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Electronic mail--known as e-mail in the alphabet-soup jargon of computer-speak--can be a very efficient way of disseminating internal information throughout an organization. After all, goes the conventional logic, a push [...]

Credit card users should consider purpose and the interest rates in selecting cards. Some companies charge no annual fee or as little as 6.9% annual interest rate. Charges such as for the two-cycle method and daily compounding may add to unexpected fees.

The article discusses the growing software industry resulting from the increased popularity of the personal computer in the U.S. as of June 1983, with particular attention given to small companies and individual publishers producing computer programs. Several such individuals and enterprises are presented, including Joseph Ming of Quick Brown Fox, George Weinberger of Health Information Systems (HIS), and James Schuyler of DesignWare.

The article looks at U.S. control systems and terminals company Intelligent Systems (ISC) and its founder Charles A. Muench Jr. as of June 7, 1982. The author discusses the initiation of the company, its customers, and its merger with one of its supplier Esterline Corp. Special attention is paid to Muench's product prototypes and his ideas for raising capital.

This article discusses the "other agenda" of politicians that has nothing to do with the need for roads, the safety of bridges, and the capacity of new sever in the U.S. The right amount of money is spent in total, but not necessarily in the right way or for right projects or efficiently. It's impossible to tell whether the infrastructure is truly crumbling. If all the roads had been repaved last summer, there would be potholes today. In fact, there are indications from around the country that catch-up work is under way. Nevertheless, there are studies that say the problem is still serious. The U.S. Joint Economic Committee of Congress recently said $1.2 trillion should be spent on roads, water supply and sewer systems in the U.S. through the year 2000.

The article discusses U.S. government statistics on poverty as of August 29, 1983. Attention is paid to the setting of a poverty level, the definition for hunger and malnutrition, as well as the negative impact of financial incentives for poor people resulting in their choice to stay poor. The influence of the politics of the Administration of President Ronald Reagan on the poor is also addressed.

The article discusses the management company Investors Diversified Services with over $5 Billion in mutual fund assets and is planning to expand its sales workforce to 3,600 salesmen. It also discusses the Bache and Prudential merge and their management of load funds, and investment in utility stocks.

FOR PATRICK DAULTON it was an important purchase. The president of C.I. Title Inc., in St. Paul, Minn., bought five personal computers in 1985 to automate his company's accounting department [...]

This article informs that there is no shortage of ego surrounding Radiation Systems Inc. (RSI) of Sterling, Virginia. RSI has achieved a five-year average return on equity of 20.4% on little debt. It's a far cry from the early 1970s, when RSI lost money four years running. RSI had consistently underestimated its costs of building antennas for its military customers, and had overengineered the products. The company also signed over its designs to the military, which then could contract with the lowest bidder for future orders.

The article reports that Nabu Network Corp., an Otawa-based company, is trying to send computer software to consumers through cable television. The company already has two test markets-one in Ottawa, where it has 1,400 subscribers, or 2% of that city's cable subscribers. In Alexandria, Virginia the service has been introduced to 20,000 cable television subscribers through Tribune Cable System. With an adapter furnished by Nabu, the subscriber connects his home computer to his cable television line and types in the necessary commands to pick up software he selects from Nabu's onscreen menu.

The article looks at the rate of U.S. personal savings in the context of the statistics of the Commerce Department as of November 21, 1983. Topics include gross private savings, including both personal and business savings, the economic aspects of savings rates, and the relationship between income and savings. Graphical data on the gross personal and gross business savings is also presented.

The article focuses on the marketing of aspartame food additive in the United States as of November 7, 1983 with particular focus on research carried out in relation to its possible impact on health. Special attention is paid to a study on aspartame by brain scientist Richard Wurtman which suggested aspartame-related "changes in mood and behavior." Also investigated are efforts to market aspartame by life science company G.D. Searle and Co.'s NutraSweet division president Robert Shapiro.

The article discusses Richard Francis' opinion on the existence of Solar Energy and Energy Conservation Bank as its head as of October 1983.

The article looks at the sales of the Four-Wheel Wonder hand truck in the U.S. as of October 1982 with a focus on its design and versions of the product introduced by various companies on the U.S. market.

The article discusses New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trader and registered competitive market maker (RCMM) Robert Brooks, focusing on his business practices as of October 1982. The risks posed by his trading methods, the beginning of his career at stock brokerage firm Stern, Frank, Meyer & Fox, and his daily routine at the NYSE are described.

A biography of Edward Yardeni, the chief economist of U.S. brokerage house E.F. Hutton & Co. is presented as of June 7, 1982, with particular attention paid to his forecasts of the U.S. economy. The author discusses Yardeni's prediction for the recession in the country to become a depression, his forecasts for economic recovery, and advice on investing in cash reserves.

The article discusses availability and features of telephone answering machine systems in the U.S. Topics explored include the mechanical problems encountered by entrepreneur Stanley Halbreich with the Record-A-Call 80-A answering machine, the average response rate he received with a simpler system, and the retail price of the Phonesitter P-50 answering machine. The after-hours call recording services being offered by International Telephone and Telegraph Co. are also described.

