NewsNight Minnesota; 5203; NewsNight Minnesota Episode from 08/19/1998; SD-Base

More NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is a production of Katy CA for the stations of Minnesota Public Television. This is NEWSNIGHT from New Garmin comes down and I am not going to talk about Bill and Monica. We don't talk about Bill Monica not even going to go there. OK I'm going to confess I might talk a little bit about Bill in Monaco but only because it seems to be taking away from the rest of the nation's business. Congressman Jim Oberstar is going to fill us in on what might happen with the president. Northwest Airlines and is business better in the 90s the Better Business Bureau will certainly hope so. Moss what's in store for the economy in the near future are you going to find out in the near future. NEWSNIGHT is next. Welcome to NEWSNIGHT Minnesota a statewide news and information program from thoughtful Minnesotans bringing context and depth to the region's most important stories. NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is made possible in part with support from the Landon Foundation working to strengthen rural communities throughout Minnesota. And by the McKnight Foundation working to strengthen families in communities across Minnesota.

We're going to start tonight with North asked airlines and the views of one Minnesota congressman who's not happy with management. Congressman Jim Oberstar one of Capitol Hill's experts on transportation issues. He has sent a letter along with other members of Congress asking President Clinton not to intervene if there's a strike at Northwest over Starr believes the president did that would weaken the various unions bargaining positions. I talked to Congressman earlier today via satellite I asked him that given the remarkable events in Washington lately is the Northwest dispute even on the president's radar screen. What's on his staff's radar screen I've talked to the chief of staff to the heads of the various legislative liaison offices at the White House. The president has seen the letter that I sent together with many members of the Minnesota Wisconsin Michigan congressional delegations and members from as far west as the state of Washington or Hawaii. All throughout north west Service System members of Congress I feel as secretary of

transportation Sam Skinner in 1909. When he behalf of the Bush administration refused to intervene in the Eastern airline strike saying we believe that the collective bargaining process is the best way for management and labor to resolve their difficulties and Northwest should have no trouble resolving this matter what with the Monica Lewinsky situation in the speech the other night. There is already speculation about a weakened presidency. Are you afraid that that kind of talk might actually prompt the president to take decisive action and get involved in the strike. No I don't think so I think that presidents come out of this very well. Well this could be he leveled with the American people at long last he should have done it seven months ago. But he did it was a painful act on his part. I think that it increased his stature with the public. He is after all still the president. And until something further

comes out of the Ken Starr investigation. There is no impeachable offense and there is nothing for Congress to act on so the Congress is going to have to deal with the president of the United States. And I don't believe his inclination is to intervene in the Northwest Airlines after all they represent only 8 percent of all airline boardings throughout the United States this is not a national crisis. It will have some regional impacts. In the three principal hubs of Northwest Minneapolis Detroit and Memphis but it will not be a nationwide problem and other carriers can command and provide some relief. Give me a little bit of historical perspective. It looks pretty bad when you look at Northwest Airlines right now. It has virtually all of its unions threatening to go on strike or wanting to go on strike. Has there been an airline ever this deep in labor trouble the one airline that comes to mind as Eastern which of course self-destructed a few years ago as you seen anything quite like it.

Continental was another case several years ago and frankly Renzo was at the helm of Continental and wherever Frank Lorenzo went. Labor troubles followed in many of his people are now at Northwest Airlines. They went through the hard times with Frank Lorenzo you think they would have learned and sit down to negotiate. I have to remind people that in 1992 when Northwest was facing bankruptcy it went to its labor union side please. Bail us out and yourselves. And they did. They gave up nearly 900 million dollars in pay and benefits over the next three years and the state of Minnesota gave authority to the Metropolitan Airports Commission to provide a bridge loan to help Northwest convert high cost short term debt to lower cost long term debt. They went to their banking interests and I made many calls on behalf of northwest. During that period of time Governor Carlson pitched in the whole state of Minnesota rallied around to save Northwest. But its unions gave up nearly 900 million dollars in pay and benefits with a

