Gap widens in computer use between rich, poor

Sales: National: 7 offices Medical & IT/ plus. Seeking professionals w/solid book of business & high ethics. Exceptional support & commissions. Expenses paid. 616-459-6800 Email: gsaulter@chaseindustries.com "UAEL"

Sales:Warminster, Bucks County, PA.

18 yr old, prof. lessor seeks net PVP motivated sls pros. Top funding & backroom capabilities.

email:sbrown@capitalinnovations.com"NAELB"

Sales: Small ticket leasing reps, General equip. Vendor leads are provided. Great comp plan, Draw and Benefits. (6)nationally (3)in the NE Fred St Laurent freds@bwresults.com

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Backoffice: Northbrook, IL

Our staff of CPA's and lease professionals can handle any or all portfolio responsibilities incl. portfolio mgmt, invoicing, sales/property/income tax, accounting, etc. Email:ngeary@edwinsigel.com

Back office: San Rafael, CA

We can run your back office from origination to final payoff. 30 years experience in commercial equipment lease and loan portfolio management. Email:gmartinez@phxa.com

Back office: Portland, OR

Tired of paying and training a documentation person? Cut your expense and try outsourcing. Ideal for any part of the USA Call for information 503-492-3183. Email:Trina.Drury@verizon.net

Backroom: All Locations

Are you a broker or a rep for a major lessor? Want to just market and leave the backroom an packaging functions to us? Call us.

Email:nationalbusinesscredit@yahoo.com

Broker Representative: Minneapolis, MN

Reseller of mid-range UNIX computer hardware/interested in acquiring your end of lease HP, IBM, Cisco and Sun system. Contact Terry Larson at 763-475-5303. Email:terry.l@altatechnologies.com

Collector: Near Boston, MA

My name is John Kenny. I have 14 years experience in leasing collections. I currently offer outsourced services to clients nationwide on a contractual, contingency basis.Email:ReceivablesMgmt@prodigy.net

Collector: Fountain Valley, CA

Commercial Collector with a track record of collecting lost leasing deposits and advance payments on unfunded deals. If you have been burned, we are the ones to call. 1-888-278- 0658 ext. 233. Email:jcasperson@omniusco.com

for full list of outsourcing ads:

http://65.209.205.32/LeasingNews/JobPostingsOutsourcing.htm

To post a free “Outsourcing Ad:”

http://65.209.205.32/LeasingNews/PostingFormOutsourcing.asp

EAEL Holiday Party—Saturday December 14

Eastern Association of Equipment Lessor Holiday Party

http://www.eael.org/event_calendar.htm#Holiday

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Two Ducks Fly United

United Airlines' bankruptcy filing Monday came with some surprising news: The company is losing money three times faster than estimated -- some $20 million to $22 million a day -- ensuring that wage cuts and layoffs are likely to come sooner and be bigger than expected, experts say.

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Fed Text of Statement on Interest Rate Policy

The Federal Reserve left a key interest rate unchanged at a 41-year low Tuesday, giving consumers and businesses more time to take advantage of rock-bottom borrowing costs to help the economy snap out of its listless state.

Millions of out-of-work Americans, a bumpy stock market and economic uncertainties are motivation enough for the Federal Reserve to keep short-term interest rates at 41-year lows for a while, economists say.

Following is the text of a statement released by the Federal Reserve yesterday after the Fed's monetary policy panel, the Federal Open Market Committee, voted to leave the benchmark rate unchanged:

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate unchanged at 114 percent. The committee continues to believe that this accommodative stance of monetary policy, coupled with still robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing important ongoing support to economic activity.

The limited number of incoming economic indicators since the November meeting, taken together, are not inconsistent with the economy working its way through its current soft spot.

In these circumstances, the committee believes that, against the background of its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth and of the information currently available, the risks are balanced with respect to the prospects for both goals for the foreseeable future.

Voting for the F.O.M.C. monetary policy action were Alan Greenspan, chairman; William J. McDonough, vice chairman; Ben S. Bernanke, Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson Jr.; Edward M. Gramlich; Jerry L. Jordan; Donald L. Kohn, Robert D. McTeer Jr.; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.

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M&I First National Changes Direction

M&I First National Leasing Corp. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently closed four offices in the states of Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and New York. The sales representatives located in these offices will be provided with severance packages based on their tenure with the company, according to President Tom Podewils.

" We will be concentrating our efforts on the Midwest, “ he explained. “This is not a cut back but a change in direction that will allow us to focus our resources on those areas that have provided us with the most success."

One of the salesmen let go told Leasing News he received eight weeks severance and his last day will be next week. He was offered to re-locate, but did not want to move his family. He also said he wanted to get out of the leasing marketplace and make a better living doing something else. What that was, he did not know at the time. He is looking at this event in his life as a “perfect time” to spend with his family over Christmas, he told Leasing News. (He did not want us to use his name).

