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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Lloyd who wrote (75163)	2/4/2000 10:35:00 AM
From: Mike M2	Respond to of 132070

Don, tanks ho ho ho. It remains to be seen whether we move further to the left ( big government) or reduce gov't meddling after the collapse but it is encouraging that their are a few good people in congress. if it were up to the mainstream press I would say there was little hope and call you comrade but the internet empowers the people to get the real truth out rather than the establishment's version of the truth. mike

To: Don Lloyd who wrote (75163)	2/4/2000 10:33:00 PM
From: Simba	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

MB, Earlie: Have you seen this ? Dell and GTW are toast if this catches on. Delta, Ford home PC deals seen hurting retailers By Monica Summers NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Moves by two major U.S. companies to provide free or subsidized personal computers to their staff indicate a transformation is taking place in the way computers are sold to consumers and threatens to undermine the business of electronics retailers. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - news), the nation's No. 2 automaker, said on Thursday it would be giving its 350,000 employees free Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - news) personal computers and printers, as well as Web access for a fee of $5 per month. On Friday, the fourth-largest U.S. air carrier Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL - news) said it would also subsidize personal computers and Internet access, offering its 72,000 employees home computers for up to $12 per month over 36 months. ``If this trend were to pick up it would have an impact on retail sales and I suspect on some direct sales,' said Lou Mazzucchelli, an analyst at New York-based brokerage Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. ``If you're an average employee at Ford who can suddenly buy a machine at a bargain-basement price, subsidized by your company, why would you ever want to walk into a retail store?' he asked. The programs have a number of benefits for the companies. They provide an attractive perk for staff that does not cost the employer the world, while helping to increase their workforce's computer skill levels and improve internal communications. There may also be productivity and cost benefits in the future if more staff switch to telecommuting. Sales of PCs through U.S. retailers rose 12 percent in December, the slowest unit growth rate for any month of 1999 on a year-on-year basis, according to research firm PC Data. Sales rose 24 percent in 1999 over 1998, but revenues remained flat at $9.2 billion as average prices plunged. If hundreds of thousands of workers at companies like Ford get their PCs from their employers then the potential market for electronics retailers such as Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE:CC - news), Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:BBY - news) or CompUSA Inc. (NYSE:CPU - news) shrinks. However, some retailers put a brave face on the issue. ``We'd love for everyone in the world to have a computer,' said Suzanne Shelton, a spokeswoman for CompUSA, the No. 1 U.S. computer superstore chain, adding that she's not concerned that the Ford and Delta deal will hurt sales. ``The margins are thin, but that's a fact of our industry,' Shelton said. ``What's also true is that once people get a PC and they get a little familiar with technology, then they want the other things that we sell in our stores.' Analysts also said that because direct sales of PCs have only recently taken a turn for the better, direct sellers such as Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW - news) might also be looking to improve consumer sales through deals with their corporate clients. A spokesman for Dell Computer Corp. (NasdaqNM:DELL - news), the world's No.2 PC maker, said the company already has employee purchase programs with several major clients. These include Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news), General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - news), American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP - news), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news) and even Ford, where employees have the option to buy a computer at a discounted rate. He declined to disclose the volume of units sold through these agreements. ``It makes perfect sense and just think if you would be able to do it with other large U.S. corporations, as well as professional unions and government agencies,' Mazzucchelli said. ``There are all sorts of places where you might be able to play this game.' SImba