2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 7, 2001 Layoff woes boost NATION/WORLD support WASHINGTON (AP) -- With layoff notices mounting and con- sumer confidence plunging, the promise of President Bush's tax cut may be coming in the nick of time to avert a full-blown recession, economists said yesterday. Analysts said the activity surround- ing Bush's rollout of his $1.6 trillion plan and the favorable comments tax relief is generating in Congress should give an immediate, badly needed boost to sagging consumer confidence even before any votes. "We have gone from fighting about who will be president, which played a role in deflating consumer confidence, to talking about how large the tax cuts will be and when they will come," said Mark Zandi, head of Economy.com, a Pennsyl- vania forecasting firm. "That is a refreshing change that should help boost confidence." There is no doubt that the once high- flying economyis in need of a boost. The government rep'orted last week that the overall economy had skidded to a barely discernible 1.4 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter last year. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan or tax cut Greenspan has warned that growth in the current quarter could be "very close to zero." Consumer confidence has fallen for four straight months, the unem- ployment rate in January crept up to a 16-month high and some of America's biggest companies are announcing even more layoffs. For January, the number of layoff' notices shot up to 142,208, the highest total in the past eight years, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a private Chicago placement firm that tracks layoff notices, said yesterday. Since a recession is usually defined as two consecutive negative quarters for the gross domestic product, analysts said the talk about impending tax cuts could be enough to lift consumers' moods before a weak winter is turned into a negative spring. "Right now, things are too close for comfort. When you get down to these low levels of growth, it doesn't take much to turn economic weakness into an actual recession." said David Wyss. chief economist at Standard & Poor's Corp. in New York. A Firestone tire on a wrecked Ford Explorer sits in a warehouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, until it will be used in a lawsuit against Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone. " ", 26 d mo'e fat1ltes NEWS IN BRIEF ;$x'< Media begin inspecting Florida ballots In many ways, the scene that unfolded in the Miami-Dade County elections office had the all-too-familiar look of the event that transfixed and bored millions of Americans late last year when the Florida presidential vote recount was in f swing: squinty-eyed workers staring at disputed ballots. But this time, there was no mention of candidates' names. There was no con- sulting among workers. None were allowed to touch a ballot. Indeed, they were not referred to as counters at all, but as "coders." Yesterday was opening day of the "Florida Ballots Project;" an undertaking spon- sored by a group of eight major media organizations, including The Washington Post, the New York Times and CNN, and carried out by the National Opinion Research Center, a nonprofit corporation affiliated with the University of Chicago. During the next couple of months, workers overseen by.NORC will code the disputed "undervote" and "overvote" ballots in Florida's 67 counties in the presi- dential and Senate races - about 180,000 ballots in all. An undervote is a ballot on which the counting machine did not detect a mark. An. overvote is one which the machine detected two or more marks.4W In Miami-Dade. the coders will examine about 10,500 undervotes and about 19,000 overvotes. CHICAGO New campaign aims to cut AIDS epidemic A government campaign intended to "break the back" of the AIDS epidemic will try to cut the number of new infections in half by 2005, largely by identify- ing Americans who carry 1IV' but do not know it. The effort, announced yesterday by the Centers for Disease and Preventior based on the idea that most AIDS infections are spread by outwardly healthy people who do not realize they have IIV. The agency believes that if these people knew they were infected, they would be more careful to protect others, and they would also take AIDS drugs that would probably make them less likely to transmit the virus. The CDC already spends about S600 million a year on AIDS prevention, mostly to try to keep uninfected people from catching the virus. "We have been dealing with half of the equation." said the CDC's Dr. Robert Janssen. "Now it's time to look at all of it." Officials said the campaign would cost an additional $300 million annual- WAS] IINGTON (AP) -- Twenty-six more deaths from traffic accidents involving Firestone tires have been reported to federal investigators, whose inquiry now is expected to last until at least summer. The National Hihway Traffic Safety Administration has collected reports of 174 fatalities and more than 700 injuries among more than 6,000 complaints cit- ing tread separations, blowouts and other problems with certain Firestone tires. That's up fi'om 148 deaths and more than 525 injuries when NIITSA last updated its figures three months ago. The agency is examining whether Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.'s August recall of 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires is suf'ficient or needs to be expanded to include other models that may have problems. The tire maker maintains that its recall cov- ers all defective tires. None of the deaths reported in the lat- est update occurred since the recall. An Associated Press analysis of NIITSA's complaint data found at least 11 of the deaths involved Firestone tires i Adults between the ages of 22 and 39 (non-undergraduates, please) needed for a study on self-monitoring of blood sugar. You will be paid $100 total for 3-weeks of daily blood sugar self- monitoring and two brief lab visits. Lab visits take place at the institute for Social Research (one block from the Michigan Union) on the University of Michigan campus. Email glucosestudy@umich.edu for more information. A look at the underside of U of M www.universitysecrets.con WHERE SPRING BREAk BEGINS; p fn t o pr rolg , $taj at th Ramada Inn F4sor1 Marina1 AnSnd More Mone On FUN! not included in the recall. Former NIITSA