4A Standard-Examin- Thursday Oct 19 1989 er National t A1 4 Generals can kick tires at military hardware show WASHINGTON (AP) — Need to pick up some helicopters light and several h moting helicopters chine guns and armored vehicles and tank am-- I munition for your country’s de-- I fense? The easy answer is p shopping — military style — with the Association of the United States Army With the blessing of the De-- i fense Department the association is conducting its annual meeting this week featuring the customary e speakers such as former Defense Secretary Frank C and information panels on topics like Soviet forces and na- ! night-visio- n Beribboned officers' d cadets and defense industry officials created traffic jams as they grabbed glossy brochures closely examined the rifles and handguns and questioned the hundreds of company representafresh-face- tives big-nam- Car-luc- ma- M-1- 6 goggles one-sto- I videos pro- high-tec- Some sat transfixed as they watched a sophisticated video on the LHX helicopter displayed on 16 television monitors It was a ci tional security The main attraction however the approximately 200 defense industry and Army exhibits on every imaginable aspect of weapis onry “The exhibits reflect the latest in military doctrine technological advances and hardware improvements” says the association which has held what it touts as “the largest Iandpower forum Associated Press Outdoor display features weaponry for sale in the free world” for the past 35 the bowels of a Washington hotel years Among the items on exhibit in were a vehicle a handful of howitzers full-sca- le light-armor- ed combination of James Bond and Top Gun “Time to smell the coffee sucker" said the helicopter pilot as he maneuvered his aircraft through mountain ranges and green valleys and located his targ get with the help of a British-soundin- female voice “Have a nice walk home Ivan" the pilot said after a suc- cessful hit Report says poverty gap growing Government 1 ! 1 I i significant Robert Greenstein of the pri- vite Center on Budget and Policy I Priorities said the report “pro- vides disturbing evidence of the unevenness of the (economic) re-- I covery” “Its economic benefits are dis-- : proportionately going to those at the top of the income spectrum and missing many at the bottom” he said The poorest fifth of the population received 46 percent of total national family income in 1988 the lowest percentage since 1954 while the richest fifth received 44 percent the highest ever recorded he said The Census Bureau however chose to highlight a 17 percent jump in real per capita income last year to a new high of $13120 Blacks made bigger gains than whites but still lagged far behind Income for whites rose 15 percent to $13900 Income for blacks increased 39 percent to $8270 and the figure for Hispan-ic- s was virtually unchanged at $7960 “It’s a year basically in which most groups stayed the same or improved” said William Butz the agency’s associate director for demographics Greenstein said the per capita income figures are averages that were pulled up by big gains for the richest Americans median household He said income 12-t- light-armor- ed oCuS their products with the hope that a telephone call or meeting at a later date will result in a sale General Motors’ vehicle is ideal for conflicts and in fact 14 of them were flown into Panama when the rebel forces led a failed coup against leader Manuel Antonio Noriega according to the General Motors official The vehicle has “great acceleration a low silhouette when it’s smaller it’s harder to hit great mobility” O’Brien said Like in a car showroom where prospective buyers kick the tires people have come up and knocked their knuckles on the vehicle and said “Oh boy this is it” he said On the other side of the room in front of a large video screen representatives of Bell Helicopter Textron praised the 2 Osprey the aircraft that takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane light-armor- ed low-intensi- ty 1 V-2- cujvuv IBOUlLlEVAIRID cans “The 1988 Census data though still deficient thus show steady and significant improvement for most Americans” said Kate Walsh O’Beirne a visiting fellow showed no significant gains overall registering $27230 in 1988 up from $27140 a year earlier after adjusting for the rise in consumer prices at Heritage Diana Pearce director of the Census for the first time this it Women and Poverty year issued an alternative set of Project said the census report figures based on an excontained troubling new evidence poverty perimental price index that it that women are being left behind said was more accurate For example she said 53 percent The alternate numbers — pubof poor families in 1988 were lished in an appendix to the offiheaded by women alone the cial — would cut the report highest proportion on record poverty rate for 1988 by 15 per“We are once again experienccentage points to 116 percent ing the feminization of poverty" and reduce by 36 million the she said number of people classified as The annual release of the povliving in poverty erty report once again revived the The congressional Joint Ecodebate over the accuracy of the nomic Committee criticized Census Bureau’s figures those alternate figures as inaccuThe' conservative Heritage rate and issued a report saying if Foundation said Census overthe poverty rate were calculated states the extent of poverty and by what it said were more realisunderestimates the financial tic methods the figures would be g of millions of Ameri far higher non-prof- nell Douglas General Electric ITT Defense and John Deere briefed representatives from foreign countries and the United States on their latest wares For the buyer who can’t afford to fly from one company to the next the meeting provides a “great place for networking in a marketing environment” said Joe O’Brien an official with General Motors as he stood in front of the company’s 14 vehicle equipped with a 25mm gun The meeting according to O’Brien is strictly for the buyer who wants to browse “No contracts We don’t even talk about contracts If we did the defense secretary could not endorse it” he said “Those types of things are verboten” Instead the companies tout the advantages and successes of THE states economic benefits disproportionately favor the rich WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s latest report on poverty shows the gap between rich and poor is widening as the wealthy reap a disproportionate share of the nation’s record peacetime expansion advocates for the poor say The poverty rate fell from 134 percent in 1987 to 131 percent last year and the number of im-- ’ poverished people declined from 323 million to 319 million the Census Bureau reported Wednes- day But it said neither change whs big enough to be statistically But beyond all the glitz there was serious business as officials from General Motors McDon- RESTAURANT FRIDAY BUFFET All You Can Eat! 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