Wealthiest 2
percent hold
more than GNP
WASHINGTON - Nearly 28.5
percent of America’s personal wealth
is in the hands of 3.3 million persons
whose holdings exceed the entire gross
national product, the Internal Reve
nue Service reports.
The IRS says the richest 1.6 per
cent of U.S. adults — those with assets
of $500,000 or more -- had total hold
ings of $4.3 trillion and a combined
net worth of $3.8 trillion in 1986, the
latest year for which figures arc avail
able.
By comparison, the value of all
goods and services produced in the
United States in 1986 - the GNP -
was $4.1 trillion.
Four years earlier, 23 percent of
personal wealth in the United States
was held by 2.2 million people with a
net worth of $2.1 trillion.
The IRS report suggests the United
States has well over 1 million mil
lionaires. In 1986, the IRS estimated,
there were 941,000 adults with a net
worth of $1 million or more, almost
twice the 475,000 reported in 1982
and five times the 180,000 in 1976.
The number has surely climbed since
then.
The report, based on estate-tax
returns, tracks other recent findings
that the number of wealthy people
and their share of the pic grew sharply
over the past decade. Those studies
attributed the increase to an economy
that grew for seven straight years and
to major changes in tax law.
The IRS study estimates the 3.3
million wealthiest Americans had an
average net worth in 1986 of SI. 13
million. The portion of women among
the super-rich continued to grow; they
accounted for nearly 43 percent of
total assets and on the average owed
less and had a greater net worth than
men.
Past studies found the wealthy
putting the biggest portion of their
money into real estate, but now the
No. 1 investment choice is corporate
stock.
“Considering the relative perform
ance of the real estate and stock markets
between 1982 and 1986, this reversal
was not unexpected,” wrote IRS
analysts Marvin Schwartz and Barry
Johnson.
More than one-quarter of the rich
est adults were in California (558,000)
and New York (340,000). Texas,
battered by declining oil prices,
dropped from second to third place
with 250,000; Florida had 238,000;
Illinois, 148,500.
On a per capita basis, the IRS said,
Connecticut had the largest concen
tration of wealthy people, at 327 per
10,000 adults. California had 299 per
10,000. The national average was 198
per 10,000.
Average net worth of the nch ranged
from $473,510 in North Dakota to
SI.25 million in Oregon.
Nebraskan
Editor Eric Planner
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Managing Editor Victoria Ayotte
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Chairman Bill Vobejda
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1990 DAILY NEBRASKAN
E. German lawmakers set unification date
EAST BERLIN - East German
lawmakers ended their anguished
and much-ridiculed battle over the
date of unification and early today
voted to mcige the foundering nation
with West Germany on Oct. 3.
Parliament burst into applause
when the vote was announced.
After an 11-hour Parliament
session that lasted until today’s
predawn hours, lawmakers voted
294 to 62 to make Oct. 3 the date
the nation becomes part of a single
Germany. Seven lawmakers ab
stained.
The date was a compromise
between the major factions in Par
liament after a weeks of battling
that tore apart the broad coalition
government of Prime Minister
Lothar de Maiziere.
Earlier, lawmakers rejected a
proposal by the small German Social
Union party to unify immediately.
Parliament also passed a treaty
that will allow all-German elec
tions on Dec. 2. The West German
Parliament is to vote on the same
treaty today. Easy passage is ex
pected.
Dc Maiziere urged lawmakers
to accept Oct. 3 as the historic day
of German unity and end the seem
ingly pointless squabbling over
whether unity should take place in
August, September or October.
“Many people have gotten the
impression discussions over a date
are more important to us than the
solution of crucial problems,” he
told Parliament.
The lawmakers met in special
session to try to resolve differences
over the date of unity.
The Social Democrats have
insisted it occur Sept. 15. As East
Germany’s second-largest party,
their approval is needed to pass a
unification proposal.
Dc Maizierc’s Christian Demo
crats on Wednesday as a compro
mise proposed Oct. 3 as the merger
date.
West German Chancellor Helmut
Kohl’s conservative government
said earlier in the day that unity
could occur on East Germany’s
Oct. 7 birthday or one day earlier.
Kohl and dc Maizierc, his East
German ally, previously backed
merging the two countries on Oct.
14, but the Social Democrats balked.
The Social Democrats want unity
quickly so West Germany can more
quickly assume direct responsibil
ity for East Germany’s failing
economy.
The Social Democrats also want
early unification so that Kohl will
be forced to admit the staggering
costs of bailing out East Germany.
This could cost the Christian
Democrats at the polls in Decem
ber.
West Germany says it is crucial
that unity not occur before the Oct.
1-2 meeting in New York City of
foreign ministers from the 35-na
tion Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.
