European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes business news after election Dollar Heads straight South it will probably go Down in history As one of the shortest honeymoons on record. When George Bush was elected 41st president of the United Stales tuesday foreign Exchange meters in Europe responded by driving the Buck just above inc  level an increase of about 1 it pfennig from its close in London on election eve. The problem is the Dollar stayed there for allow 20 minutes before heading into a tailspin that eventually brought Illo a five month Low against the Mark and the japanese yen. Hie military Exchange rate also took a Tumble falling front by Randy Mcclaln 1,75 to 1.14 Marks to the Dollar for Friday s transactions. And the Dollar took another beat ing Friday sliding to a military Rale of 1.72marks through monday. Currency traders fears about the health of . Economy and concern Over just what kind of president Bush Wilt be it seems outstripped any Relief they might have Felt at a Republican continuing in the while  think people Are asking themselves what s going to change Bush has no program to reduce the . Budget and Trade deficits and until he comes up wifi a program one Way or the other the Buck will be under pressure said Gunter Teich a executive with Bank of Boston in Frankfurt. Unless Bush acts quickly after taking office next year la address the twin deficits Teich believes the Dollar could approach the lows in reached earlier this year. If Bush does t act the Dollar could be at 1.65 Marks nest Spring he said. Teich opinion is the prevailing View  these Days. Bush s Campaign was consid ered vague on inc issues and his read my lips pledge not o raise taxes did t play very Well on the european currency exchanges either. Many feel holding to thai Campaign Promise Only could spell disaster for the . Economy. At this Point currency traders Aren t con Vinced Bush will be willing or Able to change Hal trend. The Market believes or. Bush is not Ai Strong As or. Reagan. Bush a least for inc europeans was Loo quiet the eight years he was vice president Teich said. He was always the second Man. We Don t know anything about his programs or  Jorge  chief trader for the Bank of Naples in Frankfurt takes an even harsher View. " traders Don t believe Bush has the Power of or. Reagan. He seems to be a  Schmelcher said. If someone attaches the siring on his right Side hell raise up his right hand. If it s put on the left hell raise up his left  the Good news if there is any in All of this is Hal the Dollar s fall might have been worse had Democrat Michael Dukakis won the presidency. And most traders Don l see the current Dollar slide gelling out of control. If the Dollar drops expect a few rebounds along the Way Schmelcher predicted. Major Central Banks primarily the , Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan also Are Likely to intervene to sup port the Dollar if it Falls too far Loo fast. Japan is worried that a weak Dollar will make the products it exports to the United Stales Loo expensive. Still the general direction for the Buck remains of a Souther Lyn  next economic statistic of any consequence Hal might give some temporary life to the Buck will be the release of . Trade figures for september due out Al midweek. The August Trade deficit wid ened 10 s12.18 billion and currency traders Are looking for a bit better performance this time around perhaps an s11 billion deficit " to Sham it Etnes i a he a service members to get credit card from at to so Randy Mcclain financial writer american Telephone & Telegraph co., faced wit growing Competition on Long distance service to and from Europe plan to introduce a credit card in the next few weeks aimed exclusively at overseas . Mil itary personnel and their families. The new card an offshoot of the company s Success Ful used Ircul calling card is aimed at capturing what at to sees As the largely untapped military Market on this Side of the Atlantic. At to officials figure thai if they can put Long Dis Tance credit in the hands of More Servic members calling frequency and corporate revenues will increase. Also the company s us direct program often beats Long distance rates charged by Telephone companies incest Germany and elsewhere in Europe by 25 percent or More depending on time of Day and length of Call. The program also is simple to use. Calle dial an Access code of six to 10 digits talk to a . Operator give out their credit card number and pay for the Call later. From Spain to West Germany at to is courting Mili tary families business like never before. Some examples the company is holding Well publicized phone a thongs at military communities on the continent offer ing military id card holders free three minute phone Calls to the United slates. Several of the phone Home events will be held during the thanksgiving an Christmas holidays. At to struck a Deal three months ago with the West German Bunde Spost which is responsible for mail inc Telephone system and telecommunications Lallow the us direct program to operate on a direct dial basis from All phones in area codes beginning with "06." that puts thousands of new military customers a at to s Finger lips. The "06" area includes . Military strongholds As Kaiser Lautem fut a Frankfurt and Heidelberg. The company also is negotiating with officials in the Frankfurt military Community to establish special calling centers from which military personnel could use their us direct calling cards in Comfort. Long term plans arc to establish calling centers with five telephones each in