European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters tuesday september 20,1994 today s rates following Are fixed rates a which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to .. Personnel for personal use British Pound. 1.61 dutch Guilder. 1.69 German Mark. 1.51 note the rates above apply within the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the. British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the. Dollar to foreign Curren cies ". Austrian Schilling. 10.8765 Bahrain Dinar 0.37685 belgian franc .31.78 British Pound. 1.5665 Canadian Dollar. 1.3514 danish Krone. 6.1109 dutch Guilder. 1.7410, French franc. 5.3048 German Mark 1.5525 greek drachma. 232.61 italian lira 1,568 Kuwait Dinar 0.2973 norwegian Krone. 6.7794 portuguese escudo. 157.35 saudi rial. 3.7503 Spanish peseta 128.36 Swiss franc. 1.2880 turkish lira. 33,950 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $390.25 an ounce Silver quote $5,43 an ounce sources merchants National Bank & Trust co. An the associated press 2,000 b-2 jobs to be jettisoned los Angeles a Northrop Grumman corp plans to Cut 2,000 jobs next year from its b-2 stealth bomber operations officials said. Workers for the los Angeles based de sense contractor were told in a company newsletter Friday that the jobs will Nave to be Cut As the program continues towing Down. The Job  will affect the main b-2facilities in Pico Rivera and Palmdale and reduce the total b-2 work Force to8,000, said Ralph Crosby program Man Ager for Northrop Grumman. Next year reductions will be the largest annual Cut in the radar evading Bat winged plane work Force. For 1994, Northrop already is expected to reduce its b-2 work Force by 1,400 workers Crosby said. In 1996, at least an other 1,500 More workers will be Cut company officials said. The Job  will not include other Divi Sions or  resulting from the merger this year of Northrop corp. And Beth Page  Grumman corp., com Pany spokesman Tony Cantafio said. Congress approved the building of 21.b 2s at a Cost of $44.1 billion or. $2.1 Bil lion per plane. Twenty already have been built and Are operational. The last planets expected to be built in 1997. It will be used solely for testing at Edwards fab i California. . Found to regain Edge i Washington a the unite states after rapidly losing ground to overseas competitors just four years ago has dramatically reclaimed its leadership in various important technologies says study released monday. In those areas where we were lagging we have improved Pur position a Survey by the Council on competitiveness found. In those areas where we were Strong we have maintained  the findings follow other signs of a resurgence of. Competitiveness. Just two weeks ago for instance the world economic forum in Geneva reported that the United states ranks As the world s most competitive nation for the first time since 1985. The Council on competitiveness re called that in 1991, it had found the United states weak or losing badly in one third of the 94 critical technologies driving the. Economy. Future trend were not encouraging it warned. That report showed How America technology Edge had eroded in one Industry after another casting doubt on the comforting View that technology was America s ultimate comparative advantage in world markets the Council noted.". Since then there has been Clear Visi ble measurable Progress said retired. Navy adm. Bobby Ray Inman Council senior adviser Industry government and universities Are All pursuing new strategies said the Council s report critical technologies update 1994. The Council is a nonprofit organization of leaders in business Edu cation and labor arid is headed by Paul Allaire chairman of Xerox corp. Companies Are in the midst of re structuring to eliminate inefficiency and boost innovation the Federal government is developing policies to support civilian technology and competitiveness needs and universities Are struggling to redefine  i America s solid foundation in information technologies is helping the United states take a Lead in creating a Pace setting National information infrastructure.1 Council of competitiveness report mation technologies is helping the United states take a Lead in creating a Pace setting National information inf Astruc their educational and scientific missions to Foster. Competitiveness More effectively the report said. It said information technologies re main an unsurpassed strength of the United states which ranked Strong into thirds of those categories and competitive in the remainder Many of which were showing continued improvements. America s solid foundation in info Ture the report said. Both the Public and private sectors Are using information technology capabilities to develop and deploy new applications in education health care manufacturing electronic Commerce  but despite the general improvement Inman said the United states is a Long Way from having won this  the report warned of increased foreign Competition in the information Field Cit ing for instance software developments in India and personal computer advances in Taiwan. The Survey also found Many countries becoming More competent in other Crit ical technologies where the United state