European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday june 17, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 17 Money matters today a tip who works the longest hours in Europe British men it turns out work longer hours than males in any other european country according to a recent study. The study found that 42 percent of British men work More than 46 hours per week nearly double the european average of 23.1 percent. British men were slightly above the greek average of 39.3 percent but significantly higher than Germany where Only 14.6 percent of the male work Force puts in 46 hours or More each week. Figures for female employees were not rates London up fridays closing rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in a dollars Gold was quoted at $367.00 an ounce Silver at $4.51. V a. June 13. June 14 British Pound .1.6385 1.6395 German Mark a. .1.80 1.7870. French franc .,6.1185 6,115 dutch Guilder ,., 2.026 2.0282 belgian franc a a 37.1075 36.87 italian lira ,�?z�?z�?z1,341.90 1,342.45 Swiss franc. ,1.55 1 534 greek drachma. .,195.90 195.90 turkish lira. 4,236.30. 4,248.70 saudi arabian riyal.3.75 a. 3.75 Spanish peseta .111.43 112,30 portuguese escudo. .,.,159.27 160.16 Canadian Dollar .1 144 1.1431 austrian Schilling 12.643 12.661 norwegian Krone. .�?z�?z�?z�?z1. .,7.016. 7.037 danish krone�?z�?z�?z.,6.9265 6.943 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 1.76 through monday based on fridays noontime increases mortgage rate Washington a the maximum rate on mortgages guaranteed by the department of veterans affairs will Rise by one half percentage Point to 9vz percent monday. Economists said the increase along with rising rates for mortgages not backed by the government shows that. Long term interest rates Are rising As the Economy pulls out of a recession. A the increase reflects recent changes in the credit markets a the department said in a statement. A nah mortgage rates Are now linked to Bond Market movements a said economist Thomas Holloway of the mortgage Bankers association of America. The increase in the a rate is the first change since february when the rate dropped from w2 percent to 9 percent and the first Rise since february 1990, when it climbed from 91/ percent to 10 percent. The veterans affairs department also raised by one half Point maximum rates for graduated payment mortgages to 9ya percent Home improvement Loans to 11 percent manufactured Home Loans to 12 percent manufactured Homes lots Only Loans to 11 / percent and manufactured Home and lot Loans to Mvi percent. Irs modernization program should yield hefty dividends by the new York times Washington a although grandiose plans often go awry even partial Success for the internal Revenue services $8 billion modernization Effort disclosed this week will bring visibly big improvements for the nations 100 million plus taxpayers. Did you misplace the copy of the return you filed last year just when you need to document an application for College financial Aid the irs which now has a 45-Day target to respond to such requests but misses it a third of the time expects to be Able to Supply a copy within 24 hours. Are you weary of being shunted around from one place to another to resolve a problem dealing with irs personnel with ready Access to Only 2 percent of your account information the Agency anticipates that in 95 percent of cases a single employee will be Able to fix but not right away. The master plan three years in development will be phased in Throat ghost the 1990s, replacing a system designed in the late 1950s and using the technology of the 1960s. The Way the irs receives processes and manages tax data has remained basically unchanged since then. / at the news briefing on the plan commissioner Fred t. Goldberg or. Called it a revolution. And for the irs Long critic de by the general accounting office and Fred t. Goldberg or. Modernization plan a revolution others for failing to produce a detailed modernization program it surely is. Yet in some respects the irs is proposing to do by the end of the Century what credit card companies retail stores and Banks now do routinely. There Are various reasons that this has taken so Long including the admitted error of allowing rapid technological improvement to paralyse planners seeking grand solutions. The irs also cites a Backwash concern for privacy arising from the watergate scandal an Issue to which it remains Agency says privacy and confidentiality will actually be enhanced under the modernization plan which Calls for data encrypted into unreadable code moving Over telecommunications systems a rather than in shipments of computer tape and paper files. There is. However at least one area where for taxpayers the bad May out a weigh the Good quicker audits. But even Here the Agency finds a Bright Side. A you done to like being c alled on your 1988 tax return just after you filed your 1990 re turn a said Larry Westfall the modernization director. A decade ago the government began to insist that family members who lend each other Money charge Market Ori cited