provision that when the carrier return to profitability their pay would snap back to 1992 with a 3 percent pay increase. They had they the unions had to go to court to sue Northwest to make them live up to their promise. In 1995. Now that's not good faith. And the unions are very upset with Northwest management. They've got now on the table for the pilots a 2 percent pay increase that's not even the Consumer Price Index. That's not right. They have to come to terms in the goshi eight as other carriers have done. Congressman Jim Oberstar earlier today Oberstar was also peeved at North-West announcement yesterday that it was raising ticket prices for leisure travelers by 4 percent. Late this afternoon the airline reversed itself there will be no fare increase Oberstar by the way hoping that the proposed new regulations by the Department of Transportation will make it easier for low cost airlines to compete against major airlines like Northwest.

OK now on to our other headlines our first story is about another politician ripping Northwest management. They've been the one who is running in the primary for attorney general blasted the airline today for raising some ticket prices by 4 percent. Little House press conference took place before Northwest announced its price rollback. The law says Northwest has an unhealthy dominance here in Minnesota. So is the next attorney general I would certainly consider the possibility of antitrust action against Northwest and that will be one of the first pass that I will give the staff the attorney general's office when I become attorney general. One of the hog's opponents than the attorney general race state senator ember right Scott Young says no one is being an opportunist and jumping on the Northwest Airlines bandwagon. The use of dangerous weapons in Minnesota schools could be way up or it could be way down. No one's quite sure because more than one third of Minnesota's school districts have failed to file dangerous weapons reports with the state. Those reports which have been required

for the past five years so the result is that it's impossible to know whether anti-violence programs are working and whether schools are safer or more dangerous. And school news from Duluth in an attempt to diffuse parents concerns about a possible teacher's strike. A unique statement was released by the Duluth superintendent and the head of the teachers union superintendent Julio Montaner and Federation of Teachers president Frank Wenner said jointly that every effort to reach a contract agreement will be made. The current contract ended in July of 1907 and a strike was authorized this past April. School is set to open in the Luth on September 9th. Our final headline. Some creative sentencing has led to enlightenment and well known a teenager who vandalized a Veterans Memorial Park on July 4th claiming he didn't know what a veteran was was sentenced to community service monitary arrested Tuesday and he was also told to watch the new Steven Spielberg film Saving Private Ryan which of course is about World War 2. Apparently it worked. Word is that

the young vandal says he now knows what a veteran is and those are the headlines. Here's a look. And then next we have a one on one interview with the president. And we're not talking sex scandals or perjury or impeachment. Actually we're not even talking about the president of the United States we're talking about Minnesota's new president of the Better Business Bureau. He's had the job only a few weeks now so I spoke with him about how he plans to make your life that much better. This is not just to help you every week literally thousands of people contact the Minnesota Better Business Bureau asking about a company or filing a complaint. And now there's a new president. Jay Fender who is in charge of this nonprofit organization you can call him a no nonsense kind of guy guys and all we ask people to do is do what you say you're going to do in the automobile business if you've got 12 vehicles for $4000 make sure you have 12 vehicles for $4000. Fender is a former banking executive and feels his experience in the business world

combined with his marketing skills make him the ideal BBB president. He concedes however Ralph Nader he is not. No I wouldn't I would not visualize myself as a crusader. My job is to increase the visibility do it we already do well better. If anything the bill has the higher profile I mean you think economic figures which are believed to have been sold in the summer. Pender says his big goal will be to expand what the Better Business Bureau here is all about. First and foremost they are trying to get out more information to more people throughout greater Minnesota and the Dakotas to do so. They now have a 24 hour hotline. And in the fall they will go online. So you can find out about a company without having to go through a lengthy phone call. Then there also wants to get more businesses to join the BBB. There are now thirty five hundred members people on one hand and the far spectrum is are the chambers of commerce to print and their job is to promote commerce at the

