Word: auctioner
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Last week a painting was sold at auction in London for $39.9 million or, in real money, some 5.8 billion yen. This was the highest price ever paid for a work of art. The multimillion-dollar marvel is now a commonplace of the '80s: a Turner went for $10 million in 1984, a Mantegna for $10.4 million and a Van Gogh for $9.9 million in 1985, and a Rembrandt for $10.3 million and a Manet for $11 million in 1986. Nevertheless, this one brought in more than three times the previous record established in 1983 with the sale...
...idea that shows particular promise is the concept of auctioned quotas. Rather than just giving away the import allowances, proponents ask, why not sell off the quotas to the highest bidders? Under the current system the U.S. leaves it to foreign governments to decide how quotas should be apportioned among their companies, which pay no money for the exporting privileges. But under an auction plan, the U.S.-based companies that import the products would bid directly to the Federal Government for a share of the quota, bringing a whole new source of income to the U.S. Treasury...
...concept appears to be gaining momentum. Montana Democrat Max Baucus , plans to introduce, possibly this week, a Senate bill proposing that auctions be tried out in the next three cases in which the U.S. imposes temporary quotas. Many economists, most of whom reject protectionism in general, see quotas as sometimes inevitable and thus regard the auction system as a way for the U.S. to get maximum benefit from them...
...Reagan Administration has opposed the concept of mandatory auctions. One reason: foreign governments may become less willing to agree to quotas with the U.S., since the Government would be reaping the excess profits that foreign companies once took home. But in the minds of many politicians on Capitol Hill, that windfall revenue is precisely what makes the auction idea so alluring...
...other $22 billion would come in part from gimmicks that the White House used to call revenue enhancements. One proposed strategy is the sale of Government-owned assets to private investors. Among items that could make it to the auction block are the Amtrak rail system and several regional power- marketing administrations, which sell electricity to local utilities. Reagan is putting forward a plan in which the Government would sell $8 billion worth of the loans it has made to students, small businesses and other debtors. Private investment companies would buy the loans and then collect the interest and principal...