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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1997)
Deng’s economic legacy: ‘Made in China’ prevails WASHINGTON (AP) — Deng Xiaoping, the ardent communist, un leashed free-market forces that will soon push China past the United States as the world’s largest economy. That transformation — Deng’s biggest legacy — is already felt in a multitude of ways by American con sumers and factory workers. Sixty percent of all the shoes sold in America are made in China. More than half the toys bear a “Made in China” label. And it’s not just shoes and toys. It’s shirts, dresses, jeans and sweat ers. It’s household appliances, tele phones, answering machines, comput ers and office fax machines. In all, America imported $51.5 billion worth of products from China last year—a 13 percent increase from 1995 and up from near zero 20 years ago before Deng started China trad ing with the West. Now America is China’s biggest . foreign market. The economic revo lution that Deng set in motion in 1978 has showered Americans with pock etbook benefits in the form of cheaper consumer goods — and has provided Chinese workers with a rising stan dard of living. “Deng pulled off the biggest eco nomic transformation of this century. He turned China from a basket case to a world economic power,” said Greg Mastel, trade specialist at the Eco nomic Strategy Institute. Mastel is author of an upcoming book that predicts China’s economy, by one measurement, will overtake the United States to become the largest in the world by 2009. Deng’s economic legacy, however, has also meant a soaring U.S. trade deficit that has cost thousands of American factory jobs, lost to lower wage Chinese workers. The Chinese have followed the Japanese model, pushing growth through exports while protecting their domestic industries. American corporations, eager to crack a market of 1.2 billion people, have repeatedly been thwarted. President Clinton has argued that America needs to “compete not re a He turned China from a basket case to a world economic power” Greg Mastel trade specialist treat” in the new global economy. His administration has sought to keep U.S. consumers happy by lowering domes tic trade barriers while pursuing trade deals to tear down barriers to Ameri can exports. But the 1996 figures show that so far that effort has failed miserably with regard to China. For 1996, America managed to export just $11.9 billion in manufac tured goods and farm products to China, a tiny 1.9-percent increase compared with the 13-percent surge in Chinese products coming into America. That pushed the U.S.-China trade deficit to $39.S billion last year, the biggest deficit America has ever suf fered with any country other than Ja pan. Using a Commerce Department bench mark, the deficit would trans late into more than a half million lost jobs — workers whose plants closed because they could not compete with China’s lower wages. America’s trade deficit with China has risen every year for the past de cade and is expected soon to surpass the deficit with Japan, America’s pe rennial trade headache — probably this year. The Clinton administration has stepped up pressure on China to lower its numerous trade barriers and buy more American goods. Until it does so, Clinton officials have promised to continue blocking China’s membership in the World Trade Organization. Microsoft packs pressure into 30-minute interviews ByKaseyKerber Staff Reporter Two days, 25 UNL applicants and a chance to work at Microsoft. And if it seems like pressure, it is. Destry Hood, test manager for Microsoft Internet Studio, said each applicant is interviewed within half an hour. During this time, applicants offer information on their background ex perience and also have to solve a few coding problems. “People want to do well,” Hood said. “They’re nervous because they know that there are going to be tech nical problems.” A solution, Hood said, would be one-hour interviews. Yet with the number of applicants i this year, such an interview length would not be possible. Hood, a former UNL graduate, said this year had more applicants than the past few years he has visited UNL. “We’re not really sure why ex actly,” Hood said. “But we’re glad to see it.” Last year Microsoft hired five UNL applicants—two as full-time employ ees, and three as interns. Hood said probably no more than four or five applicants would be con sidered for Microsoft positions within development, program management and testing. The requirements for such appli cants include a knowledge of coding and good problem-solving skills. “We want them to succeed,” Hood said. “With all that goes on (in inter viewing) it might not seem that way, but we do want them to succeed:” Williams ordered to serve jail time • From Staff Reports Tyrone Williams has been ordered to begin serving a six-month jail term by the judge who sentenced him four months ago. Williams, the former Husker who is now a comerback with the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, was denied an appeal of the sentence by the Nebraska Court of Appeals. Lancaster County District Court Judge Bernard McGinn, himself a former Husker, ordered Williams to begin serving the term Monday. Williams pleaded no contest Sept. 10,1996, to a felony count of unlaw ful discharge of a firearm and a mis demeanor count of third-degree as sault. He was charged with the crimes in Januaiy 1994 after he smarted out the window ofa car at a stoplight and then fired two shots into the car as it sped away. Firm plans to spam e-mail users PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It’s about to get much easier for advertis ers to send junk e-mail on the Internet. Cyber Promotions Inc. will launch the first bulk e-mail-friendly Internet provider in the nation on March 17. It will allow computer users to send millions of commercial ads — also known as spam — for a single monthly fee. Nearly all Internet providers now prohibit customers from sending unso licited bulk e-mail and will cancel a person’s account if he or she is caught. “What people are doing is jump ing around from one (Internet pro vider) to another, and they don’t have a secure home. We’re