Word: compacter
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...their Government. Consumer installment debt, as a proportion of after-tax income, has risen from 14% in 1983 to 20% last year. Just as consumers during the '20s splurged on such newfangled products as radios and roadsters with rumble seats, today's shoppers have gone into deep hock for compact-disc players and Honda Preludes. The difference is that consumers in 1987 can choose from many more enticing borrowing vehicles, most notably an array of credit cards with huge credit lines at high interest rates. Potentially the most dangerous new device is the home-equity loan. Homeowners who borrow...
...just four months before the country's bicentennial, the Aborigines have reason to hope for better times. Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced earlier this month that he was seeking a "compact" of understanding with the powerless Aborigines. "Before 1987 is finished," said Hawke, "it would be good to have some clear acknowledgment that in the 200 years of European settlement, considerable injustice has been done to the Aboriginal people...
Hawke presumably hoped that by holding out the promise of an agreement, he would pre-empt plans by Aboriginal activists to turn the government's celebrations next year into a forum for their claims of racial inequality. Still, Hawke was vague about whether the compact would take the form of a new statute or a territorial treaty recognizing tribal land rights. What was important, he said, was "attitude and commitment...
...legendary events. Previous governments have simply ignored these traditional claims, arguing that the nomadic Aborigines could not have a sense of landownership. Moreover, Australian businesses are not likely to give up their stakes in tribal land rich in precious metals. There is also little popular support for a compact. One poll found that 52% of white Australians consider it a "waste of time and money." Said John Howard, leader of the opposition Liberal Party: "There is no way the Australian people will ever accept that in some way we are two nations within one -- nor should they...
...nest in the suburbs. The Reids' Colonial-style house has 15 rooms, including four bedrooms, a library and an exercise center. Stereo music can be piped into each room, and, using infrared remote-control devices, the family can operate the sound system and even select a track on a compact disc from any part of the house. The home also has 4 1/2 baths, six fireplaces and a high-tech exterior lighting system. But the really impressive part of the house is its price...