other end of the spectrum consumer organizations consumer unit and Consumer Reports. We're in the middle and our job is to provide information so people make better decisions. So for example if you're going to buy a car. You would go to Consumer Reports at this end of the spectrum and look and see what is the best car you look for product information at the other end you look where to buy. You depend on information was provided by business chamber. Our job in the middle is to provide information on how to make the best decisions. Backing up was a bit you said the BBB has a great image in Minnesota and. My belief and I don't know if this is true is that people have a good image about it because they see the BBB as. An advocacy organization. Are you trying to bring it more to the middle than what it is now. I would position it as an advocacy organization our our position is to provide an ethical advertising and ethical marketplace. That's what we're here

for. So we're here as an information organization were a nonprofit organization primarily sponsored by business. So we're here to promote the marketplace but sponsored by business friendly places Ron Graham who retired this year after serving more than three decades with the BBB. Guest makes a living coming up with a forecast on not weather but economic. Dr. Song One song is chief economist and senior vice president for Northwest banks us soon to be Wells

Fargo. Well we're going to talk about Northwest we're going to talk about Northwest Congressman Oberstar talking about they'll be some regional impacts. Well what does he mean by that. If there's a strike Northwest helped produce about the two and a half billion dollars of the income in the state of Minnesota that's almost 2 percent of our gross state product. That is quite significant. Not only that. Tourism is very important at the Mall of America alone. Tourism generates about 600 million dollars in sales restaurants retail stores shopping centers outside of Mall of America. They also benefit from the tourism manufacturing exports a significant portion of the manufacturing exports go by air medical equipment and software as a computer parts they all shipped by air and some of that could be disrupted as well. I think I read that the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport is something like the 15th busiest airport when it comes to cargo which most people don't think about when they think airline

strike. That's correct. For instance not only do we export by air we also import lot of goods from Asia by air many fashion merchandise they come from Asia buying what was their cargo and that will be disrupted. So you know given the strong economic conditions a Northwest airline strike that is not going to cripple the local economy but it will have a meaningful impact. After all 2 percent or more of our income bed is pretty significant. OK let's talk about some of the other storm clouds out there. The farm prices hitting particularly in western Minnesota. Low yields low prices for wheat and some other crops. How serious is that crisis. How is it going to affect not just the farmers but the small towns out there. Regionally it's very significant. It is not that significant on a macro basis but if you talk to some of the farmers they're suffering because of the low prices. Farm prices are down to the floor in part because of soft demand coming from Asia.

Farm subsidies from Uncle Sam. They are down based on so-called Freedom to Farm Act. It started back in 1987 and now it is coming down so farmers are not getting as much as they used to. Each year they get a little less from Uncle Sam that's correct and then it was designed to be phased out to zero eventually. And of course that is one of the problems whether that's another problem. You know in some parts of the United States where there has been too dry like in taxes but in the Midwest the weather has been pretty good. That meant that production is a very good crops are going to yield a very good output and prices are down again that's another reason we've got some scab disease so you know everything is just coming all at once. That's one of the problem you mentioned the Asia crisis. And I was hearing some economists and some cable channel the other day saying. When it comes to imports and exports we're going to feel this for a long time. It's going to be more than six months we're going to feel this for years. I mean how big is that impact going to be about Asia not buying our products.

Well right now we're talking about what I call the second round first round that began with the Korea Thailand and Indonesia. But those are small potatoes. Sure they do have a significant impact on us but not as much as Japan and China. And now it is spreading to the rest of the world. In the second quarter of 1998 the government statistics show that a drop in that exports subtracted almost 1 1/2 percentage points from economic growth and that is significant and this is going to last not for six months but unfortunately for years and that's a problem. Interest rates. I heard somebody saying the Fed shouldn't even be talking about raising it. They should start talking about lowering them. Chairman Greenspan does not want to move interest rates right now first of all he does not want to raise it because of the international economic consideration. He does not want to rock the boat and make lives in Asia Eastern Europe mo measurable. On the

other hand some of the members of the Federal Open Market Committee there are so-called hawks they want to actually raise interest rates. They think that the labor market is too strong and that my lead to more inflation. Personally I believe economic growth will be much weaker a year from now in part because of Asia and plus some other reasons. If I won the board I would be thinking about cutting interest rates not raising interest rates. And isn't that part of the reason is that everyone over in Asia is investing in U.S. securities and away I mean in a sense we can drop interest rates because right now it looks so dang attractive where they are. America is a magnet so-called safe haven. A lot of money is coming in from Asia and Europe and elsewhere. And thats one of the reasons why we are enjoying interest rates as low as they are you know a long time Daniels and mortgage rates this year reached record lows and the stock prices have been as strong as they are because of the money coming in from overseas.

