Economic Slump in U.S. to Worsen as Consumers Get 'Squeezed' The U.S. economic slump will extend into 2009 as the longest expansion in consumer spending on record comes to an end, according to a Bloomberg News survey. The world's largest economy will grow at an average 0.7 percent annual pace from July through December, half the gain in the first six months of the year, according to the median forecast of 50 economists surveyed from Aug. 1 to Aug. 8. Household spending, which has grown every quarter since 1992, is projected to stall in the last three months of the year as the impact of tax rebates fades, wages fail to keep up with inflation and property values fall. The jobless rate, now at 5.7 percent, will reach a five-year high of 6 percent in early 2009.
Federal Reserve Policymakers Will Hold the Line on Interest Rates - At Least for Now With oil trading near a three-month low (and corn now at a four-month low), U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers may have just the ammunition they need to hold the line on interest rates for the foreseeable future - or at least until their Sept. 16 policymaking meeting. On the other hand, threats of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and geopolitical turmoil in Iraq, Turkey, Nigeria - and now the fireworks between Russia and Georgia - could spark a dramatic reversal in sentiment and renew fears of supply disruptions. However, this week’s economic calendar contains the types of reports that will factor into the musings of Federal Reserve policymakers with regards to interest rates.
Credit Card Industry Faces Reforms Congress, Federal Reserve Propose Tighter Rules to Protect Consumers Stricter regulation of the credit card industry will probably be approved by the end of the year, consumer advocates, members of Congress and banking officials said as the comment period on the Federal Reserve's proposed actions drew to a close last week. Nearly 56,000 comments poured into the agency via e-mail and regular mail, a record response for any Fed proposal, said agency spokeswoman Susan Stawick. Both the Fed and Congress are working to tighten rules on the credit card industry. The large response to the Fed's proposal comes on the heels of congressional action on the issue. The House Financial Services Committee moved Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney's Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights out of committee on July 31. The measure would prohibit unexpected increases in the rates charged on pre-existing credit card balances, among other things. Observers said the New York Democrat's bill probably wouldn't pass the Senate this year because time is running out.
FDIC Fund Strained by Bank Failures May Have to Raise Premiums The failure of IndyMac Bancorp Inc. and seven other banks this year may erase as much as 17 percent of a government insurance fund and raise premiums for all banks, from Franklin National of Minneapolis to Bank of America Corp. The closing of IndyMac in July, the third-biggest U.S. bank failure, may cost the fund $4 billion to $8 billion, in addition to an estimated $1.16 billion for seven closures through Aug. 1. Premiums for deposit insurance will likely rise, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said in a July 30 interview. A decision on the increase is due by the fourth quarter.
Rich hit by property crunch - super-rich unscathed REIGNING over 68th Street between Central Park and the designer shops of Fifth Avenue, the Henry T Sloane mansion has one of the most desirable addresses in Manhattan. Finished in 1905 and designed by CPH Gilbert, architect to New York’s rich at the turn of the century, the mansion was built in Manhattan’s “Great House” era and its 19,000 sq ft provide 30 living rooms, 15 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and five terraces. Sloane, heir to a luxury furniture firm whose clients included the White House and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, built the mansion after the collapse of his marriage to a society beauty. Jessie, the former Mrs Sloane, remarried five hours after her divorce came through. Sloane never married again.
Bringing Down Bear Began as $1.7 Million of Unsuspected Options On March 11, the day the Federal Reserve attempted to shore up confidence in the credit markets with a $200 billion lending program that for the first time monetized Wall Street's devalued collateral, somebody else decided Bear Stearns Cos. was going to collapse. In a gambit with such low odds of success that traders question its legitimacy, someone wagered $1.7 million that Bear Stearns shares would suffer an unprecedented decline within days. Options specialists are convinced that the buyer, or buyers, made a concerted effort to drive the fifth-biggest U.S. securities firm out of business and, in the process, reap a profit of more than $270 million.
