European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 30, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 17money matters today s tip . Corporations have become dramatically less willing a or Able a to pay their taxes in recent years so much so that the a tax Gap Between what they owe and what they pay is expected to reach $31 billion next year the general accounting office said. The situation is particularly acute among Small business which recently have voluntarily paid less than two thirds of what they owed. Jennie s. Stathis Gao a director of tax policy called the Small business figures a a unprecedented decline in  Quot a a a 7conversion rates London up mondays closing rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $351.25 an ounce Silver at $3.90. A a a a a a a a a a. April25 april29. British Pound. .,1.6845 1.6775german mark.,1.7530 1.7723. French franc .5.9040 a 5.9875 dutch builder. .1.9710 1 9932 belgian Iran �.,359975 a 36.4225. Italian lira 1,292.15 1.308.80 Swiss franc. �?z1.4795 1.4910v greek drachma. 189.37 191.20 turkish lira. ,3,898.50 3,932.40 saudi arabian Riyal _.3.7501 3.7500 Spanish peseta. A a 1q7.70 .108.96. Portuguese escudo .,.,.,�.,�,.150.60 .152.29 Canadian  .�?z�?z.1,152q a 1.1521 austrian Schilling. 12.320, 12.422 norwegian krone6.0225. A a 6.8700 danish krone6.7000 a a a. 6.7605 these Are unofficial rates As reported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.73 tuesday based on mondays noontime  chairman denies claim fund is broke by the los Angeles times Washington the top regulator of the nations Bank insurance fund is denying a claim by the . Comptroller general that the fund is nearly insolvent saying the auditor s conclusion was based on a faulty application of accounting rules. A a it a not broke a l. William Seidman chairman of the Federal Deposit insurance corp., said of the fund. Responding to the dire picture painted by comptroller general Charles Bowsher Sejd Man said a we done to agree with him.�?�. Bowsher the governments top auditor said in a report delivered to Congress on Friday that Many More Banks Are insolvent than the Odic has recognized. He suggested that Congress inject an extra $15 billion into the insurance fund through a special assessment on Banks. Bowsher Heads the nonpartisan general accounting office which must report yearly to Congress on the state of the Bank fund. At fallout expected to thin ranks of defense contractors by will Dunham United press International Washington a following Lockheed a Victory in the Battle for the last great military contract of the Century the defense Industry appears headed for a dramatic shake up that will Render some former Industry giants Mere bit players or worse a a v7 a a a a v. A a 7. A a Industry analysts Are predicting a winnowing process among defense related firms following the air forces decision to give the advanced tactic fighter contract to a team headed by Lockheed corp. In fact the losers in the five year Competition to produce America s next generation of Jet fighters arc already hard hit. A -. A Quot a a a 7 and the Prospect of Tough times for some defense contractors has sharpened concern Over whether the Pentagon has a responsibility to maintain the Industry a health in the interest of National Security. The recent persian Gulf War notwithstanding the United states is already in an Era of dwindling defense spending with few big ticket prizes on the horizon. A there Are too Many companies and not enough programs a said Lawrence Harris defense analyst for the Kemper securities group. A you can t repeal the Law of Supply and  the at project was designed As defense Secretary Dick Cheney said to give America a a fighter that Means control of the air for the next 30 to40years.�?�the air Force selected Lockheed and two partners Boeing co. And general dynamics corp., for an at contract that will translate into a minimum of $60 billion and perhaps As much As $92 billion. The service rejected the bid from Northrop corp. And its partner Mcdonnell Douglas corp. Lockheed a angular yf-22 prototype called lightning 2 blended agility with stealth and High performance including the capability to cruise Well above the Speed of  before the at Competition the defense Industry a base had begun to erode now companies such As the at losers will have to become Content with dropping into the role of subcontractors after years on top of the defense Heap a Harris said. A a a a. A a. A a a Quot v. A although it seems unlikely that any defense giants will cease to exist the cur rent environment could Lead to Friendly mergers Between previously top Echelon companies. Such mergers Are Likely to be based on Stock rather than Cash because of the Cash flow difficulties of some companies v. A a a a Quot a a a a a a 7- Harris said the re suit Cou id i i error the situation in 1967, when Mcdonnell merged with Douglas and North american aviation merged with Rockwell Standard to form Rockwell International. A it will be More of a cooperative kind of thing where companies with complementary programs or technologies or relationships decide to get together for the Sake of survival Harris said. Lawrence Korb a senior fellow at the Brookings institution and an assistant de Feuse Secretary during the Reagan administration said the winnowing process after the at could leave an Industrial base with Only two or three major contractors. A people will be getting out of the defense