong dependence on China.

Beijing

Hong Kong

China

June 4


Input: Although the manufacturers stress that production hasn't been affected by China's political turmoil, they are looking for additional sites.

China


Input: The toy makers, and their foreign buyers, cite uncertainty about China's economic and political policies.

China


Input: `` Nobody wants to have all his eggs in one basket,'' says David Yeh, chairman and chief executive officer of International Matchbox Group Ltd.

one

David Yeh

International Matchbox Group Ltd


Input: Indeed, Matchbox and other leading Hong Kong toy makers were setting up factories in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, long before the massacre.

Matchbox

Hong Kong

Thailand

Southeast Asia


Input: Their steps were partly prompted by concern over a deterioration of business conditions in southern China.

China


Input: By diversifying supply sources, the toy makers don't intend to withdraw from China, manufacturers and foreign buyers say.

China


Input: It wouldn't be easy to duplicate quickly the manufacturing capacity built up in southern China during the past decade.

China

the past decade


Input: A supply of cheap labor and the access to Hong Kong's port, airport, banks and support industries, such as printing companies, have made China's Guangdong province a premier manufacturing site.

Hong Kong's

China

Guangdong


Input: `` South China is the most competitive source of toys in the world,'' says Henry Hu, executive director of Wah Shing Toys Consolidated Ltd.

South China

Henry Hu

Wah Shing Toys Consolidated Ltd


Input: Hong Kong trade figures illustrate the toy makers' reliance on factories across the border.

Hong Kong


Input: In 1988, exports of domestically produced toys and games fell 19% from 1987, to HK$ 10.05 billion -LRB- US$ 1.29 billion -RRB-.

HK$ 10.05 billion

US$ 1.29 billion


Input: But re-exports, mainly from China, jumped 75%, to HK$ 15.92 billion.

China

HK$ 15.92 billion


Input: In 1989's first seven months, domestic exports fell 29%, to HK$ 3.87 billion, while re-exports rose 56%, to HK$ 11.28 billion.

1989's first seven months

HK$ 3.87 billion

HK$ 11.28 billion


Input: Manufacturers say there is no immediate substitute for southern China, where an estimated 120,000 people are employed by the toy industry.

China

an estimated 120,000


Input: `` For the next few years, like it or not, China is going to be the main supplier,'' says Edmund Young, vice president of Perfecta Enterprises Ltd., one of the first big Hong Kong toy makers to move across the border.

the next few years

China

supplier

Hong Kong

Edmund Young

Perfecta Enterprises Ltd.


Input: In the meantime, as manufacturers and buyers seek new sites, they are focusing mainly on Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia


Input: Several big companies have established manufacturing joint ventures in Thailand, including Matchbox, Wah Shing and Kader Industrial Co., the toy manufacturer headed by Mr. Ting.

Thailand

Matchbox

Wah Shing

Kader Industrial Co.

Ting


Input: Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia also are being studied.

Malaysia

the Philippines

Indonesia


Input: With the European Community set to remove its internal trade barriers in 1992, several Hong Kong companies are beginning to consider Spain, Portugal and Greece as possible manufacturing sites.

the European Community

Hong Kong

Spain

Portugal

Greece


Input: Worries about China came just as Hong Kong's toy industry was recovering from a 1987 sales slump and bankruptcy filings by two major U.S. companies, Worlds of Wonder Inc. and Coleco Industries Inc.

China

Hong Kong's

U.S.

two

Worlds of Wonder Inc.

Coleco Industries Inc


Input: Hong Kong manufacturers say large debt writeoffs and other financial problems resulting from the 1987 difficulties chastened the local industry, causing it to tighten credit policies and financial management.

Hong Kong


Input: The industry regards last year and this year as a period of recovery that will lead to improved results.

last year

this year


Input: Still, they long for a `` mega-hit'' toy to excite retail sales in the U.S., Hong Kong's biggest market for toys and games.

U.S.

Hong Kong's


Input: The closest thing the colony's companies have to a U.S. mega-hit this year is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series of action figures manufactured by Playmates Holdings Ltd.

U.S.

this year

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Playmates Holdings Ltd


Input: Introduced in mid-1988, the 15 - centimeter - tall plastic turtles are based on an American comic book and television series.

15 - centimeter

American


Input: Paul Kwan, managing director of Playmates, says 10 million Ninja Turtles have been sold, placing the reptilian warriors among the 10 biggest - selling toys in the U.S..

Paul Kwan

Playmates

10 million

Ninja Turtles

U.S.


Input: Should sales continue to be strong through the Christmas season, which accounts for about 60% of U.S. retail toy sales, Mr. Kwan said the Ninja Turtles could make 1989 a record sales year for Playmates.

the Christmas season

about 60%

U.S.

Kwan

the Ninja Turtles

Playmates


Input: Other Hong Kong manufacturers expect their results to improve only slightly this year from 1988.

Hong Kong

this year


Input: Besides the lack of a fast - selling product, they cite the continued dominance of the U.S. market by Nintendo Entertainment System, an expensive video game made by Nintendo Co. of Japan.

U.S.

Japan

Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Co.


Input: Nintendo buyers have little money left to spend on other products.

Nintendo


Input: Many of the toy makers' problems started well before June 4 as a result of overstrained infrastructure and Beijing's austerity programs launched late last year.

June 4

late last year

Beijing


Input: Toy makers complain that electricity in Guangdong has been provided only three days a week in recent months, down from five days a week, as the province's rapid industrialization has outstripped its generating capacity.

Guangdong

only three days

recent months

five days


Input: Manufacturers are upgrading standby power plants.


Input: Bank credit for China investments all but dried up following June 4.

China

June 4


Input: Also, concern exists that the harder - line Beijing leadership will tighten its control of Guangdong, which has been the main laboratory for the open - door policy and economic reforms.

Beijing

Guangdong


Input: But, toy manufacturers and other industrialists say Beijing will be restrained from tightening controls on export - oriented southern China.

Beijing

China


Input: They say China's trade deficit is widening and the country is too short of foreign exchange for it to hamper production in Guangdong.

China

Guangdong


Input: `` The Chinese leaders have to decide whether they want control or whether the want exports,'' says Mr. Kwan of Playmates.

Chinese

Kwan

Playmates


Input: The Bush administration, urging the Supreme Court to give states more leeway to restrict abortions, said minors haven't any right to abortion without the consent of their parents.

Bush

the Supreme Court


Input: Solicitor General Kenneth Starr argued that the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, recognizing a constitutional right to abortion, was incorrect.

Kenneth Starr

Roe

Wade

Supreme Court


Input: He also argued that the high court was wrong in 1976 to rule that minors have a right to abortion that can't be absolutely vetoed by their parents.


Input: The administration's position was outlined in a friend - of - the - court brief filed in one of three abortion cases the Supreme Court will hear argued and will decide this term.

one

three

the Supreme Court


Input: The administration filed the brief in an appeal involving a Minnesota law that requires that both parents of a minor be notified before she may have an abortion.

Minnesota


Input: The administration urged the justices to adopt a legal standard suggested by Chief Justice William Rehnquist last July when the high court upheld Missouri's abortion restrictions.

William Rehnquist

last July

Missouri


Input: Under that standard, which garnered the votes of only three of the nine justices, a state restriction of abortion is constitutional if the state has a `` reasonable'' justification for adopting it.

only three

nine


Input: That is a much easier standard for a state to satisfy than the Supreme Court's test since 1973, which requires a state to have a `` compelling'' reason for restricting abortion.

the Supreme Court's


Input: On the provisions of the Minnesota law, the Bush administration said that requiring that both parents be notified is a reasonable regulation, and that there is no need to have an alternative that allows minors to go to court for a judge's permission instead.

Minnesota

Bush


Input: The case, Hodgson vs. Minnesota, will be argued Nov. 29.

Hodgson

Minnesota

Nov. 29


Input: For 20 years, federal rules have barred the three major television networks from sharing in one of the most lucrative and fastest - growing parts of the television business.

20 years

three


Input: And for six years, NBC, ABC and CBS have negotiated with Hollywood studios in a futile attempt to change that.

six years

NBC

ABC

CBS

Hollywood


Input: But with foreign companies snapping up U.S. movie studios, the networks are pressing their fight harder than ever.

U.S.


Input: They hope the foreign deals will divide the Hollywood opposition and prod Congress to push for ending federal rules that prohibit the networks from grabbing a piece of rerun sales and owning part of the shows they put on the air.

Hollywood

Congress


Input: Even network executives, however, admit privately that victory -- either in Congress or in talks with the studios -- is highly doubtful any time soon.

Congress


Input: And so the networks also are pushing for new ways to sidestep the `` fin - syn'' provisions, known formally as the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules.


Input: That became clear last week with the disclosure that National Broadcasting Co., backed by the deep pockets of parent General Electric Co., had tried to help fund Qintex Australia Ltd.'s now - scuttled $1.5 billion bid for MGM / UA Communications Co.

last week

National Broadcasting Co.