The Great Panic How the world changed one day last summer. It can be tricky trying to pin down the beginning or end of world events. When asked about the impact of the French Revolution nearly two centuries later, Zhou Enlai replied: "It is too soon to tell." Still, the birth of the credit crunch—the child of a burst bubble in housing—can be traced to a Thursday last summer, a day when many Wall Street executives, bankers, and government officials were enjoying their vacations. On August 9, 2007, it became clear that fear had paralyzed the world's credit markets. The question was no longer only about the quality of assets or the availability of cash. Everything was suspect and no one was willing to take any chances. The world had turned subprime.
Hit the Fannie No sign of turnaround as mortgage giant reports a big loss. If Freddie Mac's big loss on Wednesday was scary, the whopper from Fannie Mae today should really give fright. The biggest buyer of U.S. mortgages has reported a loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.54 per share, for its second quarter, more than triple the estimates by analysts. It was the fourth consecutive quarterly loss and follows a first-quarter loss of $2.5 billion. The second-quarter loss was chiefly a result of the addition of $3.7 billion to its provision for credit losses, now totaling $5.4 billion. To shore up its capital, Fannie is cutting its dividend to 5 cents from 25 cents per share. It is also planning to cut its operating costs by 10 percent by the end of next year and has previously announced that it is increasing the fees it charges lenders and brokers.
UBS's Clients Pull Funds as Securities Losses Mount UBS AG, the world's biggest money manager for the wealthy, may report tomorrow that private-banking clients removed funds for the first time in almost eight years in the second quarter as losses at the securities unit mounted. Clients probably withdrew a net 5 billion Swiss francs ($4.6 billion) in the period, according to the median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. UBS's wealth management units, which oversee 1.84 trillion francs, attracted an average of 37.9 billion francs in each quarter last year.
Paulson Says No Plan Is Afoot to Rescue Mortgage Agencies The Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., said Sunday there are no plans to use his new authority to inject capital into mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which both posted worse-than-expected earnings last week. “We have no plans to insert money into either of those two institutions,” Mr. Paulson said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” broadcast Sunday from Beijing. He added that their earnings results were “not a surprise.” Mr. Paulson and Congress brokered a plan last month to bolster the two government-sponsored enterprises that includes giving the Treasury the right to buy their shares. Fannie and Freddie, which account for almost half of the $12 trillion mortgage market, reported losses three times worse than estimated, prompting some analysts to predict that Mr. Paulson will have to act.
Paulson: Give stimulus plan time to work Treasury secretary taking wait-and-see approach on idea of possible second economic aid plan Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to a second round of economic aid. That's an idea congressional Democrats are pushing. Paulson says the $168 billion program of tax rebate checks that President Bush signed into law in February was the right size to help the struggling economy this year. For now, he wants to see how it ends up helping the economy in the July through September period. Paulson also worries about driving the budget deficit higher. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will vote on a second relief plan when lawmakers return in September from their summer vacation. She believes more is needed to counter higher gasoline prices and other costs.
Credit Crisis Triggers Unprecedented U.S. Response Since the credit crisis erupted a year ago, the Bush administration has presided over one of the broadest expansions of the government into private lending in U.S. history, risking public money to prop up financial firms both large and small. The administration has transformed federal agencies into dominant players in such diverse realms as student lending and mortgage finance while exposing itself to trillions of dollars in loans.
Our $100 Trillion National Debt The "official" debt of the United States is only around $10 trillion dollars as of August 6, 2008. This is a manageable number; we could pay it off in a few decades if we quit buying luxuries like food and clothing, and take a few other minor economy measures. Unfortunately, the "$10 trillion" number was produced by government accounting, which among other things allows one to ignore Social Security, Medicare, and the new prescription drug benefit. This is like ignoring rent, food, and utilities in your household budget… it will lead to a few bounced checks. Our real debt is about Who says so? The President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, Richard W. Fisher. In a May speech at the Commonwealth Club of California, he states that the US national debt is close to $100 trillion. You can read his whole speech at the Federal Reserve web site.