“ We want to concentrate on where our bank has its presence, to serve their

customers, to attract new customer to the bank, “ President Tom Podewils said. “" We are growing and will focus on the upper Midwest where will be looking to add new sales representatives in the Michigan/Ohio area and the Missouri market."

M&I FNL grew from $350 million with $10.3 million in revenues to $390 million with $13.2 million in revenues from 2000-2001. They operate as a general equipment, middle market lessor with transactions in the $250,000 to $5 million range with support from their parent, the Marshall & Ilsley Corp., a $30 billion Midwest based bank holding company.

The credit department consists of 2 analysts, an administrative assistant and a credit manager to support the activities of 15 sales representatives covering the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

" We believe our growth over the years is a result of the quality of the people, products and services that we deliver to the marketplace," Podewils said. "We have been a member of the ELA for nearly forty years and have benefited greatly from that association in terms of adapting to the changes in the industry."

Thomas P. Podewils

President

M&I First National Leasing Corp.

250 E. Wisconsin Ave.

Milwaukee, WI 53202

tom.podewils@micorp.com

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Financial Services Forum Supports the Nomination of John Snow for Secretary of the Treasury

US Banker Magazine

The Financial Services Forum, a group of CEOs from some of the largest financial services companies, says it is supporting President Bush's nomination of John Snow as Treasury Secretary. The group called Snow exceptionally well qualified to lead the Department, citing his experience as a corporate leader, strong business ethics, and service as Deputy Undersecretary of Transportation.

"Jack Snow brings a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors and has strong leadership skills that the financial community widely respects," says William Harrison, Chairman of the Forum and CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase in a statement.

The CEOs of Bank of America, The Bank of New York,

Citigroup, FleetBoston, and Wachovia are members of the Financial Forum.

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Kathryn Jackson Appointed Managing Director of Bank of America Leasing

Kathryn Jackson has been appointed Managing Director of Bank of America Leasing effective January 6, 2003.

Kathy, formerly an executive at GATX, will be running Bank of America Leasing's syndication business and will oversee their managed portfolios.

She will report to the new head of Bank of America Leasing, Douglas Bowers.

Ms. Jackson is Vice Chairman of Equipment Leasing Association

(courtesy ELAonline.com)

Fitch Ratings: Credit Deterioration Slows For U.S. Investment Grade Sector

Fitch Ratings-New York: Following a deep deterioration in credit quality beginning in the fourth quarter of 2001 through the first half of this year, the U.S. bond market continued to show signs of strain in the third quarter. Downgrades exceeded upgrades by an unhealthy dollar margin of 3:1 in the third quarter, but the pace of credit deterioration slowed relative to the first half of 2002, when the par value of downgrades exceeded upgrades by a ratio of 14:1.

In the three months ended Sept. 30, 2002, 3.7% of market volume was downgraded (affecting $91.8 billion in par value), 1.2% was upgraded ($30.7 billions), and 1.2% defaulted ($30.5 billion). In contrast, in the first half of the year, 8% of market volume was downgraded ($172 billion), just 0.6% was upgraded ($12.4 billion), and 1.9% defaulted ($40.2 billion).

Downgrades in the third quarter hit the non-investment-grade sector most heavily, with $41.1 billion in downgrades towering over upgrades of $1.6 billion. On the other hand, rating activity in the investment-grade sector improved substantially compared with the first half of the year. In the third quarter, the dollar volume of downgrades exceeded upgrades by a ratio less than 2:1. In the first half of the year, investment-grade downgrades of $141.7 billion had stood head and shoulders above the $2.5 billion in upgrades.

The report, 'U.S. Bond Market Still Strained in Third Quarter', is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at 'www.fitchratings.com' in the 'Credit Market Research' section under 'Research', or by contacting the Ratings Desk at 1-800-893-4824.

Contact: Mariarosa Verde 1-212-908-0791 or Paul Mancuso 1-212-908-0225, New York.

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Survey sees Some Optimism for Next Year

Pia Sarkar, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

A look at the Bay Area economy Findings from the

Bay Area Poll 2002

-- 37 percent of the respondents reported that they and their families are financially worse off than a year ago, 36 percent said their financial condition is the same, and 27 percent said they are better off than a year ago.

-- 41 percent of the respondents said they expect regional economic conditions to improve, 36 percent said they would stay the same, and 19 percent expect things to get worse.

-- 50 percent of the respondents said they would spend the same amount of money as last year on holiday gifts for family and friends, 39 percent will spend less and 10 percent will spend more.

The glass is a little more full than empty these days for San Francisco Bay Area residents polled in a recent survey about the state of the regional economy.

Although respondents said they still feel the sting of today's tough financial times, they predict improvement in the future.

More than a third of the poll's respondents -- 37 percent -- said that they and their families are financially worse off than a year ago. About as many - - 36 percent -- said their financial condition is the same, while 27 percent said that they are better off than a year ago.

