Online Investors Are Customers, Too

By publishing ''Our guide to online investing'' (Cover Story, May 24), you have completely eliminated any apprehensions I had about joining the ranks of online investors. Well done, BUSINESS WEEK.

Michael A. Mikrut
Boscobel, Wis.


I currently use four online brokers, simply because it is difficult to trust them. This is caused either by lack of telephone or E-mail support or by being disconnected while keeping the site idle for only 15 minutes.

A little bit of research and thinking is still necessary prior to placing an online trade. Having to log in every 15 minutes, as is the case at Waterhouse Securities Inc., is time-consuming, annoying, and frustrating. I think there is a lot of room for improvement in services and customer support. Whoever is the first to understand that top-notch service is still very important to customers will win the battle of signing up the most customers.

Melvin Renowden
Willowbrook, Ill.

Manufacturing Was Never on the Floor

Your story says: ''The factory sector is on the mend, albeit slowly.'' This assumption was based largely on the misleading behavior of the National Association of Purchasing Management index (''Manufacturing is finally ready to get up off the floor,'' News: Analysis & Commentary, May 17).

The alleged recession in manufacturing never took place. While the NAPM index was well below 50, the Federal Reserve index of industrial production and the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures of real manufactured output both showed growth rates of more than 4% in 1998.

Nonfarm business gross domestic product grew 4.6% in 1998. Since manufacturing accounts for one-fifth of GDP, its growth should be assumed to be in the same range, and the statistics bear this out. Using the BLS measure, manufactured output rose by 4.2% in 1998, slower than the 6.5% gain achieved in 1997 but still quite robust.

What you also fail to capture is that manufacturing has grown faster than the economy as a whole in the 1990s. From 1991 to 1998, total manufactured output grew by only 3.0% annually. From 1990 to 1998, manufacturing productivity grew by 3.7% annually, more than double the productivity growth rate of the overall nonfarm business sector.

Furthermore, the contribution of manufacturing to growth has increased. In 1992 to 1997, manufacturing contributed fully 27% of growth in GDP, much higher than its contribution during the 1980s and significantly higher than the contribution from services.

Gordon Richards
National Association of Manufacturers
Washington

To read a correction/clarification about this letter, click here.

Hey, at Least Something Got Sold

''Sing a song of selling'' (Marketing, May 24) was right on the mark. A few days ago, I saw a car commercial featuring the Doobie Brothers performing Rocking Down the Highway. The song revived old memories. I can't tell you what car was being advertised, but I did purchase the Doobie Brothers CD. I am sure that wasn't the intent of the car company, but it worked for the Doobie Brothers and me.

David Ryg
Rockford, Ill.

Online Recruiting Needs Fine-Tuning

I have been involved with the executive search business for almost 20 years and am glad to see that the rapid growth of executive online services is finally receiving the attention it deserves (''Headhunting 2000,'' Management, May 17). I was, however, disappointed in the focus of the part of the story called ''Searching the Net for your next gig''--about the online services that specialize in posting volumes of resumes and job listings. The increasing pressure to identify qualified job candidates quickly is pushing many headhunters and companies to take advantage of specialized services that cater to a specific level of employee.

Good recruiters simply don't have time to wade through hundreds of inappropriate resumes received from a too-broadly posted job listing. And ''smart'' job seekers shouldn't waste their time searching through thousands of job listings that don't match their level or skills.

Each month, I have occasion to speak with hundreds of industry executives and executive job seekers. The consensus among these people is that static resumes and huge job databases have their place, but at the executive level they are not the most efficient or effective means for finding the appropriate candidates or the best jobs.

David B. Theobald
President
Netshare Inc.
Novato, Calif.

Americans Deserve More Vacation

My company used to have a rule that, after three years, you got three weeks of vacation. They just sent out a memo saying: Sorry, from now on you have to wait 10 years to get three weeks--which is galling, since you know the guy(s) making these decisions get plenty of vacation, thank you very much. Not to speak of the injustice of changing the terms of employment in midstream (''Less downtime for the Continent,'' Up Front, May 24).