Storms on the Horizon Remarks before the Commonwealth Club of California by Dallas Federal Reserve President - Richard W. Fisher San Francisco, California May 28, 2008 Thank you, Bruce [Ericson]. I am honored to be here this evening and am grateful for the invitation to speak to the Commonwealth Club of California. Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, two of Ben Bernanke’s linear ancestors as chairmen of the Federal Reserve, have been in the news quite a bit lately. Yet, we rarely hear about William McChesney Martin, a magnificent public servant who was Fed chairman during five presidencies and to this day holds the record for the longest tenure: 19 years. Chairman Martin had a way with words. And he had a twinkle in his eye. It was Bill Martin who wisely and succinctly defined the Federal Reserve as having the unenviable task "to take away the punchbowl just as the party gets going." He did himself one up when he received the Alfalfa Club’s nomination for the presidency of the United States. I suspect many here tonight have been to the annual Alfalfa dinner. It is one of the great institutions in Washington, D.C. Once a year, it holds a dinner devoted solely to poking fun at the political pretensions of the day. Tongue firmly in cheek, the club nominates a candidate to run for the presidency on the Alfalfa Party ticket. Of course, none of them ever win. Nominees are thenceforth known for evermore as members of the Stassen Society, named for Harold Stassen, who ran for president nine times and lost every time, then ran a tenth time on the Alfalfa ticket and lost again. The motto of the group is Veni, Vidi, Defici—"I came, I saw, I lost."
Arizona Developers Welcome Spillover From Las Vegas KINGMAN, Ariz. — It seems fitting that the most prominent resident to emerge from this dusty desert outpost is Andy Devine, a Western actor who was best known for playing helpmates to the likes of John Wayne and Roy Rogers. Fitting because Kingman, an area of just 40,000 people, is poised to become the freshest face in the Sun Belt’s growth spurt. But even as Kingman rises, the question remains whether it will become a star in its own right or, like its famous son, is destined to be a sidekick to the region’s flashier metropolises, particularly Las Vegas. Two major developers based in Nevada — Rhodes Homes and the Mardian Group — have won approval to build communities in the Kingman area that, by 2040, could have a combined 80,000 new homes. The mayor of Kingman, John Salem, predicts that would mean an additional 150,000 residents, a conservative estimate by other accounts. LOST SOVEREIGNITY OIL-RICH FUND EYEING FORECLOSED US HOMES There's a new land grab starting in America. Foreign money, which up to now has focused its attention on investing in iconic commercial real estate - like Barneys New York and the Chrysler Building - is now moving to scoop up tens of thousands of discounted foreclosed homes across the country. One sovereign fund, said to have earmarked $29 billion to purchase foreclosed residential real estate, recently hired a West Coast mortgage broker and is starting to search for bargains, The Post has learned. The search, which is being carried out, in part, by Field Check Group mortgage consultant Mark Hanson, who was retained by the broker, Steve Iversen, is concentrating on single- and multi-family REO (real estate owned) homes, or homes that have already been taken over by the mortgagee.
American-style credit ensnares consumers overseas ISTANBUL: In Turkey, where borrowing money was until very recently a family affair, being in debt carried a fearful stigma. Some here even likened it to the disgrace that drives people to commit the honor killings that still occur in parts of this society. "People who would kill their sisters or daughters for bringing shame on the family would do anything to avoid being labeled a debtor," said Nazim Kaya, the president of Consumers Union, an advocacy group that helps those who fall into debt. But in a cultural shift that has swept aside centuries of tradition, credit cards have become commonplace here. Only three decades ago, Turkey had fewer than 10,000 cards; today it has more than 38 million. As the American blessing of credit cards became widespread, so did the American curse of debt. Outstanding card debt here ballooned to nearly $18 billion last year, six times the level five years earlier. Default rates spiked and consumer groups protested sky-high interest charges. Newspapers were filled with stories of desperate card holders killing themselves or others.
