European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 21, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday october 21, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17 Hyatt laying off 700 managers Chicago a Hyatt hotels corp., citing an Industry wide slump in hotel bookings is laying off 700 managers at its 105 . Hotels. The layoffs would reduce the Chicago based hotel chains staff by 1.5 percent. Line employees such As housekeepers doormen and others who come in Contact with guests wont be affected the company announced Friday. The layoffs the largest in the company a 34 years began tuesday said spokeswoman Carrie Reckert. Hotel companies nationwide have Felt the sting of the recession said Carol Palmer an analyst for Duff amp Phelps inc. In Chicago. Hyatt hotels a privately held unit of Hyatt corp., wont release figures on sales or profits Reckert said. Conversion rates London up Friday 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 s359.75 an ounce Silver at $4 13 oct 17 oct 18 British pound.1 7095 1 7325 German Mark .1 7035 16885 French franc. 5.8070 5 7715 dutch guilder.1 9185 1 9020 belgian franc.35 095 34 790 italian lira.1,272 50 1.267 45 Swiss franc.1.4880 1.4805 greek drachma.189.21 188 50 turkish lira.4,870 80 4,870 20 saudi arabian riyal.3 7503 3 7503 Spanish peseta.107 11 106 75 portuguese escudo.146.46 145 93 Canadian dollar.1.1301 1.1285 austrian schilling.11.9780 11 9325 norwegian krone.6.6625 6 6370 danish krone.6.5600 6 5320 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 1.65 through monday based on fridays noontime Price fixing. News exec gives ideas for future Detroit apr Consumers buying newspapers for less than 50 cents apiece Are getting a bargain because of All the news information and entertainment they contain the former chairman of Gannett co. Inc. Says. Allen Neuharth and a panel of five other automotive and newspaper executives at the associated press managing editors association convention in Detroit were asked about what warnings they had on the future of both industries. Speakers on both sides said executives must shake the arrogance of the past when newspapers dominated the information Industry and the big three automakers dominated the car and truck Industry. Instead they said newspaper and automaker executives must focus on Quality and consumer needs. Later Neuharth who founded Usa today nine years ago and is now chairman of the Freedom forum said flatly a any newspaper that s Selling for less than 50 cents is grossly  business leaders gripes make Bush turn attention to recession by James risen and Douglas Jehl los Angeles times Washington when president Bush sat Down with some of his biggest and wealthiest California fund raisers in los Angeles for a private Chat last month he found himself caught in an ambush. The group made up of Southern California developers and business leaders gave him an earful about the state of the american Economy. The Economy was still in the tank they complained and the White House was not doing anything about it. When a stunned Bush replied that his advisers had said the Economy had already recovered the business group flared anew. A Bush was told that those economic advisers weren t in business a one of the fund raisers recalls. A it was a very Blunt  the message a which was followed in a few Days by a similar session with business leaders nationwide a hit Home. Bush who has been widely criticized for his preoccupation with foreign affairs has taken a new interest in Domestic economic policy. In a series of White House meetings Bush has met Federal banking regulators congressional leaders Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and Bush s own senior economic policy officials in an Effort to forge a new economic strategy. In a recent meeting with Republican congressional leaders. Bush listened to the outlines of a new economic growth package. Administration officials say it May be unveiled this month. Yet. Analysts say that As Bush turns to the economic Issue he is Likely to be frustrated because the administration is in a Box a hemmed in by a record Federal deficit a stringent budget agreement and a democratic controlled Congress that disagrees with his policies. A the republicans on the Hill feel naked on the Economy right now. And they want Bush to do  said a senior staffer on the tax writing House ways and Means committee. Under the gun from business leaders and republicans on Capitol Hill the White House will be holding Quot intensive meetings Quot this week to decide exactly what to include in the growth package and whether to devote the Energy to push it through Congress this year. Most of the ideas Are remnants of proposals that died earlier on Capitol Hill. Most notably. Bush failed last year to win a capital gains tax Cut. During the budget and tax Battle of the fall of 1990, the democrats killed the capital gains tax Cut by countering it with a push for Quot tax  they called for higher taxes on the wealthy to finance lower taxes for the Middle class. The fight ended in a stalemate. As a result the administration is Likely to reshape its capital gains tax Cut proposal to make it More attractive to the Middle class a and to