traditionally has been a world Leader including european advances in the Chemi Cal pharmaceutical and biotechnological Fields. / -. Japan remains Strong in electronic Sand engineering processes it noted and China and Many of the newly industrialized nations of Asia Are building their technological capabilities and could Posea threat to. Competitiveness Over the longer  and it said America remains far be Hind in technologies involving computer screens. It ranked As losing badly or lost in the three major areas electro Luminescent liquid Crystal and plasma Andl vacuum fluorescent displays. By is to protect temporary workers by Stephen Barr Washington Post Washington the office of personnel management seeking to end an abuse of government hiring has issued regulations that limit the amount of Tim Federal agencies can keep employees in temporary jobs. Under the pm rules agencies May fill temporary jobs for up to one year with a maximum Extension of an additional year. The new Rule  the previously Al Lowed time by  government s. Use of temporary employees came under increased scrutiny last year after the death of James Hud son who cared for the Abraham Lincoln statue at the Lincoln memorial. Although he had worked full time forthe National Park service for eight years his family discovered he had no pensioner life insurance benefits because he was classified As a temporary  Issue arose again this year after the storm King Mountain wildfire Nea Glenwood Springs Colo. Twelve of the 14 firefighters who died in the fire were temporary  their families will receive some death Bene fits the firefighters were not entitled to health insurance or a pension. In a statement pm director James King said the Rule change would let Pur temporary employees know that we. Recognize their contributions and. Respect them As people. Treating Mccloske employees fairly is the prominent feature of these . Frank Mccloskey d-ind., who has introduced legislation to curb the abuse of temporary employees com Nien ded the personnel Agency for issuing the new regulations. Mccloskey said he was very hopeful that the horror stories of Loyal civil servants not being treated fairly will be a thing of the  the new rules also Mark one of the rare times when an employee Issue has taken precedence Over budget considerations. Some agencies have relied on temporary employees As a Way to avoid incurring Long term costs. Temporaries Are not eligible for retire ment and life insurance benefits and May Purchase health coverage Only after completing a year of continuous employment providing they Are willing to shoulder the entire Premium but the new rules allow agencies to convert their temporary workers who exceed the two year limitation to term appointments which run for specified periods and bestow eligibility for the government s Benefit programs. The additional costs of providing full benefits could Cost the government Mil Lions of dollars assuming substantial numbers of temporary employees  full time jobs or term appointments. The pm can authorize exceptions tothe Rule under special circumstances such As military base closings downsize Ings and reorganizations. The time limitations in the new rules also do not apply to seasonal employees who work less than six months a year. Government pensions costly Magazine says new York a government workers retire with pensions so much higher than their private sector counterparts that taxpayers would have saved $56 Bil lion last year if private Industry s pension Levels were the Rule Money Magazine reports. The Magazine said in its october Issue released Sun Day that a reduction of Public sector pensions to Pri vate sector Levels would have Cut individual Federal slate and local income taxes by almost 8 percent in 1993. A state or local government worker who earns535,000 a year will receive an annual pension of about $18,000 after retiring with 30 years of service at age 65,Money said citing the employee Benefit research Institute in Washington do. Federal employees in the same situation would bring Home pensions of up to $19,700. But a worker in the. Private sector with similar credentials would receive a pension of just $10,000 a  Public sector pensioners also receive two other Perks almost no private sector employer could afford Money says. One called spiking allows state and local employees to Load up on pension credits at the end of their Ca Reers. By volunteering to delay vacations and put i overtime workers can boost pre retirement pay in the period used to calculate pension Levels. Also Federal workers and most state and local work ers receive annual Cost of living adjustments which protect their pensions from inflation. As these ballooning pensions continue to swell they la Likely Lead to  in necessary government serv ices that your taxes pay for the Magazine said. State governments spend on average 14.3 percent of payroll costs on pensions. Local governments spend 17.5 percent and at the Federal level it comes to 25 per cent Money said citing the. Office of personnel management. Private companies that provide pensions spend Only an average of 3.6 percent of their payrolls on such plans the Magazine said based on a 1991 study by Greenwich associates