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To: Ahda who wrote (49686)	2/27/2000 3:34:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116764

Darleen, Here's an interesting point. People are making more money now because productivity is going up and prices are going down for most goods we use on a daily basis (with obvious exceptions like energy, but that can be said to be due to OPEC supply limitations and production quotas, both artificial induced shortages). Btw, I believe oil has reached a top and will decline from here. So people are putting money in IRAs and 401K, as well as buying mutual funds and stock in their non-IRA accounts. If the markets fall and people feel less inclined to put their money into the market as retirement "savings", they will spend it. In essence, the asset inflation we see in a relatively few stocks may be a pressure release valve that offsets further physical demand for goods. Money not saved or invested usually gets spent. Also, one other point. Even though we are currently seeing a bubble in the Nasdaq, the majority of all stocks are trading below their 200DMA, with the indices supported a relatively few big name, very liquid issues. This is primarily due to the proliferation of mutual funds, each seeking to maximize their returns, cannibalizing their portfolios and bidding up these momentum stocks to incredible valuations. And why do they do this? Because in addition to charging expensive 12-b annual management fees, these managers also, I believe, are conpensated on the basis of their performance. So here we have these fund managers putting investor's money in increasingly fewer and more risky investments so that THEY can ensure they will get THEIR bonuses at the end of the year. Well, now the value funds are being forced to sell off their portfolios to meet redemptions, the proceeds of which are being redirected into the even narrower Nasdaq tech stocks. And these Nasdaq fund managers are forced to buy the liquid momentum stocks that haven't broken down. So if the market fails to perform for them, or people opt not to put more capital at risk until they see a bottom in the markets, why wouldn't they just take that monthly IRA allocations and just go out and buy stuff. (or pay off the taxes they'll incur from those mutual fund distributions they'll receive at the end of the year. Regards, Ron

To: Ahda who wrote (49686)	2/27/2000 4:09:00 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

How much longer can deflationary commodity pressures hold: Group Works To Kill Salt Cedar By MICHELLE KOIDIN Associated Press Writer PECOS, Texas (AP) - Cottonwoods once lined the Pecos River near the West Texas town with the same name. The riverbank was home to snakes, toads and rabbits. Cotton, alfalfa, asparagus and pear trees grew on nearby fields. Today that land is covered with desert scrub. It is used for grazing cattle, and not much else. Along the river, there is a jungle made up of a sole species: a foreign tree called salt cedar, an invader that hogs water and adds large amounts of salt to the soil and river. Now, a coalition of government agricultural agencies has launched a project to get rid of the culprit responsible for forcing out native plants and wildlife. ``If we make it work, you're going to see it expanded all over Texas and to other states,' said Barney G. Lee of the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. ``Everybody is interested in controlling the salt cedar.' The salt cedar, or tamarix, was brought over from Eurasia and planted across the western United States by government agencies in the early 1900s for erosion control. Over the years, it has spread to almost every river, creek, stream and wash in the Southwest, infesting more than 1 million acres. Today there are as many as 3,000 salt cedars per acre along some parts of the Pecos River, which runs from the Rio Grande up through West Texas and New Mexico. One plant alone may use 200 gallons of water a day, more than the amount consumed by a small family. The scaly leafed tree, which stands from 8 feet to 35 feet tall, exudes salt from its leaves, dropping salt crystals to the ground. Native plants won't germinate in soil so salty. And animals have no use for the salt cedar's seeds and leaves, which lack nutrients. ``I would say this is the No. 1 threat to riparian ecosystem health in the western United States,' said C. Jack DeLoach, a USDA entomologist in Temple, Texas, who has imported salt cedar-eating beetles from Asia for a separate project. The Pecos project is one of the most extensive using a herbicide arsenal to kill salt cedars. Working just north of the town of Pecos, which is 210 miles east of El Paso, project managers sprayed along 28 miles of the river from a helicopter. It was done back in September, the optimum time because that is when the plants are storing food in their roots for winter. To know if the spraying was successful, they have to wait until spring to see if the leaves grow back. If it worked, the group will spray different segments each September. The $127,000 needed for the first round was donated by local water districts; project managers have applied for a grant through the Army Corps of Engineers for future attacks. Terry S. Holder, county extension agent for Reeves and Loving counties, said the project is crucial because much of the land near the river cannot be used for farming anymore. Both the salt cedars and a long-running drought are to blame. ``We have good soil here, good land,' said Holder. ``It's just the water shortage.'(cont) dailynews.yahoo.com