General Electric Co.

Qintex Australia Ltd.'s

MGM / UA Communications Co

$1.5 billion


Input: NBC's interest may revive the deal, which MGM / UA killed last week when the Australian concern had trouble raising cash.

NBC

MGM / UA

last week

Australian


Input: Even if that deal isn't revived, NBC hopes to find another.

NBC


Input: `` Our doors are open,'' an NBC spokesman says.

NBC


Input: NBC may yet find a way to take a passive, minority interest in a program - maker without violating the rules.

NBC


Input: And any NBC effort could prompt CBS Inc. and ABC's parent, Capital Cities / ABC Inc., to look for ways of skirting the fin - syn regulations.

NBC

CBS Inc.

ABC

Capital Cities / ABC Inc.


Input: But the networks' push may only aggravate an increasingly bitter rift between them and Hollywood studios.

Hollywood


Input: Both sides are to sit down next month for yet another meeting on how they might agree on reducing fin - syn restraints.

next month


Input: Few people privy to the talks expect the studios to budge.


Input: The networks still are `` uninhibited in their authority'' over what shows get on the air, charges Motion Picture Association President Jack Valenti, the most vociferous opponent of rescinding the rules.

Motion Picture Association

Jack Valenti


Input: Studios are `` powerless'' to get shows in prime - time lineups and keep them there long enough to go into lucrative rerun sales, he contends.


Input: And that's why the rules, for the most part, must stay in place, he says.


Input: Studio executives in on the talks - including officials at Paramount Communications Inc., Fries Entertainment Inc., Warner Communications Inc. and MCA Inc. -- declined to be interviewed.

Paramount Communications Inc.

Fries Entertainment Inc.

Warner Communications Inc.

MCA Inc.


Input: But Mr. Valenti, who represents the studios, asserts: `` The whole production industry, to a man, is on the side of preserving'' the rules.

Valenti


Input: Such proclamations leave network officials all the more doubtful that the studios will bend.


Input: `` They don't seem to have an incentive to negotiate,'' says one network executive.

one


Input: `` And there's no indication that Washington is prepared to address the rules.

Washington


Input: That's the problem, isn't it?''


Input: Indeed it is.


Input: Congress has said repeatedly it wants no part of the mess, urging the studios and the networks, which license rights to air shows made by the studios, to work out their own compromise.

Congress


Input: But recent developments have made the networks -- and NBC President Robert Wright, in particular -- ever more adamant that the networks must be unshackled to survive.

NBC

Robert Wright


Input: The latest provocation: Sony Corp.'s plan to acquire Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. for $3.4 billion, and to buy independent producer Guber Peters Entertainment Co. for $200 million.

Sony Corp.'s

Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc.

Guber Peters Entertainment Co.

$3.4 billion

$200 million


Input: `` I wonder what Walter Cronkite will think of the Sony / Columbia Broadcast System Trinitron Evening News with Dan Rather broadcast exclusively from Tokyo,'' wrote J.B. Holston, an NBC vice president, in a commentary in last week's issue of Broadcasting magazine.

Walter Cronkite

Dan Rather

J.B. Holston

the Sony / Columbia Broadcast System Trinitron Evening News

NBC

Broadcasting

Tokyo

last week's


Input: In his article, Mr. Holston, who was in Europe last week and unavailable, complained that the `` archaic restraints'' in fin - syn rules have `` contributed directly to the acquisition of the studios by non-U.S. enterprises.

Holston

Europe

last week

non-U.S.


Input: '' -LRB- He didn't mention that NBC, in the meantime, was hoping to assist Australia's Qintex in buying

NBC

Qintex

Australia


Input: An NBC spokesman counters that Mr. Holston's lament was `` entirely consistent'' with NBC plans because the U.S. rules would limit NBC's involvement in the Qintex deal so severely as to be `` light years away from the type of unrestrained deals available to Sony -- and everyone else except the three networks.''

NBC

NBC

NBC

Qintex

Sony

Holston

U.S.

light years

three


Input: The Big Three's drumbeat for deregulation began intensifying in the summer when the former Time Inc. went ahead with plans to acquire Warner.

the summer

Time Inc.

Warner


Input: Although Time already had a long - term contract to buy movies from Warner, the merger will let Time's largely unregulated pay - cable channel, Home Box Office, own the Warner movies aired on HBO -- a vertical integration that is effectively blocked by fin - syn regulations.

Time

Warner

Time

Home Box Office

Warner

HBO


Input: NBC's Mr. Wright led the way in decrying the networks' inability to match a Time - Warner combination.

NBC

Time - Warner

Wright


Input: He spoke up again when the Sony bid for Columbia was announced.

Sony

Columbia


Input: Since NBC's interest in the Qintex bid for MGM / UA was disclosed, Mr. Wright hasn't been available for comment.

NBC

Qintex

MGM / UA

Wright


Input: With a Qintex deal, NBC would move into uncharted territory -- possibly raising hackles at the studios and in Washington.

Qintex

NBC

Washington


Input: `` It's never really been tested,'' says William Lilley III, who as a top CBS executive spent years lobbying to have the rules lifted.

William Lilley III

CBS

years


Input: He now runs Policy Communications in Washington, consulting to media companies.

Policy Communications

Washington


Input: Fin - syn rules don't explicitly block a network from buying a passive, small stake in a company that profits from the rerun syndication networks can't enjoy.


Input: Hence, NBC might be able to take, say, a 5% stake in a company such as MGM / UA.

NBC

MGM / UA


Input: If the transaction raised objections, the studio's syndication operations could be spun off into a separate firm in which the network doesn't have a direct stake.


Input: But such convolutions would still block the networks from grabbing a big chunk of the riches of syndication.


Input: Under current rules, even when a network fares well with a 100% - owned series -- ABC, for example, made a killing in broadcasting its popular crime / comedy `` Moonlighting'' -- it isn't allowed to share in the continuing proceeds when the reruns are sold to local stations.

ABC

Moonlighting


Input: Instead, ABC will have to sell off the rights for a one - time fee.

ABC

one


Input: The networks admit that the chances of getting the relief they want are slim -- for several years at the least.

several years


Input: Six years ago they were tantalizingly close.

Six years ago


Input: The Reagan - era Federal Communications Commission had ruled in favor of killing most of the rules.

Reagan

Federal Communications Commission


Input: Various evidence, including a Brookings Institution study of some 800 series that the networks had aired and had partly owned in the 1960s, showed the networks didn't wield undue control over the studios as had been alleged.

Brookings Institution

the 1960s


Input: But just eight days before the rules were to die, former President Ronald Reagan, a one - time actor, intervened on behalf of Hollywood.

just eight days

Ronald Reagan

one

Hollywood


Input: The FCC effort collapsed.

FCC


Input: The networks and studios have bickered ever since.


Input: Network officials involved in the studio talks may hope the foreign influx builds more support in Washington, but that seems unlikely.

Washington


Input: In Congress, the issue falters: It's about money, not program quality, and Hollywood has lots of clout given its fund raising for senators and representatives overseeing the issue.

Congress

Hollywood


Input: A spokesman for Rep. Edward J. Markey -LRB- D - Mass. -RRB-, who heads a subcommittee that oversees the FCC, says Mr. Markey feels `` the world has been forever changed by the Sony - Columbia deal.''

Edward J. Markey

Markey

D

FCC

Sony


Input: But he said Mr. Markey hopes this pushes the networks and studios to work it out on their own.

Markey


Input: And at the FCC, meanwhile, new Chairman Alfred C. Sikes has said he wants the two sides to hammer out their own plan.

FCC

Alfred C. Sikes

two


Input: Recognition Equipment Inc. said it settled a civil action filed against it by the federal government on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service.

Recognition Equipment Inc.

the U.S. Postal Service


Input: The government sued the company in April, seeking $23,000 and other unspecified damages related to an alleged contract - steering scheme.

April


Input: The suit named the company, former chief executive officer William G. Moore Jr., former vice president Robert W. Reedy and five defendants who weren't part of the company.

William G. Moore Jr.

Robert W. Reedy

five


Input: The suit charged the defendants with causing Peter E. Voss, an ex-member of the Postal Service board of governors, to accept $23,000 in bribes, kickbacks and gratuities.

Peter E. Voss

Postal Service


Input: Mr. Voss was previously sentenced to four years in prison and fined $11,000 for his role in the scheme.

Voss

four years


Input: In the agreement, Recognition agreed to pay the government $20,000 in return for the release of all claims against the company, Mr. Moore and Mr. Reedy.

Recognition

Moore

Reedy


Input: The five additional defendants weren't parties to the settlement.

five


Input: A trial on criminal allegations against the company and the same two former executives began Sept. 27 in federal court for the District of Columbia.

two

Sept. 27

the District of Columbia


Input: They were indicted last October on charges of fraud, theft and conspiracy related to an effort to win $400 million in Postal Service equipment contracts by the maker of data management equipment.

last October

$400 million

Postal Service


Input: The company and its executives deny the charges.