Administrator Sue Bailey, a Clinton appointee who left the post last month when President B3ush took office, made the investiga- tion her top priority and had said she hoped it would be completed during her tenure. But a NIITSA official who did not want to be identified said yesterday that her prediction was "overly optimistic" and that the investigation would proba- bly take as long as an average inquiry. wrapping up sometime in the next six to 12 months. "We expect it will be at least the sum- mer before it is wrapped up, if not longer," the official said. "It's a very complex investigation and we want to be very thorough." Bridgestone/Firestone and a universi- ty professor hired by the tire company to examine what caused some tires to fail reached similar conclusions. They say it is a combination of faulty design, manu- facturing processes at the company's Decatur, Ill.. plant and outside factors such as hot weather and overweight vehicles. Stamp " pnces may ris " again WASHINGTON (AP) Just a month after higher stamp prices took ef'fect the U.S. Postal Service. facing massive losses, is considering another rate boost that could result in highcr prices early next year. The post office is reportedly facing losses of tip to S2 billion this year despite the price increase that took effect Jan. 7, which included raising a first-class stamp a penny to 34 cents. While approving that increase, the independent Postal Rate Commission rejected or scaled back several other requested price hikes, cutting expected income by some SI billion. Mail vol- ume has dropped because of the poor economy, further reducing anticipated income. The postal board of governors ordered the agency's management yes- terday "to begin preparing a rate case as soon as possible to ensure the con- tinued financial viability of the Postal Service." board Chairman Robert F. Rider said after a board meetin in San Antonio. Texas. Rider's statement said the governors "unanimously voiced disappointment" at the commission action and noted the board asked the independent commis- sion to reconsider. The postal governors can overrule the commission and institute higher rates on their own, but only if they vote unanimously to do so. Senior offi- cials could not be reached for com- ment on whether the governors may try to overrule the commission. In addition to preparing to file a request for another rate increase, Rider said the board had ordered manage- ment to review all programs and pro- jects, curtail or eliminate all nonessential activities and evaluate the Postal Service's long-term ratemaking needs. I e said the agency will cut capital spending this fiscal year from S3.6 bil- lion to S2.6 billion. The complex process of increasing postal rates can take nearly a year and postal officials have long criticized delays that prevent them from responding quickly to market pres- sures and competitors' price changes. Given the increasing competition f'rom electronic communications, the ability to change postal prices quickly has become vital, agency officials say. and they hope Congress will change ly. Tile CDC already has S 100 rmillion + rest. VRANJE, Yugoslavia Yugoslavia responds to Albanian attack Yugoslavia's government adopted what it described as a peace plan for the troubled southern part of' the coun- try, offering a place in local govern- ments to moderate ethnic Albanians in hopes of'deflating tensions. The move came hours after ethnic Albanian militants launched an attack against Yugoslav positions in the trou- bled region yesterday. The plans architects see it as a pow~er-sharing deal. to appease ethnic Albanians living in the tense boundary area between the province of Kosovo and the rest of' Serbia. Yugoslavia's larger republic. Militant groups seek- ing independence have been fighting Yugoslav authorities in the area. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostu- nica presided at the government ses- sion which discussed the situation in the three-mile boundary zone near Kosovo. Analysts: Recession pen'ng in Japan Barely a week after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori boasted to finan- cial elites in Davos, Switzerland, that his nation was ready to reclaim its place "on the leading edge of' the world econ- omy," analysts and investors are warning that Japan appears to be sliding into its second recession in 18 months and may be teetering on the brink of another bankinu crisis. W of this and hopes to get funding for the Mori spoke confidently of revival at the mountain conclave, conparing Japan to a climber who is "80percent up" the path to the summit and "at the stage of a final push." But a flurry of disappointing data released since Mori's return to Tokyo suggest an alternative alpine metaphor: downhill racer. The Japanese government reported last week te industrial output - regarded by many analysts as a key indicator of future growth -- ground to a near-standstill in the final three months of'2000. NEW YORK Gore teaches first class at Columbia Former Vice President Al Gore taught his first class at one of nation's premier journalism schools yesterday - but only off the record. With security officers keeping news media at bay, Gore delivered his first lecture at Columbia Uni- versity's Graduate School of Jour- nalisnm in a class titled "Covering National Affairs in the InFormation Age." "As I understand it, the nor{ policy is that the classes are usua y off the record," Gore said later. "I would have had the option to do it on the record, but I think the stu- dents will get more out of it, if it's as much as possible a normal class- room experience." University spokeswoman Suzanne Trimel called the class a learning experience for students. "not a news event." Conpiled fro ntDailt' wire repor . [RESERVE NOW: 1,888,445-5080 1 4'-' The M'ch'gan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Frday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term. starting in September, via U.S. mail are $100. Winter term (January through April) is $105. yearlong (September through April) is $180. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated CoilegiatE Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 734): News 76-DAILY; Arts 763-0379: Sports 647-3336: Opinion 764-055 Circulation 764-0558: Classified advertising 764-0557: Display advertising 764-0554: Billing 764-0550. E-mail letters to the editor to dc!