Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, January 23, 1998
House bill would exempt small firms from mandate
Smaller companies would no longer have to provide prepaid medical insurance for their full-time employees under a bill introduced in the state House by Finance Committee Chairman Calvin Say.The measure, which also bears the signature of House Speaker Joe Souki, D-Wailuku, is meant to help struggling businesses survive and encourage them to hire and keep full-time workers, Say said yesterday.
There appears to be a growing trend among small businesses to hire part-time workers for less than 20 hours a week to keep under the threshold for mandatory health insurance coverage, said Say, D-Palolo Valley.
It forces people to hold down two jobs and also leads more people to go onto the state-supported Med-QUEST prepaid health plan, he said.
The bill will give companies a chance to become profitable and give them flexibility in determining what benefits they can afford, Say said.
He said the bill was his idea and wasn't proposed by the small business community.
State Sen. Sam Slom, R-Aina Haina, who also heads Small Business Hawaii, applauded the proposal, but said he'd like to see Hawaii do away with mandatory employer-paid health plans altogether.
Most employers would provide health coverage as a means of attracting the best employees who otherwise will go to another company with such a plan, Slom said.
The House bill that applies to businesses employing 10 or fewer full-time employees has been referred to the House Labor Committee for a hearing which has yet to be scheduled.
House Health Committee Chairman Alexander Santiago, D-Schofield Barracks, said he agrees there is a problem with some companies going to part-timers to avoid the mandatory health plans.
However, exempting small companies from the requirement will leave even more people without health insurance, he said.
Super Bowl ads costs $43,333 per second
NEW YORK - Advertisers paid an average $43,333 per second for commercial time during this Sunday's Super Bowl telecast on NBC.Ads went for an average price of $1.3 million for a half-minute commercial, beating the old record of $1.2 million set on the 1997 Super Bowl. Denver plays defending champ Green Bay for the National Football League crown this year.
NBC sold 29 minutes of commercials in the game to more than 30 advertisers. Additional ads were sold at lower prices for the lengthy pre-game and post-game shows. Cruise line operator Royal Caribbean International paid $5 million to be the sole sponsor of the halftime show.
NBC expects 130 million people will watch at least part of the game. The advertisers include: Anheuser-Busch Inc., AT&T Corp., Coca-Cola Co., and Intel Corp.
Chrysler's profits rose 6 percent in quarter
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Chrysler Corp. today said its profit rose 6 percent in the final three months of 1997, helping it post its third most profitable year ever.The third biggest U.S. automaker earned $852 million, or $1.28 a share on a fully diluted basis, for the October-December period, up from $807 million, or $1.12 a share, a year earlier.
The results appeared to beat Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by First Call had expected Chrysler to earn about $1.11 a share for the period.
Revenue for the quarter rose to $17.5 billion from $16.2 billion a year ago.
For all of 1997, Chrysler earned $2.8 billion, or $4.09 a share, down from $3.5 billion, or $4.74 a share, in 1996. But it was the automaker's third biggest annual profit ever. Its best year was in 1994 when it earned $3.7 billion.
S.Koreans contribute $1 billion in gold
SEOUL - South Koreans have contributed at least 100 tons of gold - $1 billion worth - to a campaign aimed at obtaining the foreign currency needed to bolster their economy, the organizers said today.Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have been selling or donating gold rings, bracelets and other trinkets since the gold drive began in early January. The organizers estimate South Koreans privately hold 2,000 tons of gold worth $20 billion. That's about one-third the money South Korea owes the International Monetary Fund for bailing out its economy.
About half of the collected gold has been melted down and exported, providing dollar-starved South Korea with at least $500 million. Sellers are to be paid in the South Korean won within a month after the gold is sold abroad.
Dollar sinks vs. yen as Asian markets rise
TOKYO - The dollar fell to a two-month low against the yen today as Japanese stocks rallied for the seventh time in eight days on hopes the government will take more measures to lift the economy out of a six-year slump.Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged 2.34 percent after a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party yesterday said the government will unveil plans to boost the economy on Feb. 20, earlier than expected.
"The authorities in Japan are moving to a fiscal boost sooner than the market anticipated," said Nick Stamenkovic, an economist at DKB International. "The risk is that the market expects too much and will be disappointed, then the yen will drop."
The dollar fell as low as 125.53 yen, its lowest since reaching 124.90 on Nov. 21, and was at 125.85 in late trading.
The Nikkei 225 average climbed 383.42 points to close at 16,789.11. In other Asian markets, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index rose 36.47 points to close at 8,920.20. The index plunged 363.07 points yesterday.
Korean stocks also edged up after a tug of war between selling by institutional players and buying by foreign and individual investors. The leading composite index rose 2.87 points to 486.86 at the end of the day. The won finished higher too.