Input: In a related development, Recognition Equipment said the Postal Service has barred the company from bidding on postal contracts for an additional 120 days.

Recognition Equipment

the Postal Service

an additional 120 days


Input: The Postal Service originally suspended the company Oct. 7, 1988, and has been renewing the ban ever since.

The Postal Service

Oct. 7


Input: The company said it will continue to pursue a lifting of the suspension.


Input: Walter Sisulu and the African National Congress came home yesterday.

Walter Sisulu

the African National Congress

yesterday


Input: After 26 years in prison, Mr. Sisulu, the 77 - year - old former secretary - general of the liberation movement, was dropped off at his house by a prison services' van just as the sun was coming up.

26 years

77 - year - old

Sisulu


Input: At the same time, six ANC colleagues, five of whom were arrested with him in 1963 and sentenced to life imprisonment, were reunited with their families at various places around the country.

six

five

ANC


Input: And as the graying men returned to their homes, the ANC, outlawed in South Africa since 1960 and still considered to be the chief public enemy by the white government, defiantly returned to the streets of the country's black townships.

ANC

South Africa


Input: A huge ANC flag, with black, green and gold stripes, was hoisted over the rickety gate at Mr. Sisulu's modest house, while on the street out front, boys displayed the ANC colors on their shirts, caps and scarves.

ANC

ANC

Sisulu


Input: At the small four - room home of Elias Motsoaledi, a leading ANC unionist and a former commander in the group's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, well - wishers stuck little ANC flags in their hair and a man tooted on an antelope horn wrapped in ANC ribbons.

four

Elias Motsoaledi

ANC

Umkhonto we Sizwe

ANC

ANC


Input: `` I am happy to see the spirit of the people,'' said Mr. Sisulu, looking dapper in a new gray suit.

Sisulu


Input: As the crowd outside his home shouted `` ANC, ANC,'' the old man shot his fists into the air.

ANC

ANC


Input: `` I'm inspired by the mood of the people.''


Input: Under the laws of the land, the ANC remains an illegal organization, and its headquarters are still in Lusaka, Zambia.

ANC

Lusaka

Zambia


Input: But the unconditional release of the seven leaders, who once formed the intellectual and organizational core of the ANC, is a de facto unbanning of the movement and the rebirth of its internal wing.

seven

ANC


Input: `` The government can never put the ANC back into the bottle again,'' said Cassim Saloojee, a veteran anti-apartheid activist on hand to welcome Mr. Sisulu.

ANC

Cassim Saloojee

Sisulu


Input: `` Things have gone too far for the government to stop them now.


Input: There's no turning back.''


Input: There was certainly no stopping the tide of ANC emotion last night, when hundreds of people jammed into the Holy Cross Anglican Church in Soweto for what became the first ANC rally in the country in 30 years.

ANC

the Holy Cross Anglican Church

ANC

last night

hundreds

Soweto

first

30 years


Input: Deafening chants of `` ANC'' and `` Umkhonto we Sizwe'' shook the church as the seven aging men vowed that the ANC would continue its fight against the government and the policies of racial segregation on all fronts, including the armed struggle.

ANC

Umkhonto we Sizwe

ANC

seven


Input: And they called on the government to release Nelson Mandela, the ANC's leading figure, who was jailed with them and remains in prison.

Nelson Mandela

ANC


Input: Without him, said Mr. Sisulu, the freeing of the others `` is only a half - measure.''

Sisulu

half


Input: President F.W. de Klerk released the ANC men -- along with one of the founding members of the Pan Africanist Congress, a rival liberation group -- as part of his efforts to create a climate of trust and peace in which his government can begin negotiations with black leaders over a new constitution aimed at giving blacks a voice in national government.

F.W. de Klerk

ANC

the Pan Africanist Congress

one


Input: But Pretoria may instead be creating a climate for more turmoil and uncertainty in this racially divided country.

Pretoria


Input: As other repressive governments, particularly Poland and the Soviet Union, have recently discovered, initial steps to open up society can create a momentum for radical change that becomes difficult, if not impossible, to control.

Poland

the Soviet Union


Input: As the days go by, the South African government will be ever more hard pressed to justify the continued imprisonment of Mr. Mandela as well as the continued banning of the ANC and enforcement of the state of emergency.

the days

South African

Mandela

ANC


Input: If it doesn't yield on these matters, and eventually begin talking directly to the ANC, the expectations and promise raised by yesterday's releases will turn to disillusionment and unrest.

ANC

yesterday


Input: If it does, the large number of right - wing whites, who oppose any concessions to the black majority, will step up their agitation and threats to take matters into their own hands.


Input: The newly released ANC leaders also will be under enormous pressure.

ANC


Input: The government is watching closely to see if their presence in the townships leads to increased anti-government protests and violence; if it does, Pretoria will use this as a reason to keep Mr. Mandela behind bars.

Pretoria

Mandela


Input: Pretoria hasn't forgotten why they were all sentenced to life imprisonment in the first place: for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Pretoria

first


Input: In addition, the government is figuring that the releases could create a split between the internal and external wings of the ANC and between the newly freed leaders and those activists who have emerged as leaders inside the country during their imprisonment.

ANC


Input: In order to head off any divisions, Mr. Mandela, in a meeting with his colleagues before they were released, instructed them to report to the ANC headquarters in Lusaka as soon as possible.

Mandela

ANC

Lusaka


Input: The men also will be faced with bridging the generation gap between themselves and the country's many militant black youths, the so - called young lions who are anxious to see the old lions in action.


Input: Says Peter Mokaba, president of the South African Youth Congress: `` We will be expecting them to act like leaders of the ANC.''

Peter Mokaba

the South African Youth Congress

ANC


Input: They never considered themselves to be anything else.


Input: At last night's rally, they called on their followers to be firm, yet disciplined, in their opposition to apartheid.

last night's


Input: `` We emphasize discipline because we know that the government is very, very sensitive,'' said Andrew Mlangeni, another early Umkhonto leader who is now 63.

Andrew Mlangeni

Umkhonto


Input: `` We want to see Nelson Mandela and all our comrades out of prison, and if we aren't disciplined we may not see them here with us.

Nelson Mandela


Input: The economy's temperature will be taken from several vantage points this week, with readings on trade, output, housing and inflation.

this week


Input: The most troublesome report may be the August merchandise trade deficit due out tomorrow.

August

tomorrow


Input: The trade gap is expected to widen to about $9 billion from July's $7.6 billion, according to a survey by MMS International, a unit of McGraw - Hill Inc., New York.

about $9 billion

$7.6 billion

July

MMS International

McGraw - Hill Inc.

New York


Input: Thursday's report on the September consumer price index is expected to rise, although not as sharply as the 0.9% gain reported Friday in the producer price index.

Thursday

September

Friday


Input: That gain was being cited as a reason the stock market was down early in Friday's session, before it got started on its reckless 190 - point plunge.

Friday


Input: Economists are divided as to how much manufacturing strength they expect to see in September reports on industrial production and capacity utilization, also due tomorrow.

September

tomorrow


Input: Meanwhile, September housing starts, due Wednesday, are thought to have inched upward.

September

Wednesday


Input: `` There's a possibility of a surprise'' in the trade report, said Michael Englund, director of research at MMS.

Michael Englund

MMS


Input: A widening of the deficit, if it were combined with a stubbornly strong dollar, would exacerbate trade problems -- but the dollar weakened Friday as stocks plummeted.

Friday


Input: In any event, Mr. Englund and many others say that the easy gains in narrowing the trade gap have already been made.

Englund


Input: `` Trade is definitely going to be more politically sensitive over the next six or seven months as improvement begins to slow,'' he said.

the next six or seven months


Input: Exports are thought to have risen strongly in August, but probably not enough to offset the jump in imports, economists said.

August


Input: Views on manufacturing strength are split between economists who read September's low level of factory job growth as a sign of a slowdown and those who use the somewhat more comforting total employment figures in their calculations.

September


Input: The wide range of estimates for the industrial output number underscores the differences: The forecasts run from a drop of 0.5% to an increase of 0.4%, according to MMS.

MMS


Input: A rebound in energy prices, which helped push up the producer price index, is expected to do the same in the consumer price report.


Input: The consensus view expects a 0.4% increase in the September CPI after a flat reading in August.

September

August


Input: Robert H. Chandross, an economist for Lloyd's Bank in New York, is among those expecting a more moderate gain in the CPI than in prices at the producer level.

Robert H. Chandross

Lloyd's Bank

New York


Input: `` Auto prices had a big effect in the PPI, and at the CPI level they won't,'' he said.


Input: Food prices are expected to be unchanged, but energy costs jumped as much as 4%, said Gary Ciminero, economist at Fleet / Norstar Financial Group.

as much as 4%

Gary Ciminero

Fleet / Norstar Financial Group


Input: He also says he thinks `` core inflation,'' which excludes the volatile food and energy prices, was strong last month.

last month


Input: He expects a gain of as much as 0.5% in core inflation after a summer of far smaller increases.

as much as 0.5%

summer


Input: Housing starts are expected to quicken a bit from August's annual pace of 1,350,000 units.

