European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 a the stars and Stripe Money matters wednesday december 11, 1991 presence not presents is what counts children want togetherness experts say by Maureen Downey Cox news service the Best things in life May be free but can you put them under the Christmas tree yes says Jerry Washington an Atlanta father who has been out of work for the past year. He cares for his two Young children while his wife Carmelita works As a nurse. Instead of deluding his 3-year-old daughter Gabri Elle and 14-month-old son Jerald with toys Washington creates a fun Days in which he plans a special Outing. Last week it was a visit to Atlanta a High museum of Art where there is no admission charge thursday afternoons. The week before it was the lighting of the downtown tree in the suburb of Decatur. A other kids May have the toys but we have the time together a Washington said. His time May prove a far More valuable gift than any toy Washington could buy according to experts. A what people remember Are the feelings of the holidays a said Roy Kern a professor of counselling at Georgia state University in Atlanta. A it is the atmosphere created by the people rather than the  feelings Are All some people can afford this Holiday season because of High unemployment. But even those unaffected by the recession Are tiring of the crass commercialization said Atlanta psychologist Brenda Hawkins. Many of her clients offended when retailers began watching videos instead of celebrating with a lot of presents and a 6-foot tree a Hawkins said. Although it May be possible to convince an adult that less is More this Christmas can you get an 8-year-old intent on a $260 set of Power wheels to believe it to Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli authors of unplug the Christmas machine a Complete guide to putting love amp Joy Back into the season think so. The women wrote their Book published by William Morrow based on their 14 years of experience leading workshops on creating More joyous christmases. Despite the pleas for Nintendo the authors insist that time with parents is what children really want. A a Fita Finif. Their suggestions on How parents can make the holi ranter Issei Elf amp gifts Days special for their children include taking extra time off from work to spend with them to create traditions  the feelings . A toy Kern Georgia state University professor the Christmas advertising Blitz at halloween resolved to Mark the holidays More simply this year. A that May be staying at Home popping Popcorn and that involve the children such As making wreaths or buying the Christmas tree. Washington is convinced that the greatest gift he can give his children is Bis attention. Although it is difficult to be out of work and living on his wife a income Washington also recognizes there is a positive Side As caretaker of his two children during the Day he has the Opportunity to grow closer to them and to guide their introduction to the wider world. Stocks too High depends on How you figure tit inv in Iuie l a i. By John cunn1ff a business analyst new York a Day after Day you hear it sometimes loudly and on other Days Only As a murmur. It is a chant that stocks Are overpriced and headed for a fall comparable to that which occurred in commercial real estate. It is a lingering fear a sign of troubled times a measure of uncertainty and insecurity and a product of statistical measurements showing that stocks Are out of sync with current profits and future prospects. But it might be fiction too a belief arising from Peoples depressed economic mood and an inaccurate or biased Reading of numerical measurements. Through certain numbers a ratios such As Price earnings Price equity and Price Book value a statisticians can argue that the Market is overextended and that either profits must Rise or fall to historical norms. For example the average Price earn Ings ratio for the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial average the most popularly used measurement of pricing is close to 29, or almost double what some analysts think it should be. However a dissection of the numbers tells a very different Story. Of the 30 companies making up the average Only 24 were profitable in the past 12 months. If Only these companies Are used in the calculations the be averages out to 18, which is not terribly out of sync with the past. The main reason for the 29 be an extraordinarily High figure is the six companies without earnings. Had each of them been just slightly into the Black the be for the entire Industrial average would have been lower. But How can you simply read in the statistics the six Money losers you can to of course but you can make mental adjustments for them. Does anyone really believe that general motors corp. Will not be profitable again pm and other companies in the Industrial average a in fact the entire manufacturing sector of the Economy a Are going through unusual times and they Are responding with unusual moves such As restructuring. Restructuring is costly in the Short term to both profitable and profitless companies and this too has a major effect on be ratios. Restructurings involve write offs. American Telephone amp Telegraph co. Took a $4 billion write off against third Quarter earnings. And International business machines corp. Said it would deduct $3 billion from earnings in this Quarter. Such write offs Are one time events that drastically reduce current earnings and temporarily push up be ratios. Although painful they Arentt Lively to recur. As such some analysts View the be reaction As aberration Al. That a not All that write offs do. Theoretically some write offs should improve profitability in the future. Many of them in fact Are made with the specific goal of making the company More productive. Although restructurings might not raise future profits As companies intend they drastically lower current income a and As a direct consequence they push up the  nose dive on fears of new a phone in every pocket predicted iraqi Oil exports a along with headaches for acc new York a heating Oil prices plummeted almost 3 cents a gallon monday on the new York mercantile Exchange dragged Down by fears that a resumption of iraqi Oil exports would unleash a Price War. A i think a decision has been made by saudi Arabia that if Iraq gets Back in the picture the saudis will not lose a single customer Quot said Peter Beutel a trader with the Pegasus Econometrics group in Hoboken . H Beutel said Iraq will have to offer a lower Price if it wants to re enter the Market and attract customers. He expected that fellow open member saudi Arabia would undercut Quot Iraq s prices. Home heating Oil for january delivery skidded 2.70 cents to 54.55 cents a gallon on the merc. On the . Gulf coast spot Market where Oil is sold to the highest bidder Home heating Oil collapsed 3.75 cents to 49.70 a gallon. Unleaded gasoline for immediate delivery on the merc dropped 1.74 cents to 53.26 a gallon. Washington a its a Busy Day in Manhattan and hordes of people Are storming along the sidewalks not watching where they re going and Yelling at something in their hands. Its the future not too Long from now and they re talking on the phone. It May be a Blessing and a curse. With the phones of tomorrow there will be no More excuses such As a i was at lunch a �?o1 was in Bill a office or a i was in the  the phone can go with you a and some Boss will probably want to know Why it did t. Everyone in the Home can have his or her own pocket phone. If yours is ringing or beeping or maybe even softly repeating your name the Call is for you. The Federal communications commission is trying to figure out what to do about this. There will have to be rules written and frequencies assigned on the airwaves. A by the end of the 1990s, a Telephone with its Bell ringing insistently for attention will strike us a and especially our children a As a crude anachronism a or. W. Russell Neuman told the Federal communications commission last week. A in retrospect we will come to see such a Telephone Call As something Akin to an electronic scud missile not Well targeted and often unwelcome a said Neuman who teaches communications policy at the Massachusetts Institute of technology. The phone on the receiving end will be Able to identify a caller then decide whether to sidetrack him to an answering machine and what recording to play for him Neuman said. It could even give some fix on the callers location. That along with privacy considerations have caused people to worry about the phones of the future. But John e. Defeo president of us West new vector group inc., said that worry May translate into a business Opportunity. If you want privacy its for Sale. There s going to be degrees of privacy Defeo told the commission. A some customers May be willing to pay for More  the potential Market is big. A forecast by Arthur d. Little inc., a consulting firm said these personal communications services May attract 50 million to 60 million users in the first 10 years. Defeo said research shows Consumers would be willing to pay around $30 a month for such services. And the companies ability to meet that Price depends on what the commission does Ana How the system is designed. R. Craig Roos president of personal communications network services of new York inc., Drew yet another picture of the future for the acc. Of the 1.4 million people living in Manhattan Only 13 percent own cars he said. And cars Are where most people put their cellular phones. But an affordable phone system that people could Cany in their pockets would change that he said