NASA regains radio contact with troublesome Venus probe
PASADENA, Calif. - Trouble
plagued NASA restored intermittent
radio contact with Magellan on
Wednesday after losing touch with
the malfunctioning spacecraft for the
second time since it started orbiting
Venus.
A brief “blip” of a radio signal
was received by NASA’s Deep Space
Network tracking station in Goidstonc,
Calif., at 12:30 p.m., about 17 1/2
hours after contact was lost Tuesday
night, said Bob MacMillin, spokes
man at the space agency’s Jet Propul
sion Laboratory.
The signal indicated the spaceship
finally had accepted repeated com
puter commands to start spinning and
send radio signals info space so that
some of those signals reached Earth,
he added.
At about 2 p.m., NASA again locked
onto Magellan’s signal temporarily,
MacMillin said.
Engineers expected to receive more
intermittent signals before giving
Magellan orders to stop spinning and
keep an antenna aimed at Earth. Those
orders were designed to restore steady
radio communications.
Before the initial blip was received,
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration officials expressed
optimism they would overcome the
problem.
“I wouldn’t say people arc thrilled,
but nobody’s panicking. We’re very
optimistic we’ll be able to regain
contact with the spacecraft, figure out
what’s wrong and continue the mis
*
sion,’’ said Ellen Stofan, assistant to
Magellan’s chief scientist.
MacMillin said the radio signal
that restored intermittent contact was
very brief because the spinning space
craft’s radio signal was just finishing
a sweep past Earth as Magellan
emerged from behind Venus. The next
signal lasted about 20 minutes be
cause the spacecraft was not behind
Venusand its radio beam could sweep
across the face of the Earth.
Potential loss of the $413 million
spaceship, the centerpiece of a $744
million mission, threatened NASA
with another severe setback.
The agency temporarily grounded
its shuttle fleet this summer due to
hydrogen fuel leaks, and also discov
ered the $1.5 billion Hubble Space
Telescope’s performance was badly
impaired by a flawed mirror.
Planetary scientist Steve Wall said
Magellan’s radio signal fluttered in
and out of contact before fading away
Tuesday night, indicating an unknown
problem made the spacecraft turn so
the antenna it was using at the time no
longer pointed at Earth.
“We do not believe anything like
a massive failure occurred,” he said.
Engineers spent Wednesday send
ing increasingly specific computer
commands to Magellan to make it
start spinning slowly while beaming
radio signals across space. That ac
tivity, in which Magellan’s radio beam
acts much like a ray of light from a
lighthouse, was the first step toward
--EfSfl
restoring steady two-way communi
cation, engineer David Okerson said.
The spacecraft didn’t respond to
early sets of commands, prompting
MacMillin to declare: “Bad news.
Nothing. Not a peep out of it.”
But Wall had correctly predicted
“awfully good” chances Magellan
eventually would receive the radioed
commands because its receiving an
tenna can detect signals from any part
of the sky except directly behind the
spaceship. Magellan also changes
position as it orbits Venus “meaning
the signals from Earth should reach
the spacecraft,” MacMillin said.
Venus and Magellan were almost
149 million miles from Earth on
Wednesday, Wall said. Venus is
Earth's nearest neighbor, and is the
second planet from the sun.
Magellan was designed to use radar
to peer through Venus’ thick clouds
to make the most detailed pictures
and maps yet of the rugged land
scape, where temperatures reach 900
degrees Fahrenheit due to an oul-of
control “greenhouse effect.”
Bush
Continued from Page 2
insula.”
Cheney and Powell had been ex
pected to report to him that the United
States was approaching a target of
100,000 military personnel in the
region, said one source, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
Presidential press secretary Mar
lin Fitzwater said in a statement that
“the actual number of reserve per
sonnel to be called to active duty will
depend upon the operational needs of
the armed forces” in the gulf area.
While not saying which reserve
skills Bush wanted to lap, Fitzwater
noted that the reserves arc an integral
part of military airlift, food and water
handling, surface transportation, cargo
handling, medical services, construc
tion and intelligence.
A Pentagon statement said some
reserves called to active duty would
be shipped to Saudi Arabia while
others would remain on U.S. shores
replacing troops already dispatched
to the Midcast.
“These reservists will support
Operation Desert Shield by joining
active duty units deployed in and
around the Arabian Peninsula or by
filling critical military support va
cancies in the United States or else
where,” the statement said.
An administration official said the
Pentagon expected to call up 40,000
reservists “between now and the end
of August.”
Short of declaring a national emer
gency, the president can mobilize up
to 200,000of the nation’s 1.2 million
reservists for as long as 180 days. It is
up to the Pentagon to determine how
the total is divided among services.
“At this time we do not anticipate
approaching the full 2(X),(XK) author
ity provided by law,” Fitzwatcr said.
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