August

annual


Input: Economists say an August rebound in permits for multifamily units signaled an increase in September starts, though activity remains fairly modest by historical standards.

August

September


Input: Two - Way Street

Two


Input: If the sixty - day plant - closing law's fair, Why should we not then amend the writ To require that all employees give Similar notice before they quit?

sixty - day


Input: -- Rollin S. Trexler.

-- Rollin S. Trexler.


Input: Candid Comment


Input: When research projects are curtailed due to government funding cuts, are we `` caught with our grants down''?


Input: -- C.E. Friedman.

-- C.E. Friedman.


Input: Assuming the stock market doesn't crash again and completely discredit yuppies and trading rooms, American television audiences in a few months may be seeing Britain's concept of both.

American

a few months

Britain


Input: `` Capital City'' is a weekly series that premiered here three weeks ago amid unprecedented hype by its producer, Thames Television.

`` Capital City''

weekly

three weeks ago

Thames Television


Input: The early episodes make you long for a rerun of the crash of 1987.

the crash of 1987


Input: Let's make that 1929, just to be sure.


Input: According to the program's publicity prospectus, `` Capital City,'' set at Shane Longman, a fictional mid-sized securities firm with 500 million capital, `` follows the fortunes of a close - knit team of young, high - flying dealers, hired for their particular blend of style, genius and energy.

Capital City

Shane Longman

500 million


Input: But with all the money and glamour of high finance come the relentless pressures to do well; pressure to pull off another million before lunch; pressure to anticipate the market by a fraction of a second ...''

another million

a fraction of a second


Input: You needn't be a high - powered securities lawyer to realize the prospectus is guilty of less than full disclosure.


Input: The slickly produced series has been criticized by London's financial cognoscenti as inaccurate in detail, but its major weakness is its unrealistic depiction of the characters' professional and private lives.

London


Input: Turned loose in Shane Longman's trading room, the yuppie dealers do little right.

Shane Longman's


Input: Judging by the money lost and mistakes made in the early episodes, Shane Longman's capital should be just about exhausted by the final 13th week.

Shane Longman's

the final 13th week


Input: In the opening episode we learn that Michelle, a junior bond trader, has indeed pulled off another million before lunch.

Michelle

another million


Input: Trouble is, she has lost it just as quickly.


Input: Rather than keep the loss a secret from the outside world, Michelle blabs about it to a sandwich man while ordering lunch over the phone.

Michelle


Input: Little chance that Shane Longman is going to recoup today.

Shane Longman

today


Input: Traders spend the morning frantically selling bonds, in the belief that the U.S. monthly trade figures will look lousy.

morning

U.S.

monthly


Input: Ah, perfidious Columbia!

Columbia


Input: The trade figures turn out well, and all those recently unloaded bonds spurt in price.


Input: So much for anticipating the market by a fraction of a second.

a fraction of a second


Input: And a large slice of the first episode is devoted to efforts to get rid of some nearly worthless Japanese bonds -LRB- since when is anything Japanese nearly worthless nowadays? -RRB-.

first

Japanese

Japanese


Input: Surprisingly, Shane Longman survives the week, only to have a senior executive innocently bumble his way into becoming the target of a criminal insider trading investigation.

Shane Longman

the week


Input: Instead of closing ranks to protect the firm's reputation, the executive's internal rivals, led by a loutish American, demand his resignation.

American


Input: The plot is thwarted when the firm's major stockholder, kelp farming on the other side of the globe, hurries home to support the executive.


Input: But the investigation continues.


Input: If you can swallow the premise that the rewards for such ineptitude are six - figure salaries, you still are left puzzled, because few of the yuppies consume very conspicuously.

six


Input: In fact, few consume much of anything.


Input: Two share a house almost devoid of furniture.

Two


Input: Michelle lives in a hotel room, and although she drives a canary - colored Porsche, she hasn't time to clean or repair it; the beat - up vehicle can be started only with a huge pair of pliers because the ignition key has broken off in the lock.

Michelle

Porsche


Input: And it takes Declan, the obligatory ladies' man of the cast, until the third episode to get past first base with any of his prey.

Declan

third

first


Input: Perhaps the explanation for these anomalies is that class - conscious Britain isn't ready to come to terms with the wealth created by the Thatcherian free - enterprise regime.

Britain


Input: After all, this isn't old money, but new money, and in many cases, young money.


Input: This attitude is clearly illustrated in the treatment of Max, the trading room's most flamboyant character.

Max


Input: Yuppily enough, he lives in a lavishly furnished converted church, wears designer clothes and drives an antique car.


Input: But apparently to make him palatable, even lovable, to the masses, the script inflates pony - tailed Max into an eccentric genius, master of 11 Chinese dialects.

Max

Chinese


Input: He takes his wash to the laundromat, where he meets a punky French girl who dupes him into providing a home for her pet piranha and then promptly steals his car and dumps it in Dieppe.

French

Dieppe


Input: In producing and promoting `` Capital City,'' Thames has spent about as much as Shane Longman loses on a good day.

Capital City

Thames

Shane Longman

a good day


Input: The production costs are a not inconsiderable 8 million -LRB- $12.4 million -RRB-, and would have been much higher had not the cost of the trading floor set been absorbed in the budget of `` Dealers,'' an earlier made - for - TV movie.

8 million

$12.4 million

Dealers


Input: Another half million quid went for a volley of full - page advertisements in six major British newspapers and for huge posters in the London subway.

Another half million quid

six

British

London


Input: These expenses create a special incentive for `` Capital City's'' producers to flog it, or a Yank - oriented version of it, in America.

`` Capital City's''

Yank

America


Input: Thames's U.S. marketing agent, Donald Taffner, is preparing to do just that.

Thames

U.S.

Donald Taffner


Input: He is discreetly hopeful, citing three U.S. comedy series -- `` Three's Company,'' `` Too Close for Comfort'' and `` Check It Out'' -- that had British antecedents.

three

U.S.

Three's Company

Too Close for Comfort

Check It Out

British


Input: Perhaps without realizing it, Mr. Taffner simultaneously has put his finger on the problem and an ideal solution: `` Capital City'' should have been a comedy, a worthy sequel to the screwball British `` Carry On'' movies of the 1960s.

Taffner

`` Capital City''

Carry On

British

the 1960s


Input: The seeds already are in the script.


Input: The first episode concluded with a marvelously cute scene in which the trading - room crew minded a baby, the casualty of a broken marriage at the firm.

first


Input: And many in the young cast bear striking resemblances to American TV and movie personalities known for light roles.

American


Input: Joanna Kanska looks like a young Zsa Zsa Gabor; William Armstrong, who plays Max, could pass for Hans Conreid, and Douglas Hodge -LRB- Declan -RRB- for James Farentino; Rolf Saxon is a passable Tommy Noonan and Dorian Healy could easily double for Huntz Hall, the blank - faced foil of the Bowery Boys comedies.

Joanna Kanska

Zsa Zsa Gabor

William Armstrong

Max

Hans Conreid

Douglas Hodge

Declan

James Farentino

Rolf Saxon

Tommy Noonan

Dorian Healy

Huntz Hall

Bowery Boys


Input: So, OK kids, everybody on stage for `` Carry On Trading'': The cast is frantically searching the office for misplaced Japanese bonds that suddenly have soared in value because Dai - Ichi Kangyo Bank has just bought the White House.

Carry On Trading

Japanese

Dai - Ichi Kangyo Bank

the White House


Input: The pressure is too much for Zsa Zsa, who slaps a security guard.

Zsa Zsa


Input: He backflips into a desktop computer terminal, which explodes, covering Huntz Hall's face with microchips.

Huntz Hall's


Input: And all the while, the bonds are in the baby's diaper.


Input: It should run forever.


Input: Mr. Rustin is senior correspondent in the Journal's London bureau.

Rustin

Journal

London


Input: Axa - Midi Assurances of France gave details of its financing plans for its proposed $4.5 billion acquisition of Farmers Group Inc., in amended filings with insurance regulators in the nine U.S. states where Farmers operates.

Axa - Midi Assurances

Farmers Group Inc.

Farmers

France

U.S.

$4.5 billion

nine


Input: The proposed acquisition is part of Sir James Goldsmith's unfriendly takeover attempt for B.A.T Industries PLC, the British tobacco, retailing, paper and financial services concern that is parent of Los Angeles - based Farmers.

James Goldsmith

B.A.T Industries PLC

Farmers

British

Los Angeles


Input: In an attempt to appease U.S. regulators' concern over a Goldsmith acquisition of Farmers, Sir James in August agreed to sell Farmers to Axa if he is successful in acquiring B.A.T.

U.S.

Goldsmith

James

Farmers

Farmers

Axa

B.A.T

August


Input: As part of the agreement, Axa agreed to invest $1 billion in Hoylake Investments Ltd., Sir James's acquisition vehicle.

Axa

Hoylake Investments Ltd.