Dollar hits 6-month high against euro Asian stocks rose Monday and the dollar hit a six-month high against the euro after oil briefly slipped below $115 a barrel and a view that the U.S. dollar's long-term decline is nearing an end gained ground. Government bond prices also climbed, suggesting the rally in equities thinly covered fears that the impact of the U.S. economic slowdown on the rest of the world may have been underestimated. Popular trades like betting against the dollar and financial sector shares while speculating on a rise in oil prices were slashed last week. On Friday the euro recorded its largest single-day decline against the dollar in 7-1/2 years. However, the direction of oil prices remained key.
Turbulence in the European Economy Sparks a Dollar Rally The U.S. greenback surged Friday, capping off the biggest weekly dollar rally in three and a half years, as the euro slumped on speculation the European economy would continue to weaken. The euro fell as low as $1.5008 Friday afternoon, dropping more than 2% from $1.5325 Thursday - the biggest one-day drop since Sept. 6, 2000. Against the yen, the European currency traded at 165.84, from 167.70. In the dollar rally, the euro has declined 3.1% against the greenback in its fourth weekly decline.
Violent S. American Jewel Thieves May Be Hitting Smaller U.S. Cities he FBI is investigating whether a violent, well-organized ring of South American jewelry thieves is expanding its operations away from large metropolitan areas such as New York, Miami, Houston and Chicago and hitting targets in smaller cities in the South. In one incident in Little Rock, diamond merchant Faramarz Hakimian, 48, of New York had just pulled into the parking lot of an upscale strip mall July 29 when two masked men jumped out of a black Chevrolet behind him, smashed his car windows, pulled a gun and told him to lie down on the seat. The assailants took his keys and stole a satchel with half a million dollars' worth of jewelry from the car's back seat, all in broad daylight in front of witnesses at the jewelry shop that Hakimian had come to visit. Arkansas police and FBI agents say the attack may be related to similar robberies of jewelry salesmen in Pine Bluff, Ark., on June 26 and in Nashville on June 24. In Pine Bluff, a Los Angeles salesman was accosted at knifepoint in a parking lot, where robbers stole diamonds hidden in his socks and stabbed him in the back in a scuffle.
Iran nuclear row hurts neighbours KUWAIT: US-allied Kuwait urged Iran yesterday to resolve tensions with the West over its nuclear programme, saying the dispute undermined the interests of Gulf states with which it shares a vital oil export route. “This basin (the Gulf) we all share. Talk of closing the Strait of Hormuz has a great impact on us,” official news agency Kuna quoted Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Mohamed al-Salem al-Sabah as saying in a television interview. Kuna quoted him as saying Kuwait would not allow the US to launch an attack on Iran from its soil.
Israel irked over Iranian leader's planned visit to Turkey Israel has conveyed its misgivings to Turkey over a planned visit to the country by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an Israeli diplomat said Friday. "We are concerned about this visit because we think it is not the appropriate time to host the Iranian president," the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told AFP. Israel voiced its concerns Thursday when the Turkish ambassador in Tel Aviv was summoned to the Israeli foreign ministry and the Israeli ambassador in Ankara visited the Turkish foreign ministry, the official said. "It is not a good idea to give legitimacy" to a leader who has called for the destruction of Israel and denies the Holocaust, moreover at a time when Western powers are mulling fresh sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, he said.
War with Iran: On, Off or Undecided? There's good news and bad, mostly the latter but don't discount the good. On May 22, (non-binding) HR 362 was introduced in the House - with charges and proposals so outlandish that if passed and implemented will be a blockade and act of war. It accused Iran of: [read the laundry list online; consider the source] Egypt warns Israel of war on Iran Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit says an Israeli attack on Iran may cause heavy losses for Tel Aviv and the region as a whole, PressTV reported. In an interview with the Egyptian Nile TV channel, Abul Gheit expressed his doubt over the effectiveness of military strikes against Iran for solving the standoff over the country's nuclear program.
Massive US Naval Armada Heads For Iran Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area. The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force".
