AAWA

  AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S AGENDA EDUCATION FOUNDATION

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MONITOR NOTES  (February 2004)

DECISION MAKING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• The deficit for the government’s pension insurance program ballooned to a record $11.2 billion last year, more than triple the previous year’s total, and officials are warning that taxpayers could be called on for a bailout. (PD 1/16) 

• Gov. Bob Taft signed legislation, legalizing the carrying of concealed handguns for most Ohioans over 21.  The law will take effect in 90 days. Taft’s signature came the day after the bill rocketed through the Ohio House and Ohio Senate after a compromise was struck to avert his threatened veto. (PD 1/9)

•  Certain models of BMW, Jaguar, Lexus and Mercedes now offer, or soon will offer, a dizzying array of high-tech features:  Collision-warning systems, to alert a driver to a possible frontal or rear crash. Cruise control, that will automatically slow or accelerate as needed. Global positioning systems, wireless technology & call centers, that will enable drivers to call a virtual or human adviser for help in reaching a destination or locating nearest ATM, gas station or hospital.  Voice control systems, that allow the driver to push a voice-activation button on the steering wheel and give simple commands. (AARP Jan)

•  Bob Schmidt is doing his bit to plug the city’s brain drain.  The biomedical and technology entrepreneur is part of a group that bought and is renovating the 90-year-old building on Euclid Avenue near East 40^th.  This building is a new home for several other technology startup companies, creating a small knot of new-economy businesses in a reclaimed relic of the city’s heavy manufacturing past. (PD 1/8)

• The dollar plunged to a new low against the European common currency Tuesday, sinking more than a penny to cross the $1.28 per euro mark for the first time.  The dollar also fell to another 11-year low against the British pound.  (PD 1/7)

•  Construction spending set another record in November as continued low interest rates powered home building while state and local governments did their part by pushing their construction to all time highs. (PD 1/6)

•  Last year’s vacancy rates in Northeast Ohio fell dramatically, according to CB Richard Ellis’ Greater Cleveland 2004 Retail Market Report. The commercial real estate services company said the 2003 vacancy rates fell to 8.4 percent from 10.1 percent in 2002. (PD 1/6)

HOUSING 

• Prescriptions for hormone supplements have plunged by more than one-third since a study was halted abruptly because of evidence that the pills raise the risk of breast cancer, heart disease and other illnesses in postmenopausal women. (PD 1/8)

• The Food and Drug Administration said that it had decided to delay its decision on whether to allow silicone breast implants back onto the market, citing the need for more information about the implants’ safety and rate of failure. (PD 1/8)

SENIOR CITIZENS

• The House is expected to pass a measure that protects the monthly checks of Social Security beneficiaries from misuse by caretakers entrusted to manage their funds.  The Senate passed the Social Security Protection Act in December.  It requires the government to replace payments stolen by caretakers and organizations from enrollees who are physically or mentally incapable of managing their benefits. (AARP Jan.)

EMPLOYMENT

• Hawk Corp. is closing its Wellman Product plant in Brookpark, eliminating about 200 jobs here beginning this year. (PD 1/8)

• The Internal Revenue Service plans to cut about 2,400 jobs mostly clerical positions, but said it would add nearly as many new positions to go after tax cheats. (PD 1/8)

• The dollar lost more than a cent within five minutes of the government report showing that 1,000 new jobs were added, compared with economists’ forecast of 150,000. (PD 1/10)

• J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank One Corp. teamed up to form a new banking powerhouse, announcing they are merging in a $58 billion deal that will create the second- largest U.S. banking company.  As many as 10,000 jobs cuts are possible, the companies said. (PD 1/15)

•  A federal trade panel voted to investigate allegations that Chinese companies are dumping millions of dollars worth of wooden bedroom furniture in the U.S. market at artificially low prices. (PD 1/10)

• WCI Steel Inc., which filed for bankruptcy court protection from creditors Sept. 16, will cut 35 salaried workers and decrease contributions to employee 401(k) plans. (PD 1/16)

• AK Steel Corp., trying to cut costs after two years of losses, has suspended a contract guarantee to employ at least 3,116 hourly workers at its Middletown works mill, the union and company said. (PD1/15)

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has settled a lawsuit over its practice of taking out life insurance on employees and making itself the beneficiary.  (PD 1/10)

• LeviStrauss & Co., has closed its last two sewing plants in the United States.  The financially troubled company has been steadily shifting production to overseas contractors for several years to cut costs and invigorate drooping sales in the ultra-competitive apparel market.  (PD 1/9)

• More and more U.S. companies are farming out jobs done over the phone, such as help lines and information services to India.  When you call Delta Airlines, American Express, Sprint, Citibank, IBM or Hewlett Packard’s technical support number, chances are you’ll be talking to an Indian. (CBS, 60 Minutes 1/11)

• The Cleveland fire union wants the city to reinstate three firefighters who were laid off because three of their colleagues are on active duty in the Middle East and were protected from job cuts. (PD 1/10)

• Kaiser Permanente is laying off seven nurse-midwives based at the Cleveland Clinic, effective in March, while University Hospitals of Cleveland in the past week told nine midwives that the hospital was disbanding their practice that began in 1997. (PD 1/23

• Hyundai Motor Corp. will pay workers at its new plant lower wages than all but one of the other auto assemblers around the South - a move that might result in lower pay at other plants operated by Asian automakers. (PD 1/21)

• Ohio should privatize its human resources operations, a move that would save $131 million and cost up to 1,000 state workers their jobs, according to a long-awaited consultant’s study. (PD 1/21)

Last modified: 08/25/05