Friday, December 7, 1990
The Battalion
Page 7
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - President Bush
said Wednesday “I am not optimistic” that Saddam
Hussein will withdraw without a fight from Kuwait and
vowed that Iraq will not be offered any concessions to
end the crisis peacefully.
“I have no feeling whatsoever that Saddam Hussein
is willing to do now that which he should have done five
months ago, four months ago,” Bush said.
Bush’s tough approach was echoed by Argentine
President Carlos Menem of Argentina.
“We whole heaijtedly condemn what Iraq has done,
to invade and occupy a territory which does not belong
to it,” Menem said at a joint news conference with Bush.
“The only way is for Iraq to withdraw without any pre
conditions.”
Bush met with Menem at Casa Rosada, the presi
dent’s palace, within eyesight of the army headquarters
seized by rebels in a short-lived military uprising Mon
day.
Bush congratulated Menem for ending the rebellion
quickly. “The Argentine people proved again this week
that they will not permit any group to return Argentina
to the days of violence and dictatorship in a superb
show of strength and commitment,” Bush said.
The president got a red-carpet welcome. A proc
ession of presidential grenadiers on horseback led
Bush’s motorcade to the Hall of Congress for an ad
dress to lawmakers.
“Let those who would attack constitutional democ
racy understand: in Latin America the day of the dicta-
“I'm not optimistic. I see no
evidence that Saddam Hussein is
ready to comply fully... to the U.N.
resolutions.”
— President Bush
tor is over,” Bush declared to the Congress.
He also praised Menem for his tough free-market re
forms to cure Argentina’s inflation, estimated at up
wards of2,000 percent in 1990.
“We know of the painful, short-term sacrifices you
are being called upon to make, in what your own presi
dent has called ‘surgery without anesthesia,”’ Bush said.
“For this tremendous undertaking to succeed, it will not
take miracles, it will take work.”
Bush was Menem’s guest at an evening rodeo and a
state dinner. In his prepared toast, the president
lauded Menem, saying “You have helped re-establish
Argentina’s democratic tradition and I salute your bold
reform of the economy.”
Bush also expressed appreciation for Menem’s sup
port in the Persian Gulf. “Together, we will do what is
right and good,” the president said.
“I’m not optimistic,” Bush said. “I see no evidence
that Saddam Hussein is ready to comply fully without
condition to the U.N. resolutions.”
Leader of Texas economy
University of North Texas economist predicts
Houston most vibrant during recessionary pinch
DENTON (AP) — Houston will
have the state’s most vibrant econ
omy next year as Texas feels a reces
sionary pinch, University of North
Texas economists said Thursday.
“Houston has been leading the
state out of the wilderness just as
Houston led the state into the depths
of depression,” said Bernard
Weinstein of the Center for Eco
nomic Development and Research at
the university.
About one-third of all new em-
tent in the state next year will
in Houston, Weinstein and his
colleague, Harold Gross, predict in a
new study.
Job growth in Texas will decline
from about 1.5 percent this’year to 1
percent in 1991. The state’s four
largest metropolitan areas will all
have fewer new jobs next year, the
economists said.
Houston jobs will continue grow
ing the most, at about 1.5 percent
compared to 3 pefc^nt this year,
they predicted.
New jobs in Dallas-Fort Worth
and Austin will occur at a rate of .5
percent. Dallas-Fort Worth jobs
grew at a 2 percent rate this year and
Austin jobs grew at 1.25 percent.
San Antonio, which had a .5 per
cent rate this year, will show virtually
no job growth in 1991, the econo
mists said.
The job picture for Houston is
“amazing” because of the slump it
went through in the mid-1980s,
Weinstein said.
Houston lost 212,000 jobs be
tween 1982 and 1986, but has recov
ered 170,000 since then. “It’s a dra
matic recovery and says a lot about
the vitality of the area,” he said.
Houston’s economy has benefited
the most of any in Texas from
higher oil prices driven by the Per
sian Gulf crisis, Weinstein said. It
will still prosper when the prices fall
after the Middle East tensions ease,
he said.
Weinstein and Gross predict oil
prices will settle at between $22 and
$25 per barrel when the Persian
Gulf crisis is resolved. “That’s going
to be good for Texas and help insu
late us from vicissitudes of the na
tional recession,” Weinstein said.
A hint occurred Thursday of the
likely decline in oil prices that reso
lution of the crisis would bring. West
Texas Intermediate fell 90 cents to
$26.40 a barrel after Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein said foreigners
held hostage in Iraq and occupied
Kuwait could go home.
Energy extraction Was flat in
Texas during October and Novem
ber, the Federal Reserve Bank re-
E orted earlier this week. Producers
aven’t increased drilling because of
fears they’d lose money if prices fell.
The gulf crisis has harmed the
two key components of San Anto
nio’s economy, the military and tou
rism, Weinstein said.
The city has lost the spending
power of locally-based military per
sonnel cleployed in the Middle East
and tourists who are staying closer to
home because of gasoline costs.
The city’s economy will still fare
better than many places, though, the
economists said.
Perry plans
to attract
new industry
LUBBOCK (AP) — Agricul
ture Commissioner-elect Rick
Perry said Wednesday that at
tracting processing plants to the
Texas for such goods as leather,
cashmere and mohair may help
spur a slowing economy.