We're always hearing stories here in the U.S. about how overworked Americans are and how productivity levels keep going up and up. Yet there are no minimum standards for vacation time.

Maybe I'm especially sensitive to this because I have lived and worked in both Europe and South America, where conditions for employees are much better. Most places in South America, everybody down to the janitor gets a minimum of three weeks by law. I know I cannot expect much from a country that doesn't even mandate employers to offer health insurance to their employees, but don't you think we should start talking about this?

Frances Del Rio
Oakland, Calif.

Welfare Reform Is Working--for Some

I was astounded by Gary S. Becker's ''Guess what? Welfare reform works'' (Economic Viewpoint, May 24), contending that reform is a great success. Perhaps it is, if the only criterion for success is that the number of people on the public assistance rolls is down. Few states are making any effort to track the progress of former recipients. Those of us in churches and social service agencies, however, are quite likely to encounter them.

Yes, people are getting off welfare. They are getting low-paying jobs (as Becker admits) that cannot support their families in dignified conditions. Many times, they have neither the transportation nor the child care to enable them to keep the job. According to recent statistics, California alone has more than 200,000 persons on the child-care assistance waiting list. An 18-month study by Network, a Roman Catholic social justice organization, surveyed 2,555 people at 59 social service agencies in 10 states. More than 67% of the respondents were ''disconnected,'' that is, receiving no assistance and having no job. Of the adults, 43% said they were eating less because they could not afford food, and 24% said their children had to skip meals. Close to 30% said they had to forgo needed medical care.

I agree that stable employment and self-reliance are desirable and increase feelings of self-esteem. However, the present ''reform'' is not providing either one. If in our callous disregard for our fellow citizens, we consider this situation successful, we are sadly losing our sense of the common good.

Carol E. Warren
Justice & Life Office
Catholic Diocese of
Wheeling-Charleston
Webster Springs, W.Va.


Becker spoke of the economic boom but not of the impact the 1997 immigration law was having on welfare-to-work vis-a-vis a well-orchestrated inflow of immigrants to the U.S., thus reducing competition for unskilled labor between welfare recipients and new immigrants.

In addition, the Nobel laureate forgot to mention the huge transfer payments to corporations in the form of tax breaks (averaging $10,000 per candidate, pre-screened and trained). Is this a transfer of tax revenues to the rich under the guise of social reform?

Keith Bernard
Far Rockaway, N.Y.

Let's Keep TVs Off the Dashboard

While reading ''Hello, Internet'' (Special Report, May 3), I started to get chest pains. You quote Sven-Christer Nilsson, CEO of Ericsson, saying: ''One day, you will watch your favorite soap opera in the car on your way home.''

Maybe it's just that I am a New Yorker, but I seem to spend half my driving time avoiding cars driven by people who have a cell phone wedged between their shoulder and their ear. They are usually gesticulating wildly with both hands while presumably steering their car with their knee jammed under the steering wheel (works fine on straight roads--tough on curves). Occasionally, they also have their eyes focused on the cigarette or cigar they are lighting. It's not too bad, though. These people usually don't drift across more than two lanes at any one time. The trick is to anticipate their drift and vacate that space.

I am not a Luddite. Cell phones are handy. Watching TV while driving is dangerous. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be.

Michael T. Lubov
New York

An Athletic Shoe of Her Own

It is nice to see that manufacturers are developing athletic shoes for women (''A shoe of one's own,'' Design, May 24). Certainly our feet are different from men's, and the emerging trend of the female athlete has finally proved this to manufacturers. At 6 feet 1 inch, with a women's size 12, I am still forced to wear men's athletic shoes--but I hope not for long. It is time retailers and manufacturers start stocking larger women's sizes to meet the needs of the new female athlete.

Shana Grannan
Women's Crew Team
Trinity College
Hartford