European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes business news developments abroad fail to rally Buck conventional Wisdom holds that investors Are driven to the Dollar in times or crisis. The Green Back is considered the safest Haven for big Money when the shooting starts. So it made sense to expect the Buck to Bounce higher last week. After All . Troops moved into Panama in an attempt to bring Gen. Man Uel Noriega to Justice on drug charges and Revo Lution was sweeping through Romania. But conventional Wisdom failed . Service members in Europe last week. Rather than focusing on world trouble spots currency dealers instead kept a close watch in interest rates. And developments in that Arena weren t very Good for the Buck. Blame the . Federal Reserve. At midweek the fed mane Vered the Federal funds rate a Quarter percentage Point lower from near 8.5 per cent to roughly 8.25 percent. The Federal funds rate is the interest charged on Over night Loans be tween commercial  Muu Banks. It is also Randy Mcclaln by Slatis in used by currency dealers to determine what s up next with . Monetary policy. A reduction of on Quarter of a percentage Point might not look like much at first glance but to foreign Exchange traders it was an unmistakable signal that the fed is finally allowing interest rates to Drift lower As the threat of inflation in the United slates disappears. The lower fed funds rate had an immediate negative Impact on the Dollar driving it two pfennig lower Between wednesday afternoon and thursday evening in european trading. On Friday the Dollar s dive continued unabated. In late afternoon trading in London the Buck stood at 1.712 Marks More than three pfennig below the . Currency s High water Mark for the week. One British Pound was Selling for$1.616 Friday afternoon. Earlier in the week one Pound was Selling for $ 1.60. Worse news was that the . Military Exchange rate in West Germany fell to a 1989 Lotof 1.69 Marks for a Dollar on Friday. That rate was set based on a mid afternoon Price fixing i Frankfurt. It will apply to Community Bank transactions Over the Long Christmas weekend. Tim Fox an economist with Midland Bank in London said Many currency dealers expect the Dollar to continue losing value during the Las week of december. Traders arc anticipating a further decline in interest rates As Well. Speculation is that the biggest comic rival Banks stateside will lower their prime rates a half percentage Point to 10 percent Early in the new year and the fed might lower its discount Rale too. The fed charges that rate for Loans it makes to member Banks. Fox said a Sharp movement downward in the Buck could result. Meanwhile things Are looking Good for the West German Mark. For the last several months West Germany s economic fortunes have been strengthening be cause peace is breaking out in Eastern Europe and West Germany appears ideally positioned to Lake advantage of that fact. Many West German Banks and businesses Are already gearing up for joint ventures in the East. News thai the romanian revolution had Man aged to depose communist strongman Nicolae Ceausescu at week s end was just one More bit of Good news for the Mark. The West germans could be on their Way to reaping an even bigger peace dividend Fox said. So How Low will the Dollar go Fox thinks the floor for the Buck is 1.66 to 1.68 Marks right now. Trouble is the so called experts keep predicting lower figures for the Buck week by week. Ttmunin4ti1 m testing toys for exchanges is More than just child s play by Steve Taylor Munich Burea Munich West Germany the toys Are wrapped and under the tree. Anticipation tills the air a Christmas morning nears. Each year the toy Industry asks parents for billions of hard earned dollars and parents Hope their children will be Happy with what those dollars buy. But will the toys perform As advertised Are they Safe Willie Buster wants to know the answers. He s 38years old but Buster still plays with toys. He puts them together takes them apart runs them flexes them picks them up and throws them. He gets Young volunteers to do the same perhaps with a Little More natural enthusiasm. For Buster a Quality Assurance specialist at cafes Headquarters in Munich testing race car sets baby dolls or other merchandise is All in a Day s work. He and seven assistants plus children recruited from the Munich military Community aim to find out if the goods sold in exchanges perform As they read Vertise. Safety is another concern. We like to use children when we can. That really shows us if a product performs Buster said. Cafes works closely with the consumer product safety commission to remove unsafe products from exchanges according to Bob Rogers cafes Europe s Quality Assurance chief. While toys sold in cafes exchanges Are certified i Advance As meeting minimum . Safety standards Rog ers said his office wants to be doubly thorough. It follows the tougher american society for testing and materials or the atm standards when evaluating products sold in european exchanges. Those standards apply to Many toys marketed to children under 14 years of age. Cafes product testers use a three Page checklist built around the atm standards. Toys made by european manufacturers also arc screened. Toys arc checked for such things As Small parts which could be swallowed by children Sharp edges flammability electrical hazards and toxicity. Some products arc rejected by Buster and his Crew because of poor performance even if they seem perfectly Safe. One toy that did t make it to Exchange shelves this fall was a race car set made by a West German to company. Cars kept jumping off the track especially when taking curves. Rogers said Quality Assurance also Means being on the Lookout for products that might meet safety standards but still present a Hazard. In some cases it takes imagination to foresee what a child might do with a product. Consider the Case of the toy razor set. Even though it met All standards As a toy when it was discovered that a real razor would fit into the toy s plastic head cafes took it off the shelf. In addition to testing products in their labs Quality 3 Sis  a of cafes Quality Assurance specialist Willie Buster get set to put a toy race car set through its paces. Assurance specialists inspect merchandise received by cafes Europe s Central warehouse in Giessen West Germany. Overall about 69,000 samples Worth $35 Mil lion were inspected last year with about 5,300 samples Worth $1 million rejected As substandard or defective. Rogers said his staff of seven can t Monitor All products however because there Are just too Many. Parents should be Alert to potential problems. If something looks dangerous Call Exchange service  the meantime Buster and his Young colleagues will continue their play. After All it has a serious purpose. Is bookstores will expand selection of mail order Cata logs by Chuck Robert Suft writer stars and stripes bookstores have doubled the num Ber of mail order Cata logs kept in Stock in response to customer demand. In the last three months the number of Cata logs offered by the bookstores has grown from 25 to so and More could be added in the new year said Jerry Wigan merchandise manager. In addition to such old standbys As Sears . Bean and lands end the bookstores Are now blocking mail order Cata logs for everything from Auto parts to Lin Gerie. Prices vary with the lands end Catalon Selling fors3, the scars Catalon for $7 and the . Bean Book for some other Cata logs such As Fredericks of Holly Wood and Century Marshall arts Are still on order. We re still getting into it Wigan said. We re not at full Range yet. We re still expanding with lots More on  Wigan said the idea to sell mail order Cata logs grew out of customer requests. The first Catalon put on Sale was the one published by the army and air Force Exchange service. That Book proved to be a hot seller and other Cata logs were added Over the past year Wigen said. Sears and . Bean were among the first new ones. More books went on Sale three months ago when a specialized distributor Catalon retail corp., approached stripes officials with a package of 25 other Cata logs available through its offices. Now More Cata logs Are being added week by week Wigen said. Solider 8000 video reminder removed from cafes shelves Munich West Germany is cafes has removed the solider 8000 videotape reminder from shelves because the machine May be hazardous an cafes Europe spokesman said Friday. One of the reminders May have caused a fire in family quarters in West Germany about two weeks ago capt. Wes Davis said. Davis said that while the results of the investigation were inconclusive cafes is urging Consumers to avoid using the machines. Cafes will refund the Pur Chase Price if the merchandise is returned