Perry, who is replacing Agri
culture Commissioner Jim High
tower, said bringing processing
plants to Texas will be one of the
highest priorities on his agenda.
He takes office next month.
‘T think we can buffer any re
cession woes in the agricultural
industry very quickly with proc
essing,” Perry said during a brief
press conference.
“Obviously, you can’t build a
processing plant overnight. But
processing will be one of the ma
jor things the Texas Department
of Agriculture will be focusing on
in the next four years.”
Perry said he already has re
ceived support from Gov.-elect
Ann Richards about pursuing the
plants.
“Ann Richards; is a great pro
ponent of value-added proc
essing and talked about it in her
economic development plan,”
Perry said. “Ann and I are going
to work very closely together. I
am excited about the possibility of
taking her processing ideas and
putting them to work.”
Perry said West Texas is an
ideal location to tan leather.
“Obviously a leather-tanning
plant would be right out here (in
West Texas),” he said. “Texas
Tech is the premier institute in
the country on it, and I would ex
pect a major tanning plant within
a 100-mile radius of Lubbock.”
Perry said he has gotten off to
a quick start in his new job after
vistting with President Bush, Vice
President Dan Quayle and U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Clayton
Yeutter in Washington last week.
Perry said he recommended to
Bush that federal laws restricting
U.S. trade with the Soviet Union
due to oppressive Jewish immi
gration laws in Russia be relaxed.
Perry said the laws should be
handled with sensitivity out of re
spect to the Jewish community
worldwide. But he added that re
laxing the laws would open the
U S. export market, especially for
Texas farmers of wheat, feed
grain and soybeans.
“We were well received by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture,”
Perry said.
S&L owner
agrees to pay
$1.9 million
AUSTIN (AP) — One of the
largest civil lawsuits from the
Texas savings and loan crash was
concluded with former Lamar
Savings Association owner Stan
ley Adams and his wife agreeing
to pay the government $ 1.9 mil
lion.
The Federal DepositTnsurance
Corp. claimed Adams, his wife,
Christie, and former Lamar offi
cials breached their fiduciary
duty and committed negligence
in a series of transactions that
helped cause Lamar’s financial
collapse.
The lawsuit was filed 33
months ago and sought $92 mil
lion in damages.
As part of Tuesday’s set
tlement, a judgment of neg
ligence was entered against Ad
ams and his wife. Two other
defendants, ex-Lamar executives
Reuben Coleman and Mike
Perry, were released from the
case without a financial payment
or judgment against them. Terms
of the settlement with former La
mar director Jack Ritter were not
disclosed.
Also, the government agreed
to drop civil claims against Adams
and his parents in connection
with the failure of City Savings of
San Angelo, which Adams also
owned.
FDIC lawyer Steven DeWolf
said settlements from defendants
in the case have totaled more
than $10 million.
The largest single settlement
was made Nov. 21, when Lamar
Financial Corp., the holding com
pany that owned Lamar Savings,
and a trust established for
Christie Adams, agreed to pay
the government $4.4 million.
DeWolf said he was disap
pointed the case didn’t go to trial.
But he said the settlement was the
most efficient way for the FDIC
to recover some of the massive
expense resulting from Lamar’s
collapse.
Lamar Savings, once the larg
est Austin-based financial institu
tion, was closed by federal regula
tors in 1988.
Workers’ compensation under fire
Lawsuit questions new bill
AUSTIN (AP) — A labor lawsuit challenging the new
state workers’ compensation law was blasted Wednes
day as “a slap in the face to our system of government”
by the president of the Texas Association of Business.
“Union leaders and trial lawyers are using this law
suit in a last-ditch attempt to overturn something that
was decided by the duly elected representatives of the
people of Texas a year ago,” Dane Harris said.
He attributed the lawsuit to “professional greed.” A
TAB release said the workers’ compensation measure
will cut excessive attorney fees in lawsuits and lower
business costs.
Tommy Townsend of the Texas Trial Lawyers Asso
ciation said, “I don’t want to get into that kind of rhe
toric on that issue.”
The lawsuit asking that the law be declared unconsti
tutional was filed by the Texas AFL-CIO in Maverick
County. Union President Joe Gunn agreed the court
system is a last resort.
“My responsibility is to do everything I can to get the
workers fair and honest treatment,” he said.
The lawsuit asks that current rules stay in effect until
the legal issues are settled. The new law is to take effect
Jan. 1.
A hearing on a temporary court order is set for
Thursday in Eagle Pass.
The lawsuit says the new workers’ compensation law
will lower disability benefits to most injured workers,
restrict employee access to court and discriminate
against Hispanics because it reduces benefits for agri
cultural workers.
The law was passed last year, after two special ses
sions in which business interests lined up against labor
and trial lawyers, who represent injured workers.
Harris said the lawsuit is irresponsible, jeopardizes
the state’s economic future and would deny workers im
proved benefits and job opportunities.
Gunn responded, “I’m so proud to have Dane Harris
looking out for workers. That’s like giving the fox the
henhouse.”
Harris questioned why the lawsuit was filed in Eagle
Pass, rather than in Austin, where the Workers’ Com-
E ensation Commission is located. A co-plaintiff in the
iwsuit is from Maverick County.
And Harris said O.B. Kenemore, who serves on the
AFL-CIO executive board and on the Workers’ Com
pensation Commission, should resign one position. The
commission is a defendant in the lawsuit.
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