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Show Tr.urs.ijv October mess WASHINGTON (LTD of the August FOMC The nua-ute- s confirmed what bad a'.reiy been apparent in the market -the Fed decided to move to somewhat lcer infarct rp'ei in face of the impending economic slowdown. Since then, the Fed has lowered the Federal funds rate twice from 11 V to 11 percent in early September, and from 11 to 10 v percent last week. Furthermore, we expect the funds rate to decline to 10 percent in November and dip as low as 9 4 percent either late this year or early in 1385. A dip in the discount rate to 8 M percent will occur sometime this quarter, and the prime rate will fall to 12 percent by December and then probably reach its trough at 11 percent. Mortgage rates will also fall about 1 percent by year end. While there are a mixture of causes leading to this decline in rates, the major factor is quite straightforward: a decline in the growth rate of the economy. From a superheated increase of better than 8 percent during the previous five quarters, it now appears that real growth in the quarter just ended could be as low as 2 percent, with growth in the next two quarters not exceed- - Signs of weakness The decision by the FOMC taken in late August was to ease if it appeared that real growth was softening. That seemed like y at the time, although firm evidence was not at hand until the release of the various August statistics during the month of September. percent plunge in the dollar in February and early March sug- abound gested that inflation would also take off in the second half. throughout the economy. While the unemployment rate did decline another 0.1 percent in September, payroll employment increased only 0.1 million after ad- justment for the New York workers' strike, about of the average monthly increase earlier in the year. hospital d New orders for capital goods have now declined sharply for the past three months. Retail sales in September were clothing strong for items. but weak in non-defen- se back-to-scho- big-tick- Michael K. Evans early in September suggest that industrial production during the month And, figures from would have declined even in the Once these problems were the dollar not only solved absence of an auto strike, as firms seek to pare back inventories in the face of slackening gained its previous losses but moved on to highs, comar demand. exmodity prices and inflationary pectation sank, and real growth the shrunk from 8 to 3 percent come to rates for set was stage down. Pundits who were surprised when interest rates rose so much in the first half of the year now professed to be equally surprised that rates are falling; they are fighting a furious rearguard action by suggesting that rates are likely to reverse course and rise again any day. Yet early in the year, not only was real GNP growing at better than an 8 percent rate, but the 10 for-intere- st tional Association. Mortgage Those guidelines recommend that annual principal and interest payments total no more than 25 percent of a borrower's yearly income. de"Even a $200 cline in the median existing family home price to $74,300 was not enough to offset the increase in the interest rate used to calculate the index," said Dr. Jack Carlson, the association's st single-- pan insurance fi C2( 7 v j sf Save on Our Popular Cordless Phone Sale! ET-32- By Radio by Radio Shack 0 Up to 100-FoRange No Trailing, Tangling Cord Model 4 Desktop Computer TRS-8- 0 Shack ot Hurry in for this 30-o- ff pricel All the controls Was $999.00 Ih 1984 Cat. the handset, so you can place or take calls n anywhere within range even outdoors. touch-rediof last number entered, mute button for privacy. Pulse dialing. One-butto- able. Dolby Cassette Deck B-- C 26-- 1 ! J natives, he said, because the druggists got greedy. "If people were getting that volume of medi- ' cine they'd be dead," he said. Tf in nB.M their doctors Keyboard 067 Cassette recorder extra. AMFM Cassette Recorder Deluxe AMFM Pocket Radio By Realistic by Realistic SCT-4- 1 Typewriter-Styl- e Incredible 40 MONTH 8 System d off on this ideal first computer! Set up a budget, manage investments, do electronic filing and word processing, even play games. Learn to program it in BASIC or use our ready-tc-ru- n software. Fully expand- AS LOW AS BtMMtfltM J27PER al Caasefta-Base- 12" Monitor are in 43-26- 16K Minisette-1- 2 by Realistic 1 II I USE YOUR $50 Reg. 149.95 1 EH Dolby NR cuts hiss, extends range. Auto-searc- h finds selections quickly. Soft-touc- h controls, metalCrOjnormal-bia- s selector, switchable MPX filter. 14-6'TM Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp. Highlow tone switch, AFC for e FM, slide-rul- e tuning, 2V2" speaker. With earphone. drift-fre- 12-71- 27 AMFM Stereo Car Cassette Player Reg. 21.95 4 Battery extra Low-Pric- ed By Realistic Tone-Diali- ng If Perfect recordings "live" or off the air with Variable monitor Sets you listen as record. you Sleep switch. 'auto-leve-l. 14-10- 12 Batteries extra Bookshelf Speaker System Phone NOW By Radio Shack ) LI Special . Cut 50 B iS MC-GO- by Realistic O a5 A. I j Purchase n ing. ; Ei 3. promptly Aetna employees who handle medical claims are being trained to look for certain indicators that might suggest fraud. "Volume is one," Garcia said. Aetna was able to catch a phar-- i macy that was filling orders with generic drugs but billing for the alter-- t more expensive brand-nam- e m A ZA ' ( service either," Garcia said. "You just don't want them in the J As it was, however, the typical family's annual income of $25,727 in August fell $5,300 short of the $31,027 needed to quality for a mortgage on a $74,300 home with a 20 percent down payment. Not since December 1978 has the affordability index been at 100 The August index was 70.2 percentage points below the index high of 153.1 in February 1972, when mortgage rates were less than 8 percent. However, the August index was 19 percentage points above the index