business and focusing More on the non defense aspects of their companies a Korb said. Herbert Baker Spring defense policy analyst for the heritage foundation said such diminished numbers in the Industry could Lead to serious abuses by companies particularly if the Pentagon puts too much Reliance on one company for major defense needs such As Jet fighters. A a it a like the old saying in lending a Spring said. A if in a a Bank and a Guy owes Nie $2,000, 1�?Tve got him. If he owes me $200 million he s got  Pentagon officials acknowledged that some companies could be in trouble in the aftermath of the at selection. A there is still a substantial funding base Foi the aircraft Industry out there air Force Secretary Donald Rice said. A whether it will sustain the same number of companies As we be known in the past. We will simply have to leave to Market forces to determine Over  in the at Competition each Side spent about $750 million out of the com panics own pockets to develop its prototypes with the losers finding the outlay hard to Swallow. However Rice said a there certainly Isnit anything in our plans that would make any Effort to repay those who did no to get selected Here for what they have contributed. They put their Money on the line and they competed strongly and had their shot at  Pete Schmidt economic policy analyst for the defense budget project a watchdog group said the defense department has the responsibility to maintain the vitality of its Industrial base which serves National Security by enabling the military to Field state of the Art weapons and mobilize quickly in a crisis. A these companies that Are being Sha Ken out of the defense Market have nowhere to go a Schmidt said a because of their Long historical interaction with the department of defense they be lost any kind of competitiveness they May have in the commercial sector a a they re not Able for instance to transition their products easily from the de fens to the commercial world. They done to know a lot about marketing to a Large group of heterogeneous  a a a. A -. A judge consolidates 9,032 claims in landmark Asbestos makers trial Baltimore apr a trial consolidating 9,032 claims against 10 Asbestos \ Makere is getting under Way in an attempt to rein in a Legal Behemoth. Circuit judge Marshall a. Levin ordered the thousands of claims consolidated for the trial which begins this week. The claimants Are in Baltimore and four surrounding counties. Most Are former steelworkers and shipyard workers. 7 it is the largest consolidation of Asbestos cases in . History and could set a precedent that would Speed the Resolution of similar cases nationwide. Jury selection was to begin monday for the trial which is expected to take months. Levin wants to use the trial to Settle the Issue of whether the manufacturers sold products containing Asbestos a min eral used for insulation and fireproofing knowing it caused lung disease and cancer when inhaled. If the jury finds for the plaintiffs damages will be decided later in smaller trials. Asbestos has been linked to diseases that kill about 10,000 people a year and disable thousands More. Nationwide 90,000 Asbestos personal injury cases Are pending. New claims out Pace settlements 2-to-l, said Zach Cowan director of technical information at the National Asbestos Council in Savannah a. 6 Many plaintiffs die before their cases get to court. A a it a quite evident that there is some need for Reform a Cowan said. Steven Hairston staff associate for the National Center for state courts in Williamsburg a said the Baltimore trial maybe the largest of any kind in . History. A a a. A Quot. Other judges have attempted to consolidate Asbestos cases with uneven Success. Asbestos cases involving hundreds of plaintiffs in Texas and West Virginia were consolidated. But Federal judges who tried consolidation in Ohio and new York each with about 10,000 Asbestos cases were rebuffed by objections and appeals. Chief Justice William h. Rehnquist commissioned a study of Asbestos cases clogging the judicial system nationwide. The study yielded few suggestions but found a a disaster of major proportions was in the making and encouraged Congress and the courts to find new ways of dealing with the problem. Plaintiffs and their lawyers often resist consolidation because damage awards tend to be smaller. Class action suits a in which All members of a defined class share an award even if they did no to help bring the lawsuit a Are unpopular for the same reason. Peter g. Angelos a lawyer who represents 90 percent of the Baltimore plaintiffs said he wants expediency but Justice too. His clients want damages in the a hundreds of millions of dollars a he said. A. A i am opposed to the idea that each persons Case should be herded together with hundreds of others and run through the courts like some sort of Stampede a he said. The insulation companies named As defendants include Owens Corning fiberglas corp., Gay and Pittsburgh Corning a lawyer representing several of the. Companies said Quot Quot the consolidated cases should not have come to trial at All. A a new Ype of forum should be found that does away with concepts of fault a said Edward f. I Louff. At pretrial meetings As Many As 130 lawyers hounded Levin with objections. More than a dozen Law firms will be present during the trial and it remains unclear How they will cooperate. Simply finding storage space for documents is expected to be difficult