convince voters that it Isnit just a Benefit for the wealthy. Treasury Secretary Nicholas v. Brady and the White House chief of staff John h. Sui ainu Are fearful that a White House Campaign on capital gains w ill allow Congress to reopen the year old budget agreement and lilt the Lough spending limits that agreement has imposed. Reopening the budget would allow the democrats in turn to dig deeper into the defense budget in order to pay for More Domestic programs a a policy switch that is nearly impossible under the current budget making Structure. As a result Brady argues that the administration should not do anything to jeopardize the budget pact. Quot meanwhile business leaders Are making their frustrations known. Quot i have told some senior administration people including Cabinet members that i just wish there was a Good Democrat out there for me to support Quot said Western digital corp. Chairman Roger Johnson a Bush contributor from Newport Beach. Calif. A i hey laugh and say i can 1 be serious. I say. Just watch  Quot Economy not out of the Woods yet housing Industrial statistics show by Teresa Simons Robinson United press International Washington a after seeming to rebound in the third Quarter the nation s Economy May be stalling again based on a spate of new statistics released last week. Most worrisome is the fact that the housing and Industrial sectors believed to be pulling the nation out of recession now show signs of slowing or outright decline. A the upward momentum is dissipating a said Laurence Meyer who runs a St. Louis economic forecasting firm bearing his name. A a we re heading into very Low growth in the fourth  in the past three months Many economists heartened by encouraging government statistics had come to believe that the Economy was out of the Woods and Back on the Road to recovery. But now fears Are rising again about the nations vulnerability to a so called double dip recession. Nonetheless most economists still believe the years final Quarter will see some albeit less growth. It was hard if not impossible to find Good news in the latest economic data a Home construction which spurs other types of consumer spending was Down 2.2 percent in september after rising for the previous five months. A Industrial production edged up Only 0.1 percent following several months of More robust growth. Most of the increase came from Auto production which is expected to Slacken because of poor sales. A . Exports declined 3 percent reflecting weakness among foreign buyers. A consumer prices surged 0.4 percent leading analysts to believe that the inflation wary Federal Reserve will be reluctant to further boost the Economy by Low ering interest rates. A polls showed consumer and business Confidence in the Economy falling to new lows. Such Confidence polls cannot be taken lightly analysts cautioned noting that consumer spending comprises about two thirds of the nations economic output. As Norman Robertson chief economist at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh said a this kind of anxiety could become a self fulfilling Prophesy. If people Are worried about the recession and worried about their jobs  Cut Back on capital spending and those very actions will trigger another  attempting to strike a positive note. Meyer said a slowing in fourth Quarter economic growth May merely be a downward adjustment for surprising and perhaps unwarranted growth in the third Quarter. A consumer spending was up 3.7 percent in the third Quarter when real disposable income increased at a 2 percent rate he said. A Why that a just not  president Bush a economic advisers still Are forecasting 2.5 percent to 3 percent growth Over the third and fourth quarters. But More conservative economists such As Meyer Are expecting a much More anaemic recovery with fourth Quarter growth measured by the Gross National product at less than 2 percent. Consequently they say the unemployment rate now at 6.7 percent will Likely Rise again possibly to its 6.9 percent level of a couple of months ago. Most economists agree it will be Early 1994 before the unemployment rate can return to its pre recession level of 5.5 percent. A the . Economy is so big its incapable of turning on a dime Quot observed Paul Boltz an economist at t. Rowe Price associates in Baltimore. Meanwhile Bush Only a year away from National elections is expected to meet again with Republican congressional leaders Early this week to forge a package of measures to Spur economic growth. Congressional leaders say the package May include a controversial Cut in the capital gains tax an Extension of the research and development tax credit and . Unemployment percent of work Force seasonally adjusted 80 7.0 pm = 2= a a a a a a a 1 i Muf a i m 11 n 11 n a a r m a m 1991 j j a s aug. �?T91 so pm �?T91 source . Department of labor possibly an expansion of tax favored savings plans such As the individual retirement account. Republicans maintain that a capital gains tax Cut would stimulate spending and economic growth but democrats argue that it is nothing More than a tags break for the Rich. Democrats have instead argued Tor extended unemployment benefits for jobless workers but were met with a presidential veto