European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 7, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february 7, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 17money matters today a tip . Reynolds tobacco International inc. Said wednesday that it will build a $33 million cigarette factory in Warsaw As part of its Long term investment in Poland. The 132,000-Square-foot Plant will begin making cigarettes by mid-1993, employing 175 people. The Plant will eventually produce about 8 billion cigarettes a year for the polish Market according to Dale f. Sisel president and chief executive officer of Rwjr tobacco International. Production will begin with the company a Camel cigarette Brand and will be followed later by other brands. Conversion rates London up thursdays 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 $355.25 an ounce Silver at $4.22. Feb.5 feb.6 British pound.1.8075 1.8155 German mark.1.5855 1.5800 French franc.5.4075 5.3472 dutch Guilder .1.7900 1.7758 belgian franc.32.66 32.57 Kalian lira.1,193.45 1,186.90 Swiss franc.1.4135 1.4100 greek drachma.183.72 182.45 turkish lira.5,500.80 5,490.00 saudi arabian rtyal.3.7498 3.7497 Spanish peseta.100.20 99.30 portuguese escudo.136.78 135.80 Canadian dollar.1.1775 1.1791 austrian schilling.11.1800 11.095 norwegian krone.6.2330 6.1880 danish krone.6.1565 6.1150 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 1.54 through Friday based on thursdays noontime Price fixing. New York Exchange new York up a York Stock Exchange Stock fed dept St i Eastman Kodak Citicorp Atcuson corp Rwjr Nabisco hid Natl Semi conduct Pac enterprises a rpt Mcmorr res adv Micro docs Uniss corp Glaxo holdings Pepsico inc at amp to company general motors Chrysler corp the 15 most Active stocks in new composite trading on wednesday. Sales ast 17 v4 46 i 15% 22% 11 9% 18% 22% 21 % 6.642.200 5.820.100 4.901.400 4.288.200 4.263.100 4.045.700 3.172.100 3.071.900 2.761.700 2,745,600 2.573.400 2.409.200 2,302,300 2.062.400 1.928.900 30 % 32% 37% 34% 16% Day. Etch. Unch off 4% up off 8 up % up % off 6 up % up up % off % off % unch off % up % american Exchange new York up american Stock to Xci a the ten most Active stocks in Inge composite trading wednesday. Stock sates last net chg. 0 1% us Bio science 1,501,300 18% Conti air Hodgs 736,000 1 0 1% fruit of loom 698,200 30% up 1 carnival cruise 590,300 28% up 1 % Amdahl corp 543,300 19% up % off 2% adv cd magnates 515,100 23 o Brien Energy 451,600 4 % up % Bat industries 433,100 11 % off % us banknote 389,000 5% up % Hasbro inc 307,500 40% off Dow Jones new York up wednesday 30 industrials 20 transport 15 in tits 65 stocks Dow Jones closing Range of averages change off 1521 32991? 1403.40 210.07 1183.23 3233.68 1365.28 206.06 1157.19 3257.60 1383.41 207.75 1167.85 up 15.14 off 1.25 off 0.33 gloomy Outlook Berlin apr Mercedes Benz the luxury Auto maker said thursday it expects car production to show no growth this year. The Stuttgart based firm was responding to an article in the stut Garter a Schrichten newspaper that said Mercedes would produce 3 percent fewer cars this year than in 1991. Low . Productivity figures not whole Story experts say Washington a the nations productivity barely Rose in 1991 after declining the previous two years. That proves that japanese prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa was Correct when he said americans have lost the work ethic right wrong economists say. To be sure the work ethic a How energetic workers Are a affects the nations productivity the output of goods and services for each hour of labor that went into providing them. But economists said other factors Are far More important. Among them Are natural fluctuations during the business Cycle the inability of debt Laden corporations to invest in modern equipment poor management demographic trends and the decline of the nations schools. The labor department said wednesday that the productivity of non farm workers advanced 0.2 percent in 1991, after falling 0.1 percent in 1990 and 0.9 percent in 1989. Among . Factory workers alone however productivity Rose 1.4 percent last year compared with a 2.5 percent increase in 1990. By comparison productivity among japanese factory workers a the Only category in which comparable figures Are available a Rose 3.7 percent in 1990. That same year . Labor costs increased 3.2 percent per hour compared with a 5.8 percent increase in hourly labor costs in Japan. A the . Level of output per hour of work remains the highest in the world but Germany and Japan Are moving up at a faster rate a said Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. Also productivity improvements always slow Down As the Economy enters a recession As it did in july 1990. The reverse occurs when recoveries begin. Japanese workers Aren t joining politicians in America bashing Kawasaki Japan apr Hiroshi Sato had just finished his Day shift plus two hours of overtime at the sprawling Mitsubishi motors Auto Plant in this Bleak Industrial City South of Tokyo. There was a cold hike to the station and an hour on the train Between him and dinner with his family. A what do i think of America a he said straining his voice Over the blare of a Siren beckoning workers to the night shift. A that must be the Good  Sato and his co workers