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To: Investor-ex! who wrote (23478)	11/27/1998 10:25:00 AM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116753

O.T. re Y2k and beer Would the best one be the "Bear Wiz Beer" I have seen adds for on so many t & sweat shirts? rh

To: Investor-ex! who wrote (23478)	11/27/1998 12:25:00 PM
From: Alex	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 116753

New nuclear crisis looms over suspected reactor By JOHN LARKIN, Herald Correspondent in Seoul In 1994, the world was spared a war on the Korean peninsula by a remarkable 11th-hour agreement to freeze North Korea's nuclear capability. Four years later that menace has resurfaced to once again threaten peace. This time there are suspicions that North Korea is building an underground nuclear facility in contravention of the 1994 Agreed Framework, under which it got two modern nuclear reactors and interim fuel supplies in return for sealing a reactor it was suspected of using to produce weapons-grade plutonium for a nuclear arsenal. In August, however, United States spy satellites photographed thousands of workers burrowing into a hillside at Kumchangri, 40 kilometres from the Yongbyon reactor sealed under the 1994 deal. On suspicions that a reactor or plutonium reprocessing plant is being built, the US is insisting it be allowed to inspect the site - a demand repeated last week by President Bill Clinton during his visit to Seoul. "It's a hole in the ground. We would like to know what they intend to do with it," a Seoul-based US official said this week. A senior South Korean official indicated there was more to the site than met the eye. "There are other elements that make us suspicious so strongly." The North is all but refusing and has demanded $US300 million ($476 million) for an inspection. The US has said it will not pay. The upshot is a nuclear stand-off disturbingly similar to the one which took the two countries to the brink of war in 1994. But this time, North Korea holds some aces. As an impoverished nation it has nothing to lose and plenty to gain by playing the nuclear card to pressure the outside world to paying it off once more. Also, the Republican-dominated US Congress, a vocal critic of the nuclear pact, has given the Clinton Administration until May 31 to resolve the deadlock. If it does not, a portion of funding for the fuel oil the US agreed to deliver under the pact will be withdrawn. This could sound the death knell for the Agreed Framework. Also in Pyongyang's favour is the fact that the 1994 accord does not mandate inspections, although it does prohibit the construction of older-style reactors as well as reprocessing and fuel fabrication facilities. In 1994, former US president Jimmy Carter won North Korea's agreement by promising reactors worth $US4.5 billion and 500,000 tonnes of oil a year. This goodwill has been exhausted, with Congress questioning the morality of paying blackmail money to stop a tyrannous regime developing nuclear weapons. Mr Charles Kartman, Washington's point-man on North Korea, will meet his communist counterparts in New York and Washington in early December for talks on the issue. But he does not have many goodies to offer this time, short of possible promises to lift some economic sanctions. "I don't know whether the US will be again lured into making a big concession," said the senior South Korean official. "People are less open-minded than in the past. We will give North Korea both warning and hope: if you don't solve this effectively then the consequences may be great." North Korea will only allow an inspection if the site is non-nuclear. A clean bill of health would resolve the crisis for the time being. But it would be a propaganda victory for Pyongyang, allowing it to state with some justification that it had abided by the deal while the US had stalled. If North Korea denies inspections, the odds are it has violated the agreement and wants to hide the fact. Although at present the US believes the site contains no nuclear hardware, this assessment would be called into question if Pyongyang stuck to its guns into next year. The security situation on the Korean peninsula would then be at crisis point once again. Fears have been fuelled in recent days by US intelligence reports of an imminent long-range missile test by the North, and a coincidental sighting of a communist spy ship in southern waters. smh.com.au

To: Investor-ex! who wrote (23478)	11/28/1998 1:21:00 AM
From: Investor-ex!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116753

Now that the budget is "officially" balanced, we are adding to the national debt at a rate of $2.5 BILLION, per day. At this rate, $912 BILLION in total debt will be added in the next 365 days, bringing the grand total to $6.5 TRILLION. On top of that, anyone want to bet tax receipts aren't way under trend this coming year? CURRENT MONTH........AMOUNT 11/24/1998...$5,597,306,037,397.16 11/23/1998...$5,594,943,925,581.82 11/20/1998...$5,593,158,053,701.12 11/19/1998...$5,591,105,215,418.59 11/18/1998...$5,586,312,225,504.63 11/17/1998...$5,586,021,327,323.14 11/16/1998...$5,581,706,345,787.83 11/13/1998...$5,562,541,408,964.77 11/12/1998...$5,560,595,781,304.53 11/10/1998...$5,558,618,097,870.50 11/09/1998...$5,556,814,808,618.10 11/06/1998...$5,558,821,285,886.47 11/05/1998...$5,561,271,069,539.45 11/04/1998...$5,555,731,529,597.33 11/03/1998...$5,553,893,306,720.42 11/02/1998...$5,539,037,263,160.39 publicdebt.treas.gov