European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday september 24, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17 Money matter today s tip Federal workers who made a Job related move and Home Sale Between 1986 and 1988 May be due a share of a $6.9 million housing relocation settlement. The Washington Law firm of Sprenger amp Lang has determined that As Many As 2,000 employees from 14 different agencies have claims which must be filed with the firm 1614 20th St. New Washington . 20009, attn Jane Lang by oct. 15. The settlement grew out of a class action lawsuit filed by a number of workers against better Homes and gardens family relocation service. The service held the contract which has since been cancelled to handle real estate transfers for . Workers in states West of the Mississippi River. That included buying their old Homes if necessary. Some workers Felt they were Short changed and alleged that the company delayed Selling their former Homes leaving them with the Choice of either making two mortgage payments or Selling their old Home to the firm for less than what they Felt was fair Market value. Conversion rates London up monday s 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 s350.05 an ounce Silver at $4.12 sept. 20 sept. 23 British pound.1.7255 1.7445 German mark.1.6925 1.6715 French franc.5.7830 5.6960 dutch guilder.1 9090 1.8840 belgian franc.34.9400 34.5800 italian lira.1.270 70 1.251.10 Swiss franc.1 4755 1.4590 greek drachma.188.14 186.42 turkish lira.4,671 00 4,655.20 saudi arabian riyal.3.7502 3 7499 Spanish peseta.106.40 105.21 portuguese escudo.145.47 143.75 Canadian dollar.1.1350 1 1338 austrian schilling.11.9255 11 7790 norwegian krone.6.6370 6 5560 danish krone.6.5430 6.4650 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.63 through tuesday based on mondays noontime  Chain files bankruptcy by the new York times Seattle pay n Pak stores inc., an operator of Home improvement stores in 14 Western states filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy Protection from creditors Over the weekend. The company said it plans to continue operating and has arranged for $100 million in new financing from a Bank group led by manufacturers Hanover Trust co. The company has been losing Money and having difficulty paying vendors because of a heavy debt Load incurred in a leveraged buyout by an earlier management decision. The company a unit of the pop holdings corp., which also filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy has 78 stores and 2,800 employees. Odic s cupboard nearly Bare after year of banking losses by Peter h. Frank the Baltimore Sun Bank depositors All know they Are protected up to $100,000 per account. For Many that a the Only piece of Security they have As they watch the banking Industry writhe through wrenching losses and pending mergers. But what happens if the dwindling Bank insurance fund Bif runs dry a when we run out of Money we can print some More a quipped Caryl a. Austrian a spokeswoman for the Federal Deposit insurance corp., the Agency that oversees the insurance fund. The of Dick a most recent projection is that the fund balance will fall to Between $1 billion and $3 billion by year end depending on the size and number of Bank failures in the next few months. The general accounting office however said last month that it expected the fund to be $1.4 billion in the Hole by the end of the year. Whichever is True no one expects the government to pull the plug on its Long held Promise to Back depositors funds. But no one expects the Money needed to Back that Promise to be found easily. To help replenish its reserves the Odic earlier this year boosted the amount of premiums which Banks must pay into the fund a from 19 cents for each $100 of Domestic deposits to 23 cents. The fund also has reserved Money for Bank failures that it can reasonably foresee. Those moves combined with fewer Bank failures during the first half of 1991, reversed the fund s three year slide. In the years first six months the Bif grew nearly $500 million reaching $4.52 billion on june 30. The lower number of Bank failures a Down to 57 this year from 99 a year ago a has some concerned. They predict that More failures could still come. Odic chairman l. William Sci Man referring to second Quarter figures for . Banks said earlier this month a it does no to look like its much worse it does no to look like it s getting a whole lot  How. Then can the fund raise the Cash it needs under the most Likely scenario the Bif would borrow its Way out. The fund can borrow up to nine times its net Worth. Although its net Worth a or the fund balance a could be Zero by the end of the year it has a $5 billion line of credit available from the t Treasury department. So the fund could raise $45 billion using the $5 billion As its base. Other plans Call for increasing the premiums paid by the nation s 12,000 Banks or having Congress allocate More Money. Regardless the Odic is steadfast depositors will be protected. Former insider trader recommends con men to new clients report says by the new York times new York the lbs news program 60 minutes reported sunday night that Dennis b. Levine a Central figure in Wall streets insider trading scandals of the 1980s, has introduced clients of his current consulting business to con men to help them in financial deals. Levine set up his own financial consulting firm after he completed a two year sentence for securities fraud in september 1988. All of the financial dealings described in the 60 minutes report involved three clients of his new firm. The report said he had accepted tens of thousands of dollars from these clients in the last two years for introducing them to lenders and verifying that they were legitimate businessmen. Several of the supposed lenders were con men with histories of fraudulent dealings 60 minutes said. In an on camera interview Levine acknowledged that he had introduced some clients to one Man he knew to be a Felon but said he did not know of any improprieties in the backgrounds of other people he had recommended to handle financial deals. He also said a i have never conned anybody in my life nor would  among the people Levine vouched for 60 minutes said was a former fellow prisoner whom Levine said he met during his term at Lewisburg Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. Levine who pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges in 1986, served about a year of his two year sentence at Lewisburg. The Friend Jim Massaro who 60 minutes said was serving time for business fraud was introduced to two clients As an executive whom Levine met when he was employed at Drexel Burnham Lambert inc., the clients told the lbs program. Dennis b. Irvine . Won t slip Back into recession despite slow recovery experts say Washington a most private analysts believe the nation can avoid a new recession in the next year despite lingering weakness in the Economy according to a Survey released monday. A when asked if they thought there was a better than 50-50 Chance of slipping Back into recession 89 percent gave a resounding a no a a the National association of business economists said in a summary. Of the 56 business forecasters surveyed 79 percent said the recession ended in the april june Quarter up from 60 percent in a May Survey. Nine percent believe it has continued into the Quarter ending sept. 30. The Survey prepared for the associations annual meeting in los Angeles was taken in late August a about the time the Federal Reserve was making its latest nationwide Survey of economic conditions. The fed found the recovery to be in even both geographically and by economic sector. It said there was Quot Little sign of a sizable rebound in consumer spending a which represents two thirds of the nations economic activity and is needed to keep the Economy growing. The forecasters were unanimous in their belief that the recovery would be a abnormally slow a with the median projection suggesting economic growth at an annual rate of just 2.5 percent in this Quarter 2.8 percent in the fourth Quarter and 2.6 percent during 1992. The median Means that half the economists believe the Economy will grow fas Ter and half slower. The Bush administration projects economic growth Over the next four quarters at a rate of 2.5 percent to 3 percent Well below the average 6 percent growth in the 12 months following other pos world War ii recessions. Administration budget director Rich Ard g. Darman said in a television interview sunday that statistics on Industrial production housing starts and other economic indicators suggest the Economy May have turned up in May. But he conceded a a it a not coming up As strongly As we would  Darman acknowledged that White House economic forecasts usually look on the Bright Side. A a we re not necessarily credible. Because administrations tend to be somewhat More optimistic than others for understandable reasons a he said on abuts this week with l avid Brinkley. Darman said consumer Confidence was the missing element needed for a Strong rebound from the recession. A a there a a problem with personal spending a he said. A it he consumer is not yet really in this recovery and we need the consumer to have More Confidence and get