European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday july 15, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 17_ Money a matters today s tip pay increases will average 5 percent this year and next the conference boards annual salary Survey says. The private sector Survey covered 537 companies in a wide variety of major industries. A in response to the recession companies had to rethink their projected 1991 budgets a said Elizabeth Areglado a conference Board compensation specialist. A this years 5 percent increase is less than the 5.5 percent companies projected last  she added a although increases for All employee groups Are expected to average 5 percent in both 1991 and 1992, there will be a real earnings gain for employees since the Rise in inflation is currently projected at 4.7 percent in 1991 and 3.8 percent in 1992.�?� conversion rates London up fridays 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 s368 an ounce Silver at $4.38. July 11 july 12 British pound.1.6055 1.6455 German mark.1.835 1.7965 French franc.6.152 6.167 dutch guilder.2.041. 2.05 belgian franc.37.2925 37.4625 italian lira.1,350.50 1,354.35 Swiss franc. 1.59 1.5565 greek drachma.197.91 198.60 turkish lira.4,378.10 4,401.40 saudi arabian riyal.3.7503 3.73 Spanish peseta.113.75 114.05 portuguese escudo.157.13 157.75 Canadian dollar.1.1484 1.1488 austrian schilling.12.76 12.82 norwegian krone.7.0715 7.096 danish krone.7.0175 7.04 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 1.77 through monday based on fridays noontime  takes bigger bite of big Apple Tokyo up a Mitsubishi estate co., a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi group said it has raised its stake in Manhattan a Rockefeller Center and radio City music Hall from 57.6 percent to 80 percent. Mitsubishi estate said in a statement that Rockefeller family trusts exercised an option to sell additional Stock in Rockefeller group inc., which owns the properties to the Tokyo based conglomerate. Mitsubishi estate has paid a total of $1,373 billion for its 80 percent stake. Mitsubishi a original $846 million agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Rockefeller Center and radio City music Hall by buying Rockefeller group Stock touched off a juror in october 1989. The Purchase focused Public attention on increasing japanese investment Iii a trophy buildings in Manhattan san Francisco and los Angeles and High profile companies. Run by policyholders raises Chance of insurer s takeover by the Washington Post after a Rush by policyholders to withdraw their Cash new Jersey insurance officials said saturday that they expect to fake Over Mutual Benefit life insurance co., the nations 18th-largest insurer possibly today. With More than $13.5 billion in assets and 400,000 policyholders Newark based Mutual Benefit would be the largest insurer in . History to be taken Over by regulators underscoring the Impact of the recession on the investments that Are the economic underpinnings of most life insurance companies. Mutual benefits problems highlight two of the most important problems facing the insurance Industry today plunging real estate values and policyholder runs. About 45,000 of Mutual benefits policyholders live in new Jersey one of the few states that does not have a fund to protect customers of failed insurance companies. The company a policyholders Are concentrated in the Northeast. The company writes health and Accident policies As Well As life insurance and annuities. The company is considerably larger than executive life insurance co. Of California which collapsed in april and caused the biggest insurance failure in history. While executive life had invested heavily in High risk High yield junk Bonds. Mutual benefits problems Stem from losses on its $5 billion in real estate investments. Declining values of commercial property coupled with mortgage loan defaults have left the company with about $500 million to cover claims officials said. Mutual Benefit had been hoping to ride out its problems but reports published last week in new Jersey newspapers sent Panicky policyholders flocking to the company to get their Money. A new Jersey insurance official called Mutual Benefit a a textbook example of the Impact that a run can have on a basically sound company. Its something that a could bring a Prudential or a met metropolitan life to its Knees a even though they Are two of the strongest insurance companies in the country the official said. . Best co., an insurance company rating Agency downgraded Mutual Benefit last week but still viewed its claims paying ability As excellent. Mutual Benefit now has about $123.9 billion of insurance in Force according to new Jersey insurance department figures. New Jersey does not have a state guarantee fund to bail out policyholders of failed insurance companies. The state legislature has approved one effective