As for the future, 41 percent of the respondents said they expect regional economic conditions to improve, and 36 percent said they will stay the same. One- fifth, or 19 percent, expect things to get worse.

The annual Bay Area Poll, commissioned by the Bay Area Council, a business group, involves 600 telephone interviews covering an array of topics and involving a representative sample of Bay Area residents. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.

Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Research Corp., which conducted the poll, said that while pessimism hangs in the air, there is a little more room for optimism than before.

In the previous two years the poll was conducted, DiCamillo said, more respondents were pessimistic about the economy. This year they showed more hope.

DiCamillo added that when Bay Area residents were surveyed in the 1990s, it took three or four years before they thought that things would get better.

"Here, we're not really seeing that," he said. "It's not a continuing negative assessment, so maybe we're turning the corner."

Whether that change in attitude will change the direction of the economy remains to be seen. But DiCamillo said it is important not to write off people's expectations of the future, because they can dictate spending habits.

"It's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said. For instance, when respondents in the 1993 poll showed some initial optimism about the future, the economy began to pull out of its slump the next year.

"History suggests that they're usually right because they act out on their judgments," DiCamillo said.

This year's Bay Area Poll also surveyed Bay Area residents about how they planned to spend their dollars during the holidays. Half of the respondents said they intended to spend the same amount of money as last year on gifts for family and friends, while 39 percent said they would spend less. Only 10 percent planned to spend more.

"Wealth has clearly decreased for Bay Area residents," said Steven Gottlieb,

a spokesman for the Bay Area Council.

The poll showed that corporate scandal has tarnished investor confidence. About 71 percent of respondents said that corporate wrongdoing had diminished their faith in the financial reporting system. Of these, 35 percent said their confidence had diminished a lot, and 27 percent said it had diminished some.

About 54 percent said now is a good time to invest in stocks, compared with 39 percent who said it was a bad time.

E-mail Pia Sarkar at psarkar@sfchronicle.com.

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DSL Popularity Accelerates as Gap Widens in Broadband Race; DSL Forum Announces More Than 5 Million Choose DSL Broadband in Q3 2002

SAN FRANCISCO---Global DSL subscribers grew by five million in the third quarter of 2002, reaching a total of more than 30.6 million, according to figures announced by DSL Forum at its San Francisco meeting today and provided by London-based industry analyst Point Topic. That is an average of 1.67 million people per month choosing DSL broadband, up from 1.13 million per month on average for the first six months of 2002. If growth continues at this rate approaching 20%, by the end of 2002 more than 36 million homes and businesses around the world will be online with DSL broadband.

"With an extra half a million people every month choosing DSL for their broadband connections in the past quarter, the pace of subscriber growth is accelerating fast," said Bill Rodey, DSL Forum chairman. "We are on track for 100% growth in global subscribers this calendar year, ensuring that DSL widens the gap in the broadband race. It is clear that we are well on the way to our target of a global mass market of 200 million DSL broadband subscribers in 2005. In a tough consumer and business economy, this is a significant achievement, demonstrating a growing appreciation of the real benefits that DSL broadband delivers."

Asia Pacific continues to lead the way with a 40% share of the world's global broadband DSL subscribers. Western Europe has moved into second place with 24.34% share, just ahead of North America at 23.84%.

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E-mail overload a myth, study says

By Associated Press

EW YORK - If you're feeling inundated by e-mail at work and think the annoyance must be universal, you're wrong.

A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds that overwhelming levels of e-mail are quite atypical, an outcome that surprised even the researchers.

''All of the anecdotal evidence you hear from people out there is, `I'm so overwhelmed by the volume of e-mail,''' said Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow at Pew. ''The perception comes from the people who are talking most loudly about it, those few who are most overwhelmed.''

In fact 60 percent of Americans who use e-mail at work receive 10 or fewer messages on an average day, the study released yesterday found. Only 6 percent receive more than 50.

And among those power users, only 11 percent say they feel overwhelmed by all the e-mail. Most have found tricks to keep e-mail manageable, such as using software to automatically sort e-mail into folders.

The results counter a myth that employees are inundated by e-mail as they are copied in on every response and are continually sent notes requesting something urgent, finding hours quickly disappearing just checking e-mail.

Three-quarters of e-mail users at work spend an hour or less each day on e-mail. A quarter spend less than 15 minutes. Only half say e-mail volume has increased over the past year.

The pattern is different for the power users, typically the better educated and higher earners. The study found heavy e-mail use more typical in large corporations as well as among high-level managers, who may be copied in on a range of projects.

Many of them spend two hours or more daily on e-mail - often beyond four. They are also more likely to be checking e-mail after work or on vacation.

But power users are also more likely to credit e-mail for helping them communicate with more people and keeping them current with events. The study notes, for instance, that low-level employees may feel comfortable e-mailing a senior manager with an idea they may not otherwise walk in to discuss.

The telephone-based survey of 2,447 Internet users, including 1,003 who use e- mail at work, was conducted April 9 to May 17. The study has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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