Oil rises on Russia-Georgia conflict Oil rises on concerns Russia-Georgia conflict may widen and disrupt supplies Oil prices rebounded Monday on concerns a widening conflict between Russia and Georgia over a the breakaway province of South Ossetia could disrupt supplies in the region. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose $1.16 cents to $116.36 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by noon in Europe. The contract fell $4.82 on Friday to settle at $115.20 a barrel. "The market is watching what happens there closely," said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank in Melbourne. "It's not a major oil producer, but there are major transport links to Europe through that region."
Georgia Retreats, Pleads for Truce; U.S. Condemns Russian Onslaught OUTSIDE TSKHINVALI, Georgia, Aug. 10 -- The Georgian army, suffering massive casualties in the face of overwhelming Russian firepower, retreated from the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Sunday. Georgian leaders' recent expressions of defiance turned increasingly into pleas for a cease-fire and Western support in the face of a military debacle. Russia ignored calls for a truce and continued to bomb targets deep in Georgia, with little apparent opposition, drawing new condemnation from the United States and other Western countries. President Bush spoke of his "grave concern about the disproportionate response," and the White House warned of serious setbacks in relations with Russia if the onslaught against a close U.S. ally did not end.
Georgia Pulls Out of South Ossetia As Crisis Spreads to Other Territory $$ TBILISI, Georgia – Georgia said Sunday a Russian-backed assault had begun in a second separatist territory, while claiming Georgian troops had withdrawn entirely from the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and were ready to observe a cease-fire. Georgia's foreign ministry said its country's troops had ceased hostilities in South Ossetia on President Mikhail Saakashvili's orders, and officials were ready to negotiate with Russia. "Georgia expresses its readiness to immediately start negotiations with the Russian Federation on cease-fire and termination of hostilities,'' the ministry said in a statement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov disputed Georgia's claim that its troops have pulled out of South Ossetia, but Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said his country is "ready to put an end to the war." The U.N. Security Council was meeting for the fourth time in as many days trying to resolve a conflict. Earlier, the head of Georgia's national security council, Alexander Lomaia, said that separatists in Abkhazia had launched an attack on Georgian troops in so-called Upper Abkhazia.
Analysis: roots of the conflict between Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia Twice over the past century, when the empire to the north weakened and Georgia declared its independence, the southern Ossetes revolted against Georgian rule. This happened in 1918-20, between the collapse of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union’s conquest of Georgia in 1921; and it happened again in our own time with the fall of the Soviet Union and its aftermath. In 1918-20, between 5,000 and 15,000 people died depending on whose figures you believe. For the conflicts since 1990, the figure is now around 4,000 and rising. Many factors are involved in the present conflict, but the central one is straightforward. It is that a majority of the Ossetes living south of the main Caucasus range in Georgia wish to unite with the Ossetes living to the north, in an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation.
Global Politics Ignite a Smoldering Dispute MOSCOW — For centuries, the status of South Ossetia has been a nagging irritant on Russia’s southern border — sometimes akin to a canker sore, and sometimes an ulcer. The Ossetians, who number about 60,000, are part of the patchwork of ethnic groups that inhabit the mountains of the Caucasus. They have long yearned for separation from Georgia, appealing to Russia, their northern neighbor, for support. Over the years, ethnic tension became a way of life in Tskhinvali, the provincial capital of South Ossetia, a city ringed by highlands where concrete street barriers were sometimes erected to keep the groups apart. During flare-ups, gangs of young men would ambush convoys on mountain roads. But global politics have breathed new life into the conflict, making it a flash point for resurgent tensions between former cold war rivals. Russia, especially, sees a threat of creeping American influence as its former satellites seek to join NATO. When Kosovo won Western backing for its bid for independence from Russia’s historical ally Serbia, the Kremlin answered by vowing to win similar status for South Ossetia and for the Black Sea enclave of Abkhazia, which fall inside Georgia’s borders. Georgian leaders, meanwhile, hoped to quiet the conflict once and for all before applying for NATO membership.