rates of interest the idea being that the newlywed who borrows say the Down payment on a House from parents gets a taxable Benefit. Some such Loans were also Sham transactions aimed at evading gift taxes. Now the Issue is loan guarantees routinely used by Many parents to help i Nance children a tuition businesses cars and houses. The irs in a quasi authoritative letter ruling that has stunned specialists says such guarantees Are taxable loan guarantees crucial for . Farmers by the los Angeles times Detroit a soviet agricultural envoys arriving sunday in Washington to divvy up $1.5 billion in loan guarantees from . Taxpayers were to be greeted by hallways lined with wheat Corn soybean and even California Almond growers hoping for a piece of the action. The. Credit guarantees announced last week by president Bush Are viewed As a foreign policy measure designed to nurture the struggling regime of soviet president Mikhail s. Gorbachev. But they Are equally important to the . Farm Belt. The credits Are Only the latest manifestation of the Mutual dependence Betws Een soviet and . Farm interests that has taken hold Over the last two decades. The ties flowered during the cold War. And with subsequent events a the. Gorbachev Reform Era the collapse of the soviet Economy and one of the worst Grain Export markets for . Farmers in a decade a the Grain Trade has gained both urgency and respectability. Indeed . Farmers have come to rely on soviet buyers for As much As 23 percent e politics of their soviet bedfellows Ever made Farmers of . Grain exports. So if the uncomfortable it was a fleeting sensation. Corn Farmer Richard Kaiser of Jonesburg mo., said a i always had the philosophy that if a Man s belly is full he s less Likely to get rather than worrying about the soviets ideology . Farmers mostly question their reliability. A there was always the admonition about not being Able to Trust the russians Quot said John Ferris professor of agricultural economics at Michigan state University. Quot but Farmers were much More resentful when the soviets did no to buy As much Grain As the obligations called historically Able to feed itself and a Good share of the rest of the world the soviet Union unexpectedly began buying other nations Grain in 1972. That triggered la big run up in world prices and drastically changed the farm marketplace touching off Competition among Grain exporters for soviet business. Soviet needs have since become so integral to . Farm production plans the soviet unions failure to buy As much Grain As expected would Send farm prices tumbling and ravage the Federal budget by driving up farm support payments. . Foreign policy has added to the uncertainty at times. Starting in 1974, Congress limited Grain sales to pressure the soviets to allow the emigration of jews. In 1980, president Carter halted Grain sales to retaliate Lor the soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Since 1983, the roller coaster has been partially smoothed out by Long term agreements placing a floor under the volumes of . Farm products purchased by the soviet each year. But their usual practice of paying Cash has been undermined by the current economic crisis threatening the soviets ability to meet those minimum commitments. With their creditworthiness roughly equivalent to that of junk Bonds the soviets slashed Grain imports last year by an estimated 38 percent. Given that soviet needs account for about one third of All world Grain Trade the cutbacks have wreaked havoc in Export markets a this at a time when . Grain Farmers Are raising a bumper crop. A this is the slowest Export Pace in Corn since 1978,�?� said Daniel Basse Market research director at a resource co. Of Chicago. A and with this crop the Best since �?T81, w e have a surplus of cutbacks Force layoffs at Lockheed Sunnyvale Calif. Him Lockheed missiles a space co. Inc., citing the effects of reduced defense funding will Lay Oil about 470 employees by years end. The company which builds sub a Marine launched Trident 2 missiles and is a prime contractor on the strategic defense initiative space based defense program has already Laid off about 420 workers so far this year. A a we re reacting to cutbacks us funding from the department of defense a spokesman Robert Burgess said. Some of the employees being Laid off received notices last week while others have not yet been notified Burgess said. The layoffs coupled with the usual level of about 1,000 employees who leave the company or retire will reduce the company s work Force to about 24,000 by the end of this year Burgess said aerospace analyst Lawrence Harris of Kemper securities in Chicago said the layoffs were not a Surprise. A the company has been indicating for some time that the revenues from ski would be coming Down a Harris said. Harris estimated Lockheed a revenues from ski commonly referred to As a Star wars Quot hit a Peak of $400 million in 1989, then dropped to $350 million last year and should decline to $250 million this year. The program revenues should then stabilize at $200 million annually next year