$1 billion

James


Input: Of the total $5.5 billion to be paid to Hoylake by Axa, about $1 billion will come from available resources of Axa's parent, Axa - Midi Group, $2.25 billion will be in the form of notes issued by Axa, and the remaining $2.25 billion will be in long - term bank loans.

$5.5 billion

about $1 billion

$2.25 billion

$2.25 billion

Hoylake

Axa

Axa

Axa - Midi Group

Axa


Input: In an interview Thursday, Claude Bebear, chairman and chief executive officer of Axa, said his group has already obtained assurances from a group of banks led by Cie. Financiere de Paribas that they can provide the loan portion of the financing.

Thursday

Claude Bebear

Axa

Cie. Financiere de Paribas


Input: The other banking companies in the group are Credit Lyonnais, Societe Generale, BankAmerica Corp. and Citicorp, he said.

Credit Lyonnais

Societe Generale

BankAmerica Corp.

Citicorp


Input: Mr. Bebear said Axa - Midi Group has `` more than $2.5 billion of non-strategic assets that we can and will sell'' to help pay off debt from the acquisition.

Bebear

Axa - Midi Group

more than $2.5 billion


Input: He said the assets to be sold would be `` non-insurance'' assets, including a beer company and a real estate firm, and wouldn't include any pieces of Farmers.

Farmers


Input: `` We won't put any burden on Farmers,'' he said.

Farmers


Input: The amended filings also point out that under a new agreement, Hoylake has an absolute obligation to sell Farmers to Axa upon an acquisition of B.A.T.

Hoylake

Farmers

Axa

B.A.T


Input: `` We hope that with what we did, the regulators will not need to evaluate Hoylake, and they can directly look at the agreement with us, because Hoylake won't be an owner of Farmers at anytime,'' Mr. Bebear said.

Hoylake

Hoylake

Farmers

Bebear


Input: Any change of control in Farmers needs approval of the insurance commissioners in the nine states where Farmers and its related companies are incorporated.

Farmers

Farmers

nine


Input: The amended filings were required because of the new agreement between Axa and Hoylake, and to reflect the extension that Sir James received last month under British takeover rules to complete his proposed acquisition.

Axa

Hoylake

James

last month

British


Input: Hoylake dropped its initial 13.35 billion -LRB- $20.71 billion -RRB- takeover bid after it received the extension, but said it would launch a new bid if and when the propsed sale of Farmers to Axa receives regulatory approval.

Hoylake

Farmers

Axa

13.35 billion

$20.71 billion


Input: A spokesman for B.A.T said of the amended filings that, `` It would appear that nothing substantive has changed.

B.A.T


Input: The new financing structure is still a very - highly leveraged one, and Axa still plans to take out 75% of Farmers' earnings as dividends to service their debt.''

Axa

Farmers


Input: That dividend is almost double the 35% currently taken out of Farmers by B.A.T, the spokesman added.

Farmers

B.A.T


Input: `` It would have severe implications for Farmers' policy holders.''

Farmers


Input: To fend off Sir James's advances, B.A.T has proposed a sweeping restructuring that would pare it to a tobacco and financial services concern.

James

B.A.T


Input: Dismal sales at General Motors Corp. dragged the U.S. car and truck market down below year - ago levels in early October, the first sales period of the 1990 model year.

General Motors Corp.

U.S.

year - ago

early October

first


Input: The eight major domestic auto makers sold 160,510 North American - made cars in the first 10 days of October, a 12.6% drop from a year earlier.

eight

North American

the first 10 days of October

a year earlier


Input: Domestically built truck sales were down 10.4% to 86,555 pickups, vans and sport utility vehicles.


Input: The heavy use of incentives to clear out 1989 models appears to have taken the steam, at least initially, out of 1990 model sales, which began officially Oct. 1.

Oct. 1


Input: This appears particularly true at GM, which had strong sales in August and September but saw its early October car and truck results fall 26.3% from last year's unusually high level.

GM

August

September

early October

last year's


Input: Overall, sales of all domestic - made vehicles fell 11.9% from a year ago.

a year ago


Input: Without GM, overall sales for the other U.S. automakers were roughly flat with 1989 results.

GM

U.S.


Input: Some of the U.S. auto makers have already adopted incentives on many 1990 models, but they may have to broaden their programs to keep sales up.

U.S.


Input: `` We've created a condition where, without incentives, it's a tough market,'' said Tom Kelly, sales manager for Bill Wink Chevrolet in Dearborn, Mich.

Tom Kelly

Bill Wink Chevrolet

Dearborn

Mich


Input: Car sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual selling rate of 5.8 million vehicles, the lowest since October 1987.

seasonally

annual

October 1987

5.8 million


Input: The poor performance contrasts with a robust selling rate of almost eight million last month.

almost eight million

last month


Input: Furthermore, dealers contacted late last week said they couldn't see any immediate impact on sales of Friday's steep market decline.

late last week

Friday


Input: GM's domestic car sales dropped 24.3% and its domestic trucks were down an even steeper 28.7% from the same period a year ago.

GM

a year ago


Input: All of the GM divisions except Cadillac showed big declines.

GM

Cadillac


Input: Cadillac posted a 3.2% increase despite new competition from Lexus, the fledging luxury - car division of Toyota Motor Corp.

Cadillac

Lexus

Toyota Motor Corp


Input: Lexus sales weren't available; the cars are imported and Toyota reports their sales only at month - end.

Lexus

Toyota

month - end


Input: The sales drop for the No. 1 car maker may have been caused in part by the end in September of dealer incentives that GM offered in addition to consumer rebates and low - interest financing, a company spokesman said.

September

GM


Input: Last year, GM had a different program in place that continued rewarding dealers until all the 1989 models had been sold.

Last year

GM


Input: Aside from GM, other car makers posted generally mixed results.

GM


Input: Ford Motor Co. had a 1.8% drop in domestic car sales but a 2.4% increase in domestic truck sales.

Ford Motor Co.


Input: Chrysler Corp. had a 7.5% drop in car sales, echoing its generally slow performance all year.

Chrysler Corp.

all year


Input: However, sales of trucks, including the company's popular minivans, rose 4.3%.


Input: Honda Motor Co.'s sales of domestically built vehicles plunged 21.7% from a year earlier.

Honda Motor Co.'s

a year earlier


Input: Honda's plant in Marysville, Ohio, was gearing up to build 1990 model Accords, a Honda spokesman said.

Honda

Accords

Honda

Marysville

Ohio


Input: `` We're really confident everything will bounce back to normal,'' he added.


Input: Separately, Chrysler said firm prices on its 1990 - model domestic cars and minivans will rise an average of 5% over comparably equipped 1989 models.

Chrysler


Input: Firm prices were generally in line with the tentative prices announced earlier this fall.

earlier this fall


Input: At that time, Chrysler said base prices, which aren't adjusted for equipment changes, would rise between 4% and 9% on most vehicle.

Chrysler

between 4% and 9%


Input: a - Totals include only vehicle sales reported in period.


Input: c - Domestic car


Input: d - Percentage change is greater than 999%.


Input: x - There were 8 selling days in the most recent period and 8 a year earlier.

a year earlier


Input: Percentage differences based on daily sales rate rather than sales volume.

daily


Input: Antonio L. Savoca, 66 years old, was named president and chief executive officer of the Atlantic Research Corp. subsidiary.

Antonio L. Savoca

66 years old

Atlantic Research Corp.


Input: Mr. Savoca had been a consultant to the subsidiary's rocket - propulsion operations.

Savoca


Input: Mr. Savoca succeeds William H. Borten, who resigned to pursue personal interests.

Savoca

William H. Borten


Input: Sequa makes and repairs jet engines.

Sequa


Input: It also has interests in military electronics and electro - optics, marine transportation and machinery used to make food and beverage cans.


Input: It wasn't so long ago that a radio network funded by the U.S. Congress -- and originally by the Central Intelligence Agency -- was accused by officials here of employing propagandists, imperialists and spies.

U.S.

Congress

the Central Intelligence Agency


Input: Now, the network has opened a news bureau in the Hungarian capital.

Hungarian


Input: Employees held an open house to celebrate and even hung out a sign: `` Szabad Europa Radio'' -- Radio Free Europe.

Szabad Europa Radio

Radio Free Europe


Input: `` I think this is a victory for the radio,'' says Barnabas de Bueky, a 55 - year - old former Hungarian refugee who works in the Munich, West Germany, headquarters as deputy director of the Hungarian service.

Barnabas de Bueky

55 - year - old

Hungarian

Hungarian

Munich

West Germany


Input: In fact, the network hopes to set up offices in Warsaw and anywhere else in the East Bloc that will have it.

Warsaw

the East Bloc


Input: But the rapid changes brought on by glasnost and open borders are altering the network's life in more ways than one.

one


Input: In fact, Radio Free Europe is in danger of suffering from its success.

Radio Free Europe


Input: While the network currently can operate freely in Budapest, so can others.