Thank you very much. Q Okay we're going to take it on outside with Lulu you know. Okay. You're all set now. Ken you're there everybody's there. They would rather then simply turn off NEWSNIGHT after tonight and turn on those goofy sitcoms knowledge on quantity just keep it right here on Channel 2 because you can have some fun tonight and learn something while you're at it with me John Schumacher you get the fancy place new prey. Absolutely. Pretty fancy. All right and you get this big thing at the state fair. I got to the state fair and a new one this year. And what kind of food are you serving. We serve Czechoslovakia and German in Minnesota so we serve sausages Ruben's elk venison chicken smoked pork chops dumplings kraut and of course he's all right now I don't just well I guess all the time I'm standing by the stove is all set up are going to be grilling out here tonight and I have a whole lot of fun. Tell me I used to cook better than my wife as he was walking out with cooking show the mousies a whole lot better than I am. Tell me something. Give me some tips so I can get ahead again. OK when you're barbecuing we're doing something interesting I'm going to show we're going to we're going to do a dry rub that

means what we're going to do is we're not going to have any of the all the sauce so I got some brown sugar narrow and some chili powder Now of course paprika All right where copper it down in my mind you know where Patrick is from. No not now I mean I think hunger it came from America. No really I do not mean to cloud it nor do I mean I know not everyone thinks I'm an assault on us nor from Iona. Remember that we actually put some allspice some some black pepper and a little bit of cayenne. No that's not what we do as a lawyer. Mix all that out of her for those. Yeah yeah I could have left. OK. You're missing out. It's drawn up now this is a venison piece of venison already on ice. Of what we're going to is going to put this in. There you go. You're going to want to put a little bit of olive oil in that's not dry rub then you put it under there you go. OK now you can mix it up. The reason we put that olive oil in acid doesn't stick to the bag and let that set all the juice because what'll happen is feels like a hard there's no salt in there so we don't draw the moisture out. OK. Like a heart. Actually we're sending us down to the male clinic in about 20 minutes for.

Something this is I think I'll try this at home but without the oil so that's where I'm kind of method that's right. And what happens is that the sit overnight. All right and then the next in a refrigerator and then the next day picnic a barbecue with a grill a little bit oil so it doesn't stick. And tell us about one hundred forty degrees and this thick it take about I think it takes almost about 40 minutes to get this cooked on both sides. All right now tell me you got this is a gas grill gas grill. Can you really cook really good stuff outside because well I want to gas grill. I like turkey you probably if you have the time charcoal is always the best. Yes but most of us are short of time and occasionally we all have gas so that's the best news. All right now I understand what you're going to be getting into desserts and all that other good stuff we're going to be cooking. Can you imagine this. We're going to be doing bananas pineapple sweet potato all right to be all kinds of stuff so we're going to get what they call crossover cuisine very fancy going by me again. We're going to have vegetables that are going to be desserts. OK so we're going to have a red pepper. Topped with potatoes and oranges and putting an old egg with shortcake and when you

get all the stuff you don't want a cookie so you make this up as you go along or not I make it up right. That's what I'm going to go well for. Stick around for you how to beat the neighbors. I can cook better the neighbors that he's you know I just know you're going to enjoy and I ask for them to get Lee Harvey one of these aprons I love that feeling of doing something and going to think Annika is going to be back tomorrow. Britney Happy birthday my little girl to 30. Happy Birthday Britney. NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is made possible in part with support from the London Foundation

working to strengthen rural communities. Throughout Minnesota. And by the McKnight Foundation looking to strengthen families in communities across Minnesota.