low of 63.9 in September 1981, when interest rates on long-termortgages were about 16 percent. d raise interest rates again later two-year-o- ld j in- come had only 82.9 percent of the income needed to qualify for a remortgage on a median-pricesale home, based on qualification guidelines set by the Federal Na- next year. - - profession." Most of the time, patients are unaware when their doctors are submitting fraudulent claims for reimbursement. If a physician or dentist intends to cheat an insurance company, often he will feel the patient out first, Garcia said. "Definitely say no, and then let someone know you've been approached," he said. Patients sometimes alter their doctors' bills to make it look as though they paid more than they really did, Garcia said. "We find these people often are pillars of the community. The problem is the way they view insurance. It's awfully close to the Internal Revenue Service in their minds, they justify cheat- The average effective interest on conventional loans for resale homes closed in early August was 12 76 percent, according to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board's monthly survey of major lending institutions. This compared with an average rate of 12 53 percent in July. "If this interest rate had averaged 10.33 percent or less, a family earning the national median income would have been able to afford the mortgage payments for a median-price- d existing single-famil- y and the index would home, have been 100," Carlson said. rate Super Bargains for Autumn Shoppers! Savinnsi Get Tremendous 30 to By GAIL COLLINS UPI Business Writer The docNEW YORK (UPI) tor, challenged to produce for a patient on whom he had handed over half a dozen, The only problem was they were pictures of a woman while the patient was a man. Just another case in the files of Aetna Life & Casualty's Fraud Squad, a program that tracks down and prosecutes medical practitioners and patients who cheat on their health insurance claims. "We've pretty much given a blank check on health insurance 'in the past. Now with everyone ; concerned about the cost of health care, the insurance Industry is taking a strong look: is the service medically necessary? Is the 'Charge reasonable?" said James Garcia, manager of the Fraud Squad. Medical insurance fraud ranges from doctors running "diet clinics" that are actually drug prescription factories for addicts, to the average patient with the flu who asks his doctor to fill in "chest pains" on the medical forms so his visit will be covered. No one knows how much of it occurs each year. "We know it's at least millions of dollars a day," Garcia said. In the two years it has been in operation, the Fraud Squad has uncovered more than 1,400 fraudulent claims, successfully prosecuted 145 cases and brought about license suspension for more than 100 medical practitioners. "We find if they're participating in that kind of activity, they're not rendering good quality family earning the median This does not mean that we foresee a major secular decline in far from it. The interest rates reduction in rates will stimulate the economy beginning in the second quarter of 1985, and that will The Fed is not at all interested in causing another premature recession in 1985, and hence will continue to reduce rates until real growth recovers from its cogent tailspin. We look rates to continue to decline until next March. ficer. st During the fourth quarter, some stimulus from consumer spending will merely serve to offset the continued decline in construction and inventory investment and very subdued growth in producers durable equipment. With a deepening of this pattern, further accommodation will continue to be the Fed's watchword. rere- Each Reg. 39.95 Each Buy two of these speakers for the regular price of one! ?99.93 Acoustic-suspensio- player fits in most cars. both of tapes. Five stasides plays tion presets. 30 watts total output power. ce sh Auto-rever- 12-19- The perfect main or extension phone with comfortable "K" style handset. Includes modular plug just 1 Brown, plug it in and talk. White, 43-90- 0. 43-90- For tone lines only. FCC registered. Not for coin or party lines . n design for smooth frequency response. 6V2" woofer, 212W tweeter. Walnut veneer. 13V2" high. 40-19- 40 Watts Power Capacity x nttt fv.ma names, they fill!.. often slip up on terminology, Garcia s. iu. "We received a claim for 'false teeth, 1350.' Nobody in the dental profession says false teeth. It's upper and lower den turn." of- chief economist and executive de- prices gain in famiy income, housing affordability deteriorated for the fourth consecutive month in August, the National Association of Realtors reported. A 0.7 percentage point decline to 82.9 put the National Association's Housing Affordability Index at the lowest level since September 1983, when it was 82.7. The most recent decline followed monthly drops of 0 8 percentage point in May, 1.0 percentage point in June and 2.0 percentage points in July. The August index meant that a estimated. Attention reimbursements, - Despite anda a cline in resale home WASHINGTON Now, however, there can be little doubt about the reduced rate of grwoth and the 3.6 percent Flash Report figure will probably be revised down by at least 2 percent when the actual figure is released on October 19. Construction and inventory investment will probably be the two major areas where real growth is lower than Receiving extensive -P Housing Index Down For Last Three Months Interest Relief I Med Fraud collected tufa. and the business world ing the 3 percent mark. one-th'r- THE HERALD. Provo. What is happening on stock markets Stage -Set for release im 11. I k:d jfSi fer. ISttiIJl Eft" mr-.n- -L Check Your Phone Book for the Rad A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION tssek Store or Dealer Nearest You VISA kJ ItJiB38-- - IE CHARGE IT (MOST STORES) PRICES APPLY AT PARTICIPATING STORES AND DEALERS CNiUne K Mntee mirk of Cltfcorp. , |