going to give them a home,” said Cyber Promotion founder Sanford Wallace. His new bulk e-mail-friendly net work begins with local dial-up num bers in the Philadelphia area and 800 numbers for use around the country. Customers will pay about $50 a month to send unlimited amounts of mass unsolicited commercial e-mails. Critics complain such junk e-mail costs recipients money to transmit, store and read, unlike regular junk mail or phone sales that only use up a recipient’s time. ' “This is just an online version of how your private life is being sold,” Matt Haney/DN said Ram Avrahami of Private Citi zen, an anti-junk mail group based in Naperville, 111. “And if it gets out of control, the Internet will soon become worse than what our post-office boxes have become.” Wallace said Cyber Promotions may encourage more responsible spamming. “Our goal is to legitimize the bulk e-mail industry and not abuse it,” Wallace said. He said all Cyber Promotions net work customers must honor requests to remove a consumer’s name from receiving such ads. Wallace, known as the “Spam King,” said Cyber Promotions is an extension of the Internet advertising service he has run since 1994. The company sends up to 4 million e-mail ads each day. Fight at Recreation Center leads to injuries, arrest From Staff Reports Two University Police officers were treated and released Wednesday evening after chasing down a man who was wanted on a warrant. University Police were called to the Lee and Helene Sapp Recreation Cen ter at 4:45 pjn. on reports of a fight. When officers arrived, the fight had broken up. After finding the two men, offic ers began to get names. After one man tried to elude inquiries, University Police Sgt. Bill Manning said, police ran a check on his name. Otha Serrell Jr., 22, was wanted on a bench warrant for failure to appear in court. When officers told him he was under arrest, Manning said, he ran. Cpls. Brian Petersen and Brian Scusa grabbed Serrell, Manning said, and Serrell bit Petersen on one of his biceps. Serrell then ran through the rec center and police caught up with him near the southwest entrance of the building. There, in a scuffle, Scusa was shoved and Serrell was arrested. Serrell had complained of wrist pain and head injuries, Manning said, but the handcuffs that were placed mi him were loosened, and doctors at Lin coln General Hospital could find no injuries. Rec center stays secure; conflicts out-of-ordinary .SECURITY from page.1 The scanners tell than who is eligible to use the facility, Campbell said. Inside the facility, Campus Rec reation uses staff to monitor behav ior. There are two facility manag ers with walkie-talkies who rotate through the rec center. The walkie-talkies are moni tored by administrative staff, rec center staff at entrances and Uni vasity Police. The administrative staff also makes rounds of the facility. Be sides those managers, sane areas such as the weight room have spe cific supervisors. When behavior problems arise, the rec centa has a discipline code to handle situa tions. All offenses at the rec coiter are turned over to judicial affairs for Petersen drove Scusa, who was complaining of shoulder, back and arm pains, to Lincoln General Hospi tal. review, and offenders could be sus pended from the rec centra, he said. “We don’t make judgments on things,” Campbell said. “But we do have our own penalties.” Students caught fighting are suspended from the center for at least a week. “We try to teach students to be responsible for their behavior, and they learn about the consequences,” Campbell said. One of the most common prob lems at the rec center is students who try to gain unauthorized ac cess. “Oftentimes students try to in timidate their way in after their cards are rejected. We respond quickly to diffuse the situation,” Campbell said. Any student concerned with anything they see at the rec center can tell the staff, and it will handle the problem. Serrell was arrested for misde meanor assault, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and giving false information to a police officer. Senators differ on death penalty APPEALS from page 1 Catholic Conference, said the death penalty had never been shown to reduce murder rates. He said the criminal justice system should fo cus on sociological factors that con tributed to the problem. “Let’s get rid of the death pen alty and focus our time and atten tion on issues that are involved in murder rates,” he said. . Other bill proponents noted that the United States is the world’s only remaining democracy allowing the death penalty and said vengeance should be rejected as a basis for law. Hie Judiciary Committee heard no opposition testimony to Cham bers’ bill. However, the committee next heard testimony on LB390, which would restrict the number of state court appeals by death itsw inmates to one in a three-year period fol lowing the death sentence. Jensen said long lapses in time between murders and executions in recent Nebraska cases had high lighted the need for a more efficient system. He said the law would ap ply primarily in cases where the inmate’s guilt was not in doubt. “Justice delayed is justice de nied,” Jensen said. Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg said recent state Su preme Court decisions had effec tively eliminated the death penalty by allowing death row inmates too much flexibility in the appeals pro cess. “An endless series of appeals does not constitute justice,” he said. “Only by a law liimting the num ber of post-conviction appeals can the death penalty be preserved.” Stenberg and other bill support ers faced harsh criticism from Chambers, a Judiciary Committee member. Chambers accused Stenberg of being driven by personal motives and questioned whether the law would allow prisoners their consti tutional rights. Stenberg said death row in mates wanting to issue further ap peals would still be able to {dead their cases in front of the state Board of Pardons or in federal dis trict courts. Chambers pursued the same line of questioning with Jensen. Chambers said the law would pro vide no protection for death row inmates who were able to establish their innocence only after their ap peal had been exhausted.