Not quite organic--We reported on the century-old tenement building on New York’s Lower East Side, which has been doing nicely as a tenement museum. In fact it’s been doing so well that the owner is trying to expand the museum by taking over the twin building next door. There, 15 apartments are each yielding $1,600 a month in rent. (Astounding? Not in New York.) Understandably, the owners don’t want to sell. The museum owner is working to get the building declared in the public domain so she can gobble it up, evict the residents, and double the museum capacity.

Oops--The Enron mega-swindlers tried to look a bit embarrassed when they ‘fessed up that their claimed assets may have been overstated by up to $24 billion. So, while the "assets" figure is a crock, one figure remains hard--5,600 Enron employees have been booted out.

...meanwhile--"...critics say the first of the post-Enron pension measures to reach the House floor actually opens up fresh loopholes. Some of the bill’s provisions would lead companies to seek to reduce the number of employees covered by pensions and give proportionately larger pension benefits to the most highly paid executives."--New York Times, April 10.

Didn’t start with ‘experts’?-- "The Nebraska Public Power District approved nearly $4 million to improve its Cooper Nuclear Station, which is rated one of the two lowest in the USA. The money will be used to hire experts to remedy what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says are repeated problems with emergency preparedness."--News item.

Let ‘em learn to swim--"Davenport, Iowa--A study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Davenport’s water treatment plant is the only feasible candidate for permanent flood protection. Protecting the rest of downtown isn’t worth the cost, according to a draft report."--News item.

Greed unlimited--"In 1989 companies contributed 70 percent of new money going into retirement programs, according to the U.S. Labor Dept. By 1998 that percentage had slipped to 50 percent. In 1999 or 2000 the contribution of workers to retirement plans...surpassed company payments."--Omaha World-Herald.

Shrewd guess--The number of people in Iowa receiving food stamps increased 12.1 percent last year. Officials blamed it on a "weak economy."

Thought for the week--"The war on terrorism is the full employment act for these guys."--D.B. Des Roches, Pentagon agent for the mercenary force being assembled to take over training the U.S. selected Afghan forces-to-be.  
 
 
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