Taunting the Bear The hostilities between Russia and Georgia that erupted on Friday over the breakaway province of South Ossetia look, in retrospect, almost absurdly over-determined. For years, the Russians have claimed that Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, has been preparing to retake the disputed regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and have warned that they would use force to block such a bid. Mr. Saakashvili, for his part, describes today’s Russia as a belligerent power ruthlessly pressing at its borders, implacably hostile to democratic neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine. He has thrown in his lot with the West, and has campaigned ardently for membership in NATO. Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s former president and current prime minister, has said Russia could never accept a NATO presence in the Caucasus. The border between Georgia and Russia, in short, has been the driest of tinder; the only question was where the fire would start.
Bush 'deeply concerned' about Georgia-Russia conflict US President George W Bush on Saturday expressed deep "concern" over the fighting between Georgian and Russian troops in the South Ossetian crisis. "The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," Bush said, speaking in the Chinese capital Beijing where he attended the Olympic opening ceremonies on Friday. Bush called on the two sides to resolve the regional issue peacefully, adding that Georgia was a sovereign nation whose territorial integrity needed to be respected.
1,500 Reported Killed in Georgia Battle GORI, Georgia — Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia veered closer to all-out war on Saturday as Russia moved parts of its Black Sea fleet toward Georgia’s coast and intensified air attacks on Georgia, striking two apartment buildings in the city of Gori and clogging roads out of the area with fleeing refugees. Russia acknowledged that Georgian forces had shot down two Russian warplanes, while a senior Georgian official said the Georgians had destroyed 10 Russian jets. Russian armored vehicles continued to stream into South Ossetia, the pro-Russian region that won de facto autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s. The fighting that began when Georgian forces tried to retake the capital of the South Ossetia, Tskinvali, appeared to be developing into the worst clashes between Russia and a foreign military since the 1980s war with Afghanistan.
Georgia Not on Their Minds Even clashes near pipeline can't halt slide in oil prices. The world oil market is usually extremely sensitive to geopolitical conflict. Today, it seems numb to anything but movements in the dollar. Crude prices are sliding even as fighting intensifies in a region that plays a crucial role in the conduit of oil from the Caspian Sea, Georgia. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the benchmark oil futures contract fell as much as $4 this morning, to below $116 a barrel, before recovering a bit. Oil prices have declined by about 20 percent since drawing near $150 a barrel last month. Today's slump is driving a rally in U.S. stocks. Oil prices have been falling as the value of the dollar rises and amid signs of slowing demand. Oil on the world market is priced in dollars. But the slump also comes as Russian troops have entered South Ossetia, a pro-Moscow separatist region of Georgia.
Russia disputes claim of Georgian pullout TBILISI, Georgia - Russia's foreign minister is disputing Georgia's claim that its troops have pulled out of South Ossetia, the separatist region where fighting with Russian forces has killed hundreds this weekend. Earlier Sunday, Georgia said its troops were withdrawing and President Mikhail Saakashvili said he was calling a cease-fire. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov disputed that in a telephone call with his Georgian counterpart Eka Tkeshelashvili, a ministry statement said. In the call, "the Russian side brought in facts about the presence of Georgian forces in certain neighborhoods of Tskhinvali," the South Ossetian capital where fighting has been heaviest, the statement said.
Chinese Man Kills Relative of U.S. Olympic Coach BEIJING — A Chinese man wielding a knife attacked two American tourists related to an American Olympic volleyball coach on Saturday, killing one of them and wounding the other and their Chinese guide atop an ancient tower in central Beijing. The attacker then killed himself by leaping from the tower, according to American and Chinese officials. The attack occurred on the first day of the Olympic Games in Beijing, after a dazzling opening ceremony the previous night in which China sought to project an image of power and strength while welcoming hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors. As news of the killing spread, it darkened the mood somewhat in the city, from the warrens of old alleyways where Chinese are eager to open their homes to foreigners, to the stadiums where visitors waited in line for events like swimming and gymnastics. The dead American was Todd Bachman of Lakeville, Minn., the father-in-law of Hugh McCutcheon, the head indoor men’s volleyball coach, American Olympic officials said. The wounded American was McCutcheon’s mother-in-law, Barbara Bachman, who was in serious condition.
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