You don't dump on them - The feds have been shipping nuclear waste to Idaho storage sites since the `50s. But state officials now have a firm agreement with Uncle Sam. Shipments must stop in 2035.
Getting saucy - Robert Underwood, Guam's nonvoting delegate to Congress, noted that salsa has overtaken ketchup as the leading U.S. condiment. He said that if people want to come here, "they should be prepared to use our condiments," and proposed a "ketchup-only" bill that would mandate its use in government food services. He declared that his proposal makes as much sense as "English- only" legislation.
They know something? - Back in 1992, Time magazine reported that three insurance outfits owned by tobacco companies charge smokers nearly double for life insurance.
Taking care of business - Forced by a lawsuit, the Clinton administration released a video showing crash-test dummies catapulted out the rear door of Chrysler minivans with deficient door latches. Instead of a recall, the feds agreed, Chrysler will notify owners they can come in for replacement latches, meanwhile, assuring them the vehicle is "among the safest of minivans." A government official said it was "a common sense, smart government solution."
Poor little lamb - With thousands of tapes obtained by court order, Procter & Gamble is pressing its fraud suit against Bankers Trust, charging the bank swindled it and other companies into investing in dicey derivatives which brought big profits for the bank and stiff loses for the companies. P & G sees in Bankers Trust, "a culture of greed and duplicity."
The values system - Samples from the Bankers Trust tapes: "I've buried my clients so much that it's going to take me four years to trade them out of it." "Funny business, you know? Lure people into that calm and then just totally f--- 'em."
Astonishing - A Gallup marketing survey in Latin America came up with a remarkable finding: Rich people have more in common with their counterparts in other countries than with many of their neighbors. Reuters reports Gallup discovered that "a typical banker in Mexico City is quite similar to his counterpart in Buenos Aires."
Oh - Merry-Go-Round, the clothing chain, went bankrupt, shut 460 stores and fired 4,000 employees. So far, accounting and law firms and other experts hired to "rescue" the company have pocketed fees totaling nearly $11.5 million. How is that possible? A company staffer explains: "Being bankrupt doesn't mean you don't have any money. It means you don't have enough money."
`I'll have the grilled vulture' - The accounting firm Price Waterhouse pocketed 1.5 million from Merry-Go-Round, including $5,000 for two dinners - four Waterhouse execs one night, five the next. Restaurant tabs were several hundred. The balance? At dinner, they talked about Merry-Go- Round. So, nach, they charged for their time, at rates ranging up to $390 an hour.