Talk & Speculation

news.mysanantonio.com San Antonio Express-News Web Posted : 02/28/2003 12:00 AM   Anxiety now frames life and business Feeling nervous these days? Get used to it, Cox News Service says.

Fortune (March 3) says the "orange alert" is the new reality for business and consumers: "American businesses and consumers are going virtually nowhere economically. The metaphor we keep hearing is that they're frozen by anxiety over war (with Iraq)," the magazine says.

Although the government lowered the alert to yellow Thursday, anxiety isn't expected to subside until the Iraq situation is resolved.

The more likely reality is that we're seeing the start of a fundamentally new model of how we live and do business, based on the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the magazine reports.

And then there's oil On that same theme, The Economist (Feb. 28) says trying to assess the economic consequences of a war with Iraq is tricky because of the vast number unknowns and contingencies, especially those related to the price and supply of oil.

"Oil prices have already reached their highest level for two years," the magazine says. "The conventional wisdom is that prices will fall sharply once a war is over, just as they did in 1991" after the Gulf War.

But even if the war is as short, oil prices may not fall as much this time because of the disruptions in Venezuela's oil output.

Try to catch up Spooked by the bear market in stocks, older Americans who have 401(k) plans are not jumping at the chance to put away more money for retirement, Kiplinger's Personal Finance (March) reports.

But they could, as two years ago Congress changed the tax law to permit people age 50 and over to make extra "catch-up contributions."

"Part of the problem is that only about two-thirds of employers have made the complicated changes necessary for their plans to accept the extra contributions," the magazine says.

But it's expected that most employers will add one to their plans by the end of the year, Kiplinger's says.

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