BY HARRY RING
Happy holidays - Late fees on monthly credit card payments
now average $22, up from $13 in 1995. Penalties for exceeding
credit limits have also been hiked. And some banks have sliced
the grace period for escaping interest from 25 days to 20.
Typical - The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is supposed to help people find affordable housing, has been selling thousands of homes for more than they're worth. Under congressional pressure to pay for its programs, HUD in a 12-month period took in about $50 million more than its own appraisals said the properties were worth. - News item.
Better late than never? - The American Legion Magazine advises veterans who participated in atmospheric nuclear tests, or were in the post-World War II occupation of Japan, that they're eligible to be tested for the presence of plutonium. A Legion official explains: "Plutonium is the only radioactive material... released in nuclear explosions that can be measured in the human body years after exposure."
Sleep well - At least two power companies are bidding on a government project to use plutonium from surplus atomic bombs as part of the fuel in their nuclear energy reactors.
Vultures Inc. - Top international investors will be in Bangkok December 2 to bid for the assets of 56 financial companies devastated by Thailand's 1997 financial crisis. The money sharks will bid on $10 billion worth of loans secured by half empty office buildings, idle rice fields, resorts and golf courses. Thai financiers, who have been turning down offers of a dime on the dollar, understandably, take a dim view of the fire sale.
Bright future - In Britain, the Liberal Democratic Party polled firms in the City, London's Wall Street, and found a deep conviction that there will be a major recession next year. A party spokesman estimated this could mean a loss of 400,000 jobs over the next two years.
Progress report - Orange County, California, repealed a 1950s law requiring Communist Party members to register with the sheriff's dept. Along with 243 other ordinances, it was deemed outdated. A business figure and former county board member, recalled that the statute was passed when Soviet prez Nikita Kkrushchev was visiting and canceled a Disneyland trip after officials said they couldn't guarantee his safety.
Buy cheap, sell dear - Neiman Marcus, the department store chain celebrated for its rip-off prices, agreed to pay $112,500 to settle charges that it violated federal law by selling, for nearly a decade, flammable terry-cloth robes.
Well sure, that's banking -David Kohl, an agriculture professor, gave warning to a Minneapolis gathering of bankers. He said overproduction of farm produce and the world recession means farmers will be struggling for survival at least seven more years. What to do? Offer cheap credit? Stop farm foreclosures?
Nope. Tighten their lending techniques to minimize the risk of bad loans.