other military communities As Well Katharina Mueller consumer marketing specialist with at to in Frankfurt said the military Market overseas is Ripe for the picking. Of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers sailors airmen and family  in Europe fewer than 20,000 have a Telephone credit card which leave slots of room for growth according to at to research. Most service members in Europe Are away fro Home for the first time More than 50 percent Are be tween 17 and 24, and More than half arc married. Many also Are lonely and isolated the research stain. Some Young families Over Here have run up huge Telephone Bills when they first it to the country Mueller said think of someone in a Rural area out at Fulda near the East German Border i really feel sympathy for  s sales pitch is that at to wants to save serv in members Money. And us direct apparently delivers on that score. A 20-Minulc Call from West Germany Tonew York via us direct costs $25.1 a or 28 percent less than the same Call would Cost via Bunde Spost lines. In italy., a 10-Minule Usaj Virea Coll right now direct dial service is available Only in Rome and Milan costs $ 14.25. The same Call placed with an italian operator would Cost $25.92, said an at to spokesman in Rome at to s proposed military calling card will differ in several ways from the civilian version of Usa Diacci. The differences Are designed 10 make calling cards easily obtainable and affordable for a military population that generally is Young and has a less extensive credit history than the adult population As a whole Mueller said. In civilian life. Us direct requires applicants to have a visa or Mastercard account issued by a . Bank before a calling card is issued. The military Cardwill be issued to any applicant with a department of. Defense id and an Apo address.""-.". At first a j100 per month Long distance limit will be placed on card holders but after three months of on time payments that limit will be increased to 1200 per month Mueller said. For convenient record keeping Bills will include the phone numbers called in the Stales and the Dales on which Calls were place military card holders will be billed directly by at to and will have 45 Days to pay in full. Mueller said she does t see it As risky to give a calling card to All Comers. If someone does t pay their card is Sim ply discontinued,1 she said. Usa direct is. The world charges Tor a 20 minute Cal to new York country Usan act Ballum we Leary 12515 w9.51f $25.15 $25.15, full Rotl $56.5$ t. Of Tahjuna $42.42 $25.15 Usa direct Ralos Blowe ate for Aedra card Calto. Gated Calls Are also Parsi be under Tho or Raffl bul Litereo a o Ulla menu Tho Dollar values shown above Are based on Loconti Cic Hanga tales at to has virtually no serious Competition yet in in overseas calling card business but Sci communications inc. Has jus gone to Bat in a few parts of Europe with anew credit card aimed at business travellers. Rival Long distance Carrier . Sprint is Likely to be close behind. At to officials consider the next few months their win Dow of Opportunity to outdistanced the competitors., we believe Sci will be Here in West Germany insight to 10 months and we have to lock customers in before they arrive Mueller said. Jane Levene Public relations manager for Sci International acknowledged that her company is trailing at to but she said Sci plans to change that. We certainly View the military overseas As a viable Lucra Tive Market one that we would like to provide without services at soon As we can the said. Mcl s program the Call Usa card is available in Belgium Denmark France Sweden the United King Dom and Australia. Negotiations to bring the program to several other countries including West Germany Ore under Way. But the catch is thai Call Usa requires participants to have an Sci credit card tied to a Telephone and Billing address in the United states. That leaves out most overseas military personnel. Levene said new services Are planned for next year to Correct the prob Lem. She declined to be More specific. Karin Reilly International relations manager for . Sprint said her company also Hopes to crack the european Market with a calling card similar to at to s toward the end of 1989." for no at to has a healthy head Start but the company still is running into a Lew problems getting established in some countries. In Spain for example the National Telephone com Pany has limited Access to Usa direct 10 just nine telephones in the entire country. Four of those Are . Military bases Torreon adj Zaragoza a Moron a and naval station Rota. At to officials Are negotiating with Spain for direct dial connections to us direct from All phones in the country but an agreement has been slow in coming. Nevertheless military personnel Are burning up the phone lines from locations where they do have Access. In West Germany some . Military officials Art excited about the possibility of giving services Ebersan easier and less expensive Way to Call Home. We would like to Niass along the savings that their corporation at to offers said Alan Smith director of personnel and Community activities for the Frankfurt Mil itary Community. Bul he said a Deal with at to for Call ing centers or other related programs Only will be signed fit is in the in crts of the . Government. At this Point at to is the Only game in town that we know of Smith added bul competitive bids would have to be taken before any contracts Are signed. We will be looking for the Best service the bests savings for the Soldier and the Best return to the con i manily he said