Budapest


Input: In addition, competition for listeners is getting tougher in many ways than when broadcasting here was strictly controlled.


Input: Instead of being denounced as an evil agent of imperialism, Radio Free Europe is more likely to draw the criticism that its programs are too tame, even boring.

Radio Free Europe


Input: `` They have a lot to do these days to compete with Hungarian radio,'' says Andrew Deak, a computer - science student at the Technical University in Budapest.

these days

Hungarian

Andrew Deak

the Technical University

Budapest


Input: `` The Hungarian -LCB- radio -RCB- reporters seem better informed and more critical about about what's going on here.''

Hungarian


Input: Indeed, Hungary is in the midst of a media explosion.

Hungary


Input: Boys on busy street corners peddle newspapers of every political stripe.


Input: Newsstands are packed with a colorful array of magazines.


Input: Radio and television are getting livelier and bolder.


Input: The British Broadcasting Corp. and the U.S. State Department's Voice of America broadcast over Hungarian airwaves, though only a few hours a day each in Hungarian.

The British Broadcasting Corp.

State Department

Voice of America

U.S.

Hungarian

only a few hours a day each

Hungarian


Input: Australian press magnate Rupert Murdoch has bought 50% stakes in two popular and gossipy Hungarian newspapers, while Britain's Robert Maxwell has let it be known here that he is thinking about similar moves.

Australian

Hungarian

Rupert Murdoch

Robert Maxwell

two

Britain


Input: But Radio Free Europe doesn't plan to fade away.

Radio Free Europe


Input: With its mission for free speech and the capitalist way, the network's staff says it still has plenty to do -- in Hungary and in the `` Great Eastern Beyond.''

Hungary

the `` Great Eastern Beyond


Input: Radio Free Europe and its sister station for the Soviet Union, Radio Liberty, say they won't cut back their more than 19 hours of daily broadcasts.

Radio Free Europe

Radio Liberty

the Soviet Union

more than 19 hours

daily


Input: They are still an important source of news for 60 million listeners in 23 exotic tongues: from Bulgarian and Belorussian to Kazakh and Kirghiz.

60 million

Bulgarian

Belorussian

Kazakh

Kirghiz


Input: The establishment of its first bureau in Warsaw Pact territory shows the depth of some of the changes in Eastern Europe.

first

Warsaw Pact

Eastern Europe


Input: Months before the decision by the Hungarian Communist Party to rename itself Socialist and try to look more appealing to voters, the country's rulers were trying to look more hospitable.

Months

Hungarian

Communist Party

Socialist


Input: It proved a perfect time for Radio Free Europe to ask for permission to set up office.

Radio Free Europe


Input: Not only did the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs approve Radio Free Europe's new location, but the Ministry of Telecommunications did something even more amazing: `` They found us four phone lines in central Budapest,'' says Geza Szocs, a Radio Free Europe correspondent who helped organize the Budapest location.

the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Radio Free Europe's

the Ministry of Telecommunications

Radio Free Europe

four

Budapest

Budapest

Geza Szocs


Input: `` That is a miracle.''


Input: It's a far cry from the previous treatment of the network, which had to overcome jamming of its frequencies and intimidation of local correspondents -LRB- who filed reports to the network by phone, secret messengers or letters -RRB-.


Input: In fact, some of the network's Hungarian listeners say they owe Radio Free Europe loyalty because it was responsible in many ways for keeping hope alive through what one writer here calls the `` Dark Ages of the 20th Century.''

Hungarian

Radio Free Europe

one

the `` Dark Ages of the 20th Century


Input: `` During the past four years, many of us have sat up until late at night listening to our radios,'' says the writer.

the past four years

night


Input: `` There were some very brave broadcasts.''


Input: The listeners, too, had to be brave.


Input: Through much of the post-World War II period, listening to Western broadcasts was a crime in Hungary.

post-World War II

Hungary


Input: `` When we listen to the Europe station, my mother still gets nervous,'' says a Budapest translator.

Europe

Budapest


Input: `` She wants to turn down the volume and close the curtains.''


Input: Now, the toughest competition for Radio Free Europe comes during the late - night slot.

Radio Free Europe

late - night


Input: Hungarian radio often saves its most politically outspoken broadcasts for around midnight.

Hungarian

midnight


Input: Television, which most of the time is considered rather tame, has entered the running with a new program, `` The End of the Day,'' which comes on after 11 p.m.

The End of the Day

11 p.m


Input: It is a talk show with opposition leaders and political experts who discuss Hungary's domestic problems as well as foreign affairs.

Hungary


Input: Those who want to hear even more radical views have to get up at five on Sunday morning for `` Sunday Journal,'' on Hungarian Radio.

five

Sunday

morning

Sunday Journal

Hungarian Radio


Input: The competitive spirit is clearly influencing Radio Free Europe, which is trying to beef up programs.

Radio Free Europe


Input: The Budapest office plans to hire free - lance reporters to cover the latest happenings in Hungarian country towns from Nagykanizsa in the west to Nyiregyhaza in the east.

Budapest

Nagykanizsa

Nyiregyhaza

Hungarian


Input: The Hungarian service has a daily 40 - minute news show called Newsreel, with international and domestic news, plus a daily news review of opinions from around the world.

Hungarian

daily

daily

40 - minute

Newsreel


Input: There's also a host of new programs, trying to lighten up on the traditional diet of politics.


Input: A daily 35 - minute program called `` The March of Time'' tries to find interesting tidbits of lighthearted news and gossip from around the world.

daily

35 - minute

The March of Time''


Input: There's a program for women and a science show.


Input: And to attract younger listeners, Radio Free Europe intersperses the latest in Western rock groups.

Radio Free Europe


Input: The Pet Shop Boys are big this year in Budapest.

The Pet Shop Boys

this year

Budapest


Input: `` We are starving for all the news,'' says Mr. Deak, the student.

Deak


Input: `` Every moment we want to know everything about the world.


Input: Proposals for government - operated `` national service,'' like influenza, flare up from time to time, depress the resistance of the body politic, run their course, and seem to disappear, only to mutate and afflict public life anew.


Input: The disease metaphor comes to mind, of course, not as an aspersion on the advocates of national service.


Input: Rather, it is born of frustration with having to combat constantly changing strains of a statist idea that one thought had been eliminated in the early 1970s, along with smallpox.

the early 1970s


Input: It is back with us again, in the form of legislation to pay volunteers under a `` National and Community Service Act,'' a proposal with a serious shot at congressional passage this fall.

this fall


Input: Why does the national - service virus keep coming back?


Input: Perhaps it is because utopian nostalgia evokes both military experience and the social gospel.


Input: If only we could get America's wastrel youth into at least a psychic uniform we might be able to teach self - discipline again and revive the spirit of giving.

America


Input: A quarter of a century ago national service was promoted as a way of curing the manifest inequities of the draft -- by, of all things, expanding the draft.

A quarter of a century ago


Input: Those of us who resisted the idea then suspect today that an obligation of government service for all young people is still the true long - term aim of many national - service backers, despite their protests that present plans contain no coercion.

today


Input: Choice of the volunteer military in the 1970s seemed to doom national service as much as the draft.

the 1970s


Input: But the virus was kept alive in sociology departments until a couple of years ago, when it again was let loose.

a couple of years ago


Input: This time it attempted to invade two connected problems, the rising cost of higher education and the rising expense to the federal government of educational grants and loans.

two


Input: Why not keep and even expand the loans and grants, the advocates reasoned, but require some form of service from each recipient?


Input: Military service, moreover, could be a national - service option.


Input: Thus, undoubtedly it was hoped that the new strain of national service would prove contagious, infecting patriotic conservatives, pay - as - you - go moderates, and idealistic liberals.


Input: The Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group sponsoring the plan, surely thought it might help the party to attract support, especially among college students and their parents.

The Democratic Leadership Council


Input: A provision allowing grants to be applied to first - home purchases was added to appeal to those who had had enough of schooling.

first


Input: The DLC plan envisaged `` volunteers'' planting trees, emptying bedpans, tutoring children, and assisting librarians for $100 a week, tax free, plus medical care.

DLC


Input: With a tax - free $10,000 voucher payment at the end of each year, the volunteers would be making a wage comparable to $17,500 a year.

the end of each year


Input: Mind you, most of `` the volunteers'' would be unskilled 17 - to 18 - year - olds, some not even high school graduates, and many saving money by living at home.

17 - to 18 - year - olds


Input: They would be doing better financially under national service than many taxpayers working at the same kinds of jobs and perhaps supporting families.


Input: As it happened, political resistance developed among educational and minority interests that count on the present education grant system, so the national - service devotees decided to abandon the supposedly crucial principle of `` give in order to get.''


Input: Opposition to national service from the Pentagon, which wants to protect its own recruitment process, also led to the military - service option being dropped.

Pentagon


Input: Clearly, a new rationale for national service had to be cooked up.


Input: What better place to turn than Sen. Edward Kennedy's Labor Committee, that great stove of government expansionism, where many a stagnant pot of porridge is kept on the back burner until it can be brought forward and presented as nouvelle cuisine?

