Economic Problems

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is suggesting that Congress act rapidly on short-term tax relief early next year and then develop a second package of measures to deal with long-term economic problems.The two-step approach was outlined yesterday by Budget Director Richard G. Darman during testimony to the Senate Finance Committee on tax bills to revive the sluggish recovery and lower taxes for middle-income Americans.After meeting with President Bush, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan.

For decades, banks, fast-food restaurants, hospitals, law firms, retail chains and governments -- the so-called service sector -- have been the engine that powered the great American job machine.In the 1980s, when services added a stunning 21 million jobs and employed almost four out of five workers, Americans debated whether service jobs were good jobs or bad jobs, but basically took the steady growth of services for granted.No more. Except for health care, the services are in the throes of a pervasive shake-up very much like the one that racked smokestack manufacturing a decade ago.The concerted drive to squeeze costs and improve profits has resulted in extensive cost-cutting, job freezes, layoffs, consolidations and takeovers.

SECOND AD. It aired on networks during such highly rated programs as ABC's Monday Night Football, college football, jTC NBC's "Miss America Pageant" and a number of prime-time sitcoms and drama series including "Going to Extremes," "Homefront" and "Unsolved Mysteries."COST: $2.5 million.SCRIPT: George Bush: "The world is in transition. The defining challenge of the '90s is to win the economic competition. To win the peace, we must be a military superpower, an economic superpower, an export superpower.

WHAT DO YOU do when you are approaching 30, 40 -- or even 50 -- and life proves too complicated or boring?Some Americans seek religion, switch jobs, change personal relationships, buy a new car or make a long-distance move. Yet others escape to alcohol or drugs. Or join a militia or Civil War re-enactment group.America has always been a restless country. It is so big people easily find an outlet for their restlessness.Things are more difficult in Europe, a continent of generally small countries, confined spaces and homogeneous cultures.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has announced that the federal government would begin a nationwide campaign to immunize children against preventable diseases by age 2.Pediatricians and other public health experts said Mr. Bush's proposal was belated and inadequate.Mr. Bush also announced a federal program intended to reduce infant mortality by increasing the number of women who get prenatal care. This program is called Healthy Start, but Democrats derided it as a "late start," saying it was prompted more by the political calendar than by genuine interest in child health problems.

Maryland's economic squeeze has forced more than layoffs of city and county workers. It has interfered with government decision-making, racially polarized citizens and reduced trust in government and business, according to a survey of local government officials."

Despite its vast economic problems, Japan may be ripe for investment, but only for the long haul, international money managers at T. Rowe Price Group Inc. said yesterday. "There are encouraging signs in Japan," said John Ford, chief investment officer of T. Rowe Price International, who spoke to institutional clients yesterday at the Harbor Court Hotel in Baltimore. "We are really looking for a change in tack in Japan." Ford and other money managers at Price are encouraged because of the rise of Junichiro Koizumi, the bold reformer, who last month was elected the country's prime minister in a stunning upset.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, continuing a steep slide from the heights in public opinion polls, would find himself in a dead heat running for re-election today against an unnamed Democratic candidate, according to a new nationwide poll released yesterday.The new poll results reflect a significant erosion of Mr. Bush's standing among voters, apparently as a result of growing concern over his handling of the nation's troubled economy. When matched up against specific Democrats, however, he still wins handily.

Baltimore's 5th District, in the city's northwest quadrant, has undergone a process of almost continuous transformation over the past three decades, but its politics have never quite managed to keep up with the changes. By the time the 5th elected its first black City Council member in 1979, blacks had comprised half the population for nearly a decade. Still, it took nearly another decade for the 5th to elect a second black council member.The three incumbents -- Vera P. Hall, Iris G. Reeves and Rochelle "Rikki" Spector -- accurately reflect the present racial makeup of the district and the black-Jewish coalition that is the district's main political force.

Traditionally, banks and insurance companies have been a mainstay of local economies -- not just for the jobs and revenue they produce, but also for the cadre of civic leaders who bubble up from their ranks. These are men and women who are active in the community, who give time, money and talent. They are a reservoir of strength in any city, and an integral part of its character. Jack Moseley, chairman of USF&G, has been one of them -- a driving force behind efforts to promote the Baltimore region as well as generous corporate giving to the city's charitable and cultural institutions.