Jan. 1, but gov. James j. Florio has threatened to veto it in a dispute Over taxes on insurance premiums. Assuming the dispute is resolved the fund would protect new Jersey policyholders up to $300,000 per policy beyond what the company could pay. Other state funds raised by assessments on healthy insurance companies would protect policyholders although there Likely would be delays before payments were made. For now. Mutual Benefit is Able to cover Normal policy claims according to another state insurance official and the state is drawing up a plan to keep it that Way. Under the plan the state would take control of Mutual Benefit and policyholders would be prevented from surrendering their policies or borrowing against them blocking the kind of runs that have shaken the company. Future of new York City workers tied to demise of historic pan am by Sarah Bartlett the new York times new York with the anticipated demise of pan american world airways new yorkers Are witnessing the undoing of not just an important employer but one whose triumphs and tribulations had in Many ways become a part of their lives. For some there were memories of Large seaplanes Bobbing beside what is now the Marine air terminal at la Guardia Airport and bitter debates Over the desirability of a 59-Story skyscraper looming Over the City a grand Central terminal. But for others the effect is far More immediate and wrenching thousands will Likely lose their jobs and face the Prospect of searching for new ones in the midst of is hat is still a raging local recession. A right now in a living Day to Day and hoping for the Best a said Kenneth Kwan a 59-year-old customer service agent who has worked for the airline for 26 years. A a it a possible that i will lose my Job in which Case i done to know what ill do. I really done to even want to think about  although the profit starved airline has been shrinking for years it still employs about 10,000 people in the new York metropolitan Region. Delta air lines which on thursday agreed to buy Many of pan am a overseas routes and its East coast shuttle has indicated that out of pan am a total work Force of 22,000 it is Likely to retain Only 6.000 a and Many of those will be people connected to the airlines International routes. Neither airline has indicated exactly How Many pan am employees in the new York area will be kept on. But about 5.000 of them work in the airlines Large maintenance Center at Kennedy International Airport which Delta is not acquiring. It is unlikely therefore that Many of those working in that Center will be needed since Delta is expected to main Tain its newly acquired planes at its Hub in Atlanta. Despite the personal hardship they Are Likely to encounter Many employees still Harbor the feeling that pan am was something special. Pointing to his uniform a Pale Blue work shirt inscribed with his name and the company logo one ramp agent who has been with the airline for just a year said a a in a going to miss the logo. Its like As old As coca cola or something. It makes me sick to lose  this is the airline after All whose Yankee Clipper set off from Long Island in 1939 on the first commercial trans Atlantic flight stirring americans across the country and lending credence to the notion that America dominated the world in aviation. And it is the one that featured a heliport atop its Headquarters building until a propeller fell off in 1977 and killed a passer by below. Mitchell Moss an economics professor at new York University said that while new yorkers May like to reminisce about pan am a historical significance the airline has been in decline for so Many years that this changing of the guard is a Welcome development. A just because its been associated with new York does no to mean its an asset a he said. A a we re trading up new York is getting a better  while Delta a expansion in new York May be Good news for the Region Over the Long haul it is the near term that Many employees Are worried about. They Are after All entering the Job Market at a time when the City a unemployment rate is 8.7 percent and when the Market for airline workers is shrinking. In january Eastern airlines Laid off 1,500 of its new York City employees. And Many airlines Are still suffering from a decline in traffic that resulted from the National recession and fear of travelling it a a Deal the $260 million Delta pan am Deal includes i new York Europe routes Miami London Detroit London routes a Frankfurt Hub i pan am shuttle i $60 million loan to pan am to i employment offers to 6,000 pan am employees lease agreements on 45 planes amp i honouring tickets issued by pan am on acquired routes through february 1,1992. Source Delta air lines a during the persian Gulf War. In May the number of workers in new York City a airline Industry was 50,700. That is Down from 54,500 at years end according to the Bureau of labor statistics