said they done to hold a grudge against american workers or products and take exception to comments by japanese politicians disparaging american work habits. In fact Many japanese Auto workers Are unhappy about their own working conditions and Are fed up with carrying a Good part of the japanese economic Miracle on their backs. About two thirds of Japan a $39 billion Trade surplus with the United states comes from sales of cars and Auto parts. A take a look around a said Akikazu Kashiwagi. A Japan is supposed to be a great economic Power but we have to live in Small houses far from the factory we always have overtime overtime and hardly any vacation. This is really a poor country in some  japanese automakers Are aware of these complaints and arc starting to address them. Toyota recently announced a plan to begin to improve its working conditions and lower the workweek from 45 hours to 40 hours by fiscal 1993. But even discounting the effects of the business Cycle productivity gains last year were still too slight to improve or even sustain robust non inflationary growth economists said. A the Best proxy for the Long term Standard of living is productivity a Greenspan told the House budget committee this week. A relative to other countries we have some very major reasons to be  since the end of world War ii policymakers have relied on productivity increases to improve americans living standards. But the average annual productivity gains have slowed since the 1960s. William Dunkelburg Dean of the business school at Temple University said demographic trends that contributed to the decline the past two decades should Spur a turnaround in the 1990s. The maturation of the baby Boom generation and More women working outside the Home swelled the labor Force he said and businesses sometimes had difficulty putting the new workers to productive use. But the labor Force is expected to grow much More slowly this decade which will Force companies to figure out How to produce More with fewer people. Tax Cut helps richest study says Washington a the 85 percent of americans with income under $50,000 would get a Little More than a dime of every Dollar of the capital gains tax Cut proposed by president Bush congressional analysts said wednesday. More than 52 percent of the tax Cut would go to 491,000 couples and individuals with incomes above $200,000 a year according to an analysis by the staff of the non partisan joint committee on taxation. Democratic leaders used the study to emphasize their objections to the tax Cut on capital gains which Are profits from the Sale of investments. A the capital gains proposal by the president is tantamount to class warfare a said House majority Leader Richard a. Gephardt do. A it engages the government in redistributing income and services from the Middle class to the most privileged members of our  a a it a really the worst of both worlds a said rep. Sander m. Levin d-mich., a member of the House ways and Means committee. A a there a no Assurance the capital gains Cut would stimulate growth and its sure to increase income  the capital gains Cut has been Bush Stop Domestic priority since he began campaigning for the presidency in 1988. He contends the reduction is necessary be capital gains proposal by the president is tantamount to class warfare a rep. Richard a. Gephardt to stimulate investment and Job creation. A never has an Issue been More Dema gouged by its opponents a Bush said last week in his state of the Union message referring to democratic complaints that most of the Money from a capital gains Cut would go to High income people. A the demagogues Are wrong and Oljey know  at that time Bush said �?o60 percent of the people who Benefit from lower capital gains taxes have incomes under $50,000.�?� figures compiled by the internal Revenue service show that to be True. However the irs also Points out that those under-$50,000 people reported Only 15 percent of the capital gains on returns filed in 1990. The congressional analysis estimated 7.66 million couples and individuals would Benefit from the reduction including 3.1 million with incomes under $50,000 a year. Their tax cuts would average $263 they would get 10.4 percent of the total reduction. On the other hand the 491,000 making More than $200,000 a year would get tax cuts averaging $8,478. The study estimated Bush a proposal would reduce taxes by $7.9 billion a year and almost $4.2 billion of that total would go to the above-$200,000 group. Although democratic leaders have opposed a capital gains Cut for the last six years there Are increasing signs that some form of a reduction will be approved this year. But it probably will be considerably More targeted than the Broad version preferred by Bush and democrats Are Likely to demand in return that Overall tax rates on higher income americans be raised to pay for it. Under present Law the maximum tax rate on most income is 31 percent but the top rate on capital gains is 28 percent. Bush wants to exclude from taxation 45 percent of the gains from property owned three years or longer. That would result in an effective capital gains rate of 15.4 percent for those with highest incomes and 8.25 percent for others. Wages and other incomes would continue to be taxed at rates of 15 percent 28 percent and 31 percent