The article focuses on the plan of money manager Gray, Seifert & Co. to expand into Australia while still maintaining a small presence in the U.S. Topics discussed include the role of the 200 million U.S. dollars in assets in the money manager's venture into the fastest growing Pacific Basin, the reason money manager Miles Seifert prefer to invest in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore and the success seen by Seifert in his venture into Canadian oil stocks.

The article discusses royalty spin offs of companies in the 1980s, and mentions topics including the spin off of Mesa Petroleum Co. by American business magnate Boone Pickens, the spin off of Houston Oil and Minerals, and the reaction of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to the spin offs.

The article reports that when bids opened recently for the cable-television franchise in Washington, D.C., Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. emerged as a powerful partner with District Cablevision Inc. as one of the three cable bidders. Before the breakup, entry into the huge cable market was forbidden by law. Big cable companies are conspicuously absent from the list of Washington bidders. The city is 70% black, which the cable firms probably figure means a less affluent market. Some cities at best have been disappointments, sometimes disasters.

The article focuses on the business deals of Victor Posner, Universal Housing & Development Co., which recently merged into his Security Management Corp. (SMC). Some of Universal's 1,700 minority shareholders complain that they have been taken to the cleaners. Back in 1971 Universal was a money-losing real estate investment trust that had invested in a portfolio of FHA-VA mortgages. Posner, a trustee who owned about 5.6% of Universal, offered to help. He sold overvalued and mortgaged properties to Universal in exchange for more than 4 million newly issued shares, giving him an 8 1.6% stake, plus $463,000 to his SMC.

The article discusses the unresponsiveness of U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration to local companies' calls for protection from imports. Topics addressed include the U.S. government's support of free trade, the strong U.S. dollar's role in making American products expensive abroad, and the lack of protectionist laws despite the industrial recession's severity. Also mentioned are importers' development of their own strong constituency and the U.S. share of world imports.

The article discusses deposit insurance for U.S. money brokers provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) as of December 5, 1983.

The article discusses the consumer advocacy of H. David Meyers, head of U.S. credit card distributor Timesaver Inc., by offering MasterCard and Visa cards to people considered by most banks as unworthy of credit and mentions topics including a television and direct-mail campaign of Timesaver.

The article looks at the profits of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), headed by William F. Bolger, as of August 1, 1983. Attention is paid to the impact of inflation on USPS performance, the reduction of the workforce through attrition, and the impact of automation on job security. The positive effect of USPS profitability on the U.S. economy is mentioned as well.

The article looks at the taxation of private foundations in the U.S. as of July 1983, focusing on legislation restricting their financial activities and the possibility for its liberalization. The assets held by private foundations are compared to the sums they contribute to charities. The distribution of government grants among charities, the Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives established by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and support for small private foundations are discussed.

The article discusses the operations of the U.S. trade association Hazardous Waste Treatment Council as of July 1983 with a focus on waste disposal methods and the views of its executive director Richard Fortuna.

The article looks at Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) in the U.S. and demands by politicians and interest groups for the creation of similar accounts to finance housing, education, and vocational training as of July 1983. The mechanisms of proposed IRA-type savings accounts are presented. Forecasts by accounting analysts regarding the possibility for the introduction of such accounts and a study on IRAs by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are also included.

The article looks at municipal bond research focusing on municipal bond analyst Robert Adler and the financial problems of utility Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) as of June 6, 1983.

The article focuses on the decision of Charles Muench Jr., founder of three computer companies, to become chief executive officer (CEO) at one of them, Intelligent Systems Corp. (ISC), relevant as of May 23, 1983, because of the departure of ISC's CEO, Peter Curnin.

The article examines the leveraged buyout of Signode Corp. in 1982. 8.1% of the company is held by Victor Posner through his Sharon Steel Corp., with an announcement of raising the share to 15.1%. Other topics covered include Signode's cash flow, sales and performance in the U.S. stock market in 1981, the efforts of leveraged-buyout specialist Robert F. Mancuso to become a key competitor of Kohlberg-Roberts & Co., and the rationale behind leveraged buyouts.

The article announces the appointment of Richard Sandulli as head of the New York mergers and acquisition office of Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co.

The article reports developments in the interstate banking industry in the U.S. as of mid-February 1982. It cites the proposal by New York's Chemical Bank to acquire a 70 million dollar interest in Florida National Banks. It also features the Florida Bankers Association, Canadian bank Royal Trustco, and the Royal Trust Bank Corp.

The article features corporate finance department head of Oppenheimer & Co. Lester Pollack. Several issues discussed are his decision to leave food processor company United Brands, his retention as consultant and United Brand as a possible client for Oppenheimer. Pollack mentions that the goal of Oppenheimer is to acquire companies for profit either through resale or increase in the value of investment over time.

The article explores the reasons Salant Corp. decided to remove itself from the U.S. denim market, which includes forecasts that the firm is expected to lose 8.5 million dollars as well as its earning collapse caused by a third-quarter 1981 writeoff in its jeans business. Topics discussed include how the company's exit from its original business took a lot of research and soul-searching and the role of board director George Herman in continued losses from the jeans business.

The article discuses the impact of gold trading on prices of gold accessories as of August 1981 and mentions topics such as the price of a necklace at Cartier Inc. and a Rolex gold-band watch from the Tourneau watch shop in New York City.

The article discusses Wassily W. Leontief who is partnering with the Service Bureau Inc., which is owned by the Control Data Corporation.