Word: cushion
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...materials are usually designed on computers, which can analyze exactly how the molecules of different substances will fit together. As a result, complex compounds can be made to order for specific tasks. They can be engineered to be as solid as cement yet as light as foam cushion, or sturdy like steel but pliable like rubber. Because of their superior properties, advanced materials are rapidly replacing ordinary steel, aluminum and plastics in everything from cutlery to cars. Scientists have high hopes of conserving natural commodities such as iron, wood and rubber. Says Robert Newnham, a professor of solid-state science...
...month, while home-equity loans are drawn out to as much as 15 years. As a result, the portion of household income devoted to debt payments is roughly the same today, at 13.6%, as it was in 1970, at 13.5%. At the same time, many householders still have a cushion of equity in their homes that was built up in the 1980s, despite the current decline in real estate values in some regions of the U.S. Those factors have kept loan delinquencies and mortgage foreclosures from increasing much in the past two years...
Other consumers are taking advantage of home-equity loans to consolidate their other debt. The equity loans are attractive for their long maturities and because the interest is tax deductible. Home-equity loans will grow about 27% this year, much faster than other consumer borrowing. "It definitely provides a cushion that wasn't there 10 years ago," says Barry Bosworth, an economist at the Brookings Institution in Washington...
International assistance to cushion these blows has been slow in coming. The kingdom has received only $4 million of the $50 million pledged by international relief organizations to help it cope with the flood of refugees. While Washington has agreed to deliver the $50 million it pledged to Jordan before the crisis, Amman has yet to collect any money from the U.S., which resents Hussein's ambiguity toward Saddam. Most Jordanians believe that significant relief from the West will come only if Hussein subscribes wholeheartedly to the U.S. position...
...cushion themselves against a rise in sour loans as the U.S. economy slumps, many banks are increasing their capital reserves. For example, Citibank said last week it has more than quadrupled its reserve for losses on commercial loans from $59 million a year ago to $283 million. Banks are also clamping down on new lending. But while these moves will strengthen the banks, tighter capital is beginning to put the squeeze even on healthy industries...