Edward Kennedy

Labor Committee


Input: In this case, the new recipe for national service called for throwing many assorted legislative leftovers into one kettle: a demonstration project for educational aid -LRB- particularly satisfying to the DLC and Sen. Sam Nunn -RRB-, a similar demonstration program for youth conservation -LRB- a la Sen. Chris Dodd -RRB-, a competitive grants program to states to spark youth and senior citizen volunteer projects -LRB- a Kennedy specialty -RRB-, a community service work - study program for students -LRB- pleasing to the palate of Sen. Dale Bumpers, among others -RRB-, plus engorgement of the VISTA volunteer program and the Retired Senior Volunteer, Foster Grandparent, and Senior Companion programs.

one

DLC

VISTA

Retired Senior Volunteer

Foster Grandparent

Senior Companion

Sam Nunn

Chris Dodd

Kennedy

Dale Bumpers


Input: Before the menu is printed, the House may add more ingredients, also changing the initial price, now posted at some $330 million.

House

$330 million


Input: It is widely known that `` too many cooks spoil the broth,'' but that wisdom does not necessarily reflect the view of the cooks, especially if they are senators.


Input: The `` omnibus'' bill coming out of Congress may be unwholesome glop, but the assorted chefs are happy and the restaurant is pushing the dish very hard.

Congress


Input: The aroma of patronage is in the air.


Input: Is the voluntary sector so weak that it needs such unsolicited assistance?


Input: On the contrary, it is as robust as ever.


Input: According to the Gallup Poll, American adults contribute an average of two hours a week of service, while financial contributions to charity in the 1980s have risen 30% -LRB- adjusted for inflation -RRB-.

the Gallup Poll

American

two hours

the 1980s


Input: Even if government does see various `` unmet needs,'' national service is not the way to meet them.


Input: If we want to support students, we might adopt the idea used in other countries of offering more scholarships based on something called `` scholarship,'' rather than on the government's idea of `` service.''


Input: Or we might provide a tax credit for working students.


Input: What we do not need to do is start a war, and then try to justify it by creating a GI Bill.

a GI Bill


Input: To the extent we lack manpower to staff menial jobs in hospitals, for example, we should raise pay, pursue labor - saving technology, or allow more legal immigration, rather than overpay high school graduates as short - term workers and cause resentment among permanent workers paid lesser amounts to do the same jobs.


Input: Will national service, in the current highly politicized and opportunistic form exert enough appeal to get adopted?


Input: Not necessarily.


Input: Polls show wide, generalized support for some vague concept of service, but the bill now under discussion lacks any passionate public backing.


Input: Nonetheless, Senate Democrats are organizing a roll of supporting `` associations,'' `` societies'' and `` councils,'' some of which may hope to receive the paid `` volunteers.''

Senate

Democrats


Input: So far, the president seems ill - disposed to substitute any of the omnibus for his own free - standing proposal to endow a `` Points of Light'' foundation with $25 million to inform citizens of all ages and exhort them to genuine volunteerism.

Points of Light

$25 million


Input: However, even this admirable plan could become objectionable if the White House gives in to congressional Democratic pressure to add to the scope of the president's initiative or to involve the independent foundation in `` brokering'' federal funds for volunteer projects.

the White House

Democratic


Input: There's no need for such concessions.


Input: The omnibus can be defeated, the virus controlled, and real service protected.


Input: National service, the utopian idea, still won't go away then, of course, but the millions of knee - socked youth performing works of `` civic content'' will be mobilized only in the imagination of their progenitors.

the millions


Input: Mr. Chapman is a fellow at the Indianapolis - based Hudson Institute.

Chapman

Indianapolis

Hudson Institute


Input: This article is adapted from remarks at a Hoover Institution conference on national service, in which Mr. Szanton also participated.

Hoover Institution

Szanton


Input: Drug Emporium Inc. said Gary Wilber, 39 years old, who had been president and chief operating officer for the past year, was named chief executive officer of this drugstore chain.

Drug Emporium Inc.

Gary Wilber

39 years old

the past year


Input: He succeeds his father, Philip T. Wilber, who founded the company and remains chairman.

Philip T. Wilber


Input: Robert E. Lyons III, 39, who headed the company's Philadelphia region, was appointed president and chief operating officer, succeeding Gary Wilber.

Robert E. Lyons III

Gary Wilber

Philadelphia


Input: American Physicians Service Group Inc. said it purchased about 42% of Prime Medical Services Inc. for about $5 million from Texas American Energy Corp.

American Physicians Service Group Inc.

Prime Medical Services Inc.

Texas American Energy Corp

about 42%

about $5 million


Input: American Physicians said it also replaced four Texas American representatives on Prime's five - member board.

American Physicians

Texas American

Prime

four

five


Input: American provides a variety of financial services to doctors and hospitals.

American


Input: Prime, based in Bedminster, N.J., provides management services to cardiac rehabilitation clinics and diagnostic imaging centers.

Prime

Bedminster

N.J.


Input: For the year ended June 30, Prime had a net loss of $3 million on sales of $13.8 million.

the year ended June 30

Prime

$3 million

$13.8 million


Input: The inflation - adjusted growth rate for France's gross domestic product for the second quarter was revised upward to 0.8% from the previous three months from the initial estimate of 0.7%, the National Statistics Institute said.

France

the second quarter

the previous three months

the National Statistics Institute


Input: The state agency said the latest revision left the growth rate for the first - quarter compared with the previous three months unchanged at 1.3%.

the first - quarter

the previous three months


Input: If the economy continues to expand by 0.8% a quarter for the rest of the year, it would leave GDP growth for all of 1989 at 3%, the institute said.

a quarter

the year


Input: That would be down from the 3.8% rise posted in 1988.


Input: The Canadian government announced a new, 12 - year Canada Savings Bond issue that will yield investors 10.5% in the first year.

Canadian

12 - year

the first year


Input: The annual interest rate for each of the next 11 years will be set each fall, when details of a new series are released.

annual

each of the next 11 years

each fall


Input: Canada Savings Bonds are major government instruments for meeting its financial requirements.


Input: The government has about 41.4 billion Canadian dollars -LRB- US$ 35.2 billion -RRB- of such bonds currently outstanding.

about 41.4 billion Canadian dollars

US$ 35.2 billion


Input: Only Canadian residents are permitted to buy Canada Savings Bonds, which may be redeemed any time at face value.

Canadian


Input: The bonds go on sale Oct. 19.

Oct. 19


Input: The debate over National Service has begun again.


Input: After a decade in which more than 50 localities established their own service or conservation corps and dozens of school systems made community service a prerequisite to high - school graduation, the focus has shifted to Washington.

a decade

more than 50

dozens

Washington


Input: At least 10 bills proposing one or another national program were introduced in Congress this spring.

Congress

this spring


Input: One, co-sponsored by Sen. Sam Nunn -LRB- D., Ga. -RRB- and Rep. Dave McCurdy -LRB- D., Okla. -RRB-, would have restricted federal college subsidies to students who had served.

One

Sam Nunn

Dave McCurdy

D.

D.

Ga.

Okla.


Input: An omnibus bill assembled by Sen. Edward Kennedy -LRB- D., Mass. -RRB-, and including some diluted Nunn - McCurdy provisions along with proposals by fellow Democratic Sens. Claiborne Pell, Barbara Mikulski and Christopher Dodd, has been reported out of the Senate Labor Committee.

Edward Kennedy

Nunn

Claiborne Pell

Barbara Mikulski

Christopher Dodd

D.

Democratic

Mass.

the Senate Labor Committee


Input: It might well win Senate passage.

Senate


Input: President Bush has outlined his own Youth Entering Service -LRB- YES -RRB- plan, though its details remain to be specified.

Bush


Input: What is one to think of all this?


Input: Doctrine and special interests govern some responses.


Input: People eager to have youth `` pay their dues to society'' favor service proposals -- preferably mandatory ones.


Input: So do those who seek a `` re-energized concept of citizenship,'' a concept imposing stern obligations as well as conferring rights.


Input: Then there are instinctive opponents.


Input: To libertarians, mandatory service is an abomination and voluntary systems are illegitimate uses of tax money.


Input: Devotees of the market question the value of the work national service would perform:


Input: If the market won't pay for it, they argue, it can't be worth its cost.


Input: Elements of the left are also reflexively opposed; they see service as a cover for the draft, or fear the regimentation of youth, or want to see rights enlarged, not obligations.


Input: But what about those of us whose views are not predetermined by formula or ideology?


Input: How should we think about national service?


Input: Let's begin by recognizing a main source of confusion -- `` national service'' has no agreed meaning.


Input: Would service be voluntary or compulsory?


Input: Short or long?


Input: Part - time or full - time?


Input: Paid or unpaid?


Input: Would participants live at home and work nearby or live in barracks and work on public lands?


Input: What kinds of work would they do?


Input: What does `` national'' mean?


Input: Would the program be run by the federal government, by local governments, or by private voluntary organizations?


Input: And who would serve?


Input: Only males, as with the draft, or both sexes?


Input: Youth only or all ages?


Input: Middle - class people, or poor people, or a genuine cross-section?


Input: Many or few?


Input: Those are not trivial questions, and the label `` national service'' answers none of them.


Input: Then how should we think about national service?


Input: As a starting point, here are five propositions: 1. Consider the ingredients, not the name.

five


Input: Ignore `` national service'' in the abstract; consider specific proposals.


Input: They will differ in crucial ways.


Input: 2. `` Service'' should be service.


Input: As commonly understood, service implies sacrifice.


Input: It involves accepting risk, or giving up income, or deferring a career.


Input: It follows that proposals like Nunn - McCurdy, whose benefits to enrollees are worth some $17,500 a year, do not qualify.

Nunn

a year


Input: There is a rationale for such bills: Federal subsidies to college students amount to `` a GI Bill without the GI''; arguably those benefits should be earned, not given.

a GI Bill


Input: But the earnings exceed by 20% the average income of young high - school graduates with full - time jobs.


Input: Why call that service?


Input: 3. Encouragement is fine; compulsion is not.


Input: Compelled service is unconstitutional.


Input: It is also unwise and unenforceable.


Input: -LRB- Who will throw several hundred thousand refusers in jail each year? -RRB-

several hundred thousand


Input: But through tax policy and in other ways the federal government encourages many kinds of behavior.


Input: It should also encourage service -- preferably by all classes and all ages.


Input: Its encouragement should strengthen and not undercut the strong tradition of volunteering in the U.S., should build on the service programs already in existence, and should honor local convictions about which tasks most need doing.

U.S.


Input: 4. Good programs are not cheap.


Input: Enthusiasts assume that national service would get important work done cheaply: forest fires fought, housing rehabilitated, students tutored, day - care centers staffed.


Input: There is important work to be done, and existing service and conservation corps have shown that even youths who start with few skills can do much of it well -- but not cheaply.


Input: Good service programs require recruitment, screening, training and supervision -- all of high quality.


Input: They involve stipends to participants.


Input: Full - time residential programs also require housing and full - time supervision; they are particularly expensive -- more per participant than a year at Stanford or Yale.

a year

Stanford

Yale


Input: Non-residential programs are cheaper, but good ones still come to some $10,000 a year.


Input: Are they worth that?


Input: Evaluations suggest that good ones are -- especially so if the effects on participants are counted.


Input: But the calculations are challengeable.


Input: 5. Underclass youth are a special concern.


Input: Are such expenditures worthwhile, then?


Input: Yes, if targeted.


Input: People of all ages and all classes should be encouraged to serve, but there are many ways for middle - class kids, and their elders, to serve at little public cost.


Input: They can volunteer at any of thousands of non-profit institutions, or participate in service programs required by high schools or encouraged by colleges or employers.

thousands


Input: Underclass youth don't have those opportunities.


Input: They are not enrolled in high school or college.


Input: They are unlikely to be employed.


Input: And they have grown up in unprecedentedly grim circumstances, among family structures breaking down, surrounded by self - destructive behaviors and bleak prospects.


Input: But many of them can be quite profoundly reoriented by productive and disciplined service.


Input: Some won't accept the discipline; others drop out for other reasons.


Input: But some whom nothing else is reaching are transformed.


Input: Learning skills, producing something cooperatively, feeling useful, they are no longer dependent -- others now depend on them.


Input: Even if it is cheaper to build playgrounds or paint apartments or plant dune - grass with paid professionals, the effects on the young people providing those services alter the calculation.


Input: Strictly speaking, these youth are not performing service.


Input: They are giving up no income, deferring no careers, incurring no risk.


Input: But they believe themselves to be serving, and they begin to respect themselves -LRB- and others -RRB-, to take control of their lives, to think of the future.


Input: That is a service to the nation.


Input: It is what federal support should try hardest to achieve.


Input: Mr. Szanton, a Carter administration budget official, heads his own Washington - based strategic planning firm.

Szanton

Carter

Washington


Input: He is a co-author of `` National Service: What Would It Mean?''

National Service: What Would It Mean


Input: -LRB- Lexington Books, 1986 -RRB-.

Lexington Books


Input: Government officials here and in other countries laid plans through the weekend to head off a Monday market meltdown -- but went out of their way to keep their moves quiet.

the weekend

Monday


Input: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was on the telephones, making it clear to officials in the U.S. and abroad that the Fed was prepared to inject massive amounts of money into the banking system, as it did in October 1987, if the action were needed to prevent a financial crisis.

Federal Reserve

Fed

Alan Greenspan

U.S.

October 1987


Input: And at the Treasury, Secretary Nicholas Brady talked with friends and associates on Wall Street while Assistant Secretary David Mullins carefully analyzed data on the Friday market plunge.

Treasury

Nicholas Brady

David Mullins

Friday


Input: But the officials feared that any public announcements would only increase market jitters.


Input: In addition, officials at the Fed and in the Bush administration decided that avoiding overt actions and statements over the weekend would give them more strength and flexibility should Friday's market drop turn into this morning's rout.

Fed

Bush

the weekend

Friday

morning


Input: `` The disadvantage at this point is that anything you do that looks like you are doing too much tends to reinforce a sense of crisis,'' said one government official, insisting on anonymity.

one


Input: The Fed's efforts at secrecy were partly foiled Sunday morning, when both the New York Times and the Washington Post carried stories quoting a senior Fed official saying the central bank was prepared to pour cash into the banking system Monday morning.

Fed

the New York Times

the Washington Post

Fed

Sunday

Monday

morning

morning


Input: Fed Chairman Greenspan was surprised by both stories, according to knowledgeable sources, and insisted he hadn't authorized any public comment.

Fed

Greenspan


Input: Nevertheless, Fed officials acknowledged the stories were reasonably accurate portrayals of the central bank's game plan.

Fed


Input: It is prepared to assume the same role it played in October 1987, providing money to the markets if necessary to keep the financial system afloat.

October 1987


Input: The Fed provides money to the banking system by buying government securities from financial institutions.

Fed


Input: The reticence of federal officials was evident in the appearance Sunday of Budget Director Richard Darman on ABC's `` This Week.''

Sunday

Richard Darman

ABC

Week


Input: `` Secretary of the Treasury Brady and Chairman Greenspan and the chairman of the SEC and others have been in close contact.

Treasury

SEC

Brady

Greenspan


Input: I'm sure they'll do what's right, what's prudent, what's sensible,'' he said.


Input: When it was suggested his comment was a `` non-answer,'' Mr. Darman replied: `` It is a non-answer.

Darman


Input: But, in this context, that's the smart thing to do.''


Input: At the Treasury, Secretary Brady issued a statement minimizing the stock market's drop.

Treasury

Brady


Input: `` Today's stock market decline doesn't signal any fundamental change in the condition of the economy,'' he said.

Today


Input: `` The economy remains well - balanced, and the outlook is for continued moderate growth.''


Input: But administration officials conceded that Friday's drop carried the chance of further declines this week.

Friday

this week


Input: `` One possibility is that this is a surgical setback, reasonably limited in its breadth, and not a major problem,'' said one senior administration official, who also asked that he not be named.

One

one


Input: `` The other is that we see another major disaster, like two years ago.

two years ago


Input: I think that's less likely.''


Input: Nevertheless, Fed Chairman Greenspan and Vice Chairman Manuel Johnson were in their offices Sunday evening, monitoring events as they unfolded in markets around the world.

Fed

Greenspan

Manuel Johnson

Sunday

evening


Input: The action was expected to begin with the opening of the New Zealand foreign exchange markets at 5 p.m. EST -- when stocks there plunged -- and to continue as the trading day began later in the evening in Tokyo and through early this morning in Europe.

New Zealand

Tokyo

5 p.m. EST

the evening

morning

the trading day

Europe


Input: Both the Treasury and the Fed planned to keep market rooms operating throughout the night to monitor the developments.

Treasury

Fed

the night


Input: In Tokyo, share prices dropped sharply by 1.7% in early Monday morning trading.

Tokyo

early Monday

morning


Input: After the initial slide, the market appeared to be turning around but by early afternoon was headed lower.

early afternoon


Input: In the Bush administration, the lead is being taken by Treasury Secretary Brady, Undersecretary Robert Glauber and Assistant Secretary Mullins.

Bush

Brady

Robert Glauber

Mullins

Treasury


Input: The three men worked together on the so - called Brady Commission, headed by Mr. Brady, which was established after the 1987 crash to examine the market's collapse.

three

Brady Commission

Brady


Input: As a result they have extensive knowledge in financial markets, and financial market crises.


Input: Mr. Brady was at the White House Friday afternoon when the stock market's decline began.

Brady

the White House

Friday

afternoon


Input: He was quickly on the phone with Mr. Mullins, who in turn was talking with the chairmen of the New York and Chicago exchanges.

Mullins

New York

Chicago