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1177 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 16, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Women Business Owners Dispute Contracting Rules
BYLINE: By ELIZABETH OLSON
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; Pg. 5
LENGTH: 873 words
DATELINE: Women who own small businesses
about a third of all small businesses in the United States, in fact -- have been pushing for years for a bigger piece of government contracts, which now total $400 billion a year.

But few were happy when the Small Business Administration finally announced new rules in December to ensure that 5 percent of the contracts would go to female-owned businesses.

First, the critics noted, it took seven years for the S.B.A. to develop the rules after Congress ordered the agency to create them in 2000. But perhaps more important to the critics, among them Congressional Democrats and some business groups, the agency listed only four industries -- out of 140 -- where female-owned businesses could be preferred for contracts.

The best known of those was national security and international affairs; in addition, the list included coating and engraving, furniture and cabinet manufacturing and a motor-vehicles category.

Such a narrow list of industries was contrary to findings that women were underrepresented in 87 percent of all the industries where the government awards contracts, the United States Women's Chamber of Commerce has argued. The chamber sued in 2004 to force the S.B.A. to follow the Congressional mandate.

''The government says it champions women, but it continues to lock us out,'' said Margot Dorfman, chief executive officer of the chamber, who said the S.B.A. had stalled compliance.

The S.B.A., in response, said that writing the rules was a ''complex and controversial responsibility'' to establish guidelines to set-aside contracts based on gender. ''The legislation requires us to establish that women-owned small businesses are underrepresented in an industry in which a set-aside would be created,'' said Christine Mangi, the agency's spokeswoman.

As to the criticism that the S.B.A.'s new rules include too few industries, Ms. Mangi said that the agency planned to revisit the issue ''approximately every five years'' and ''update the affected industry sectors.''

Female-owned businesses, defined as at least 51 percent controlled or owned by females, were awarded 3.4 percent, or about $11 billion, in government contracts in 2006. The failure to hit the 5 percent mark, according to Congressional figures, deprived female owners of roughly $5 billion annually.

Last May, frustrated by the S.B.A.'s inaction, the House of Representatives passed a bill to raise the percentage for contracts for female-owned business owners to 8 percent from 5 percent, and to direct that 30 percent of annual government contracts, not 23 percent as now, be set aside for all small business.

The Senate has yet to act on the bill, which would wipe out the agency's proposed rules from 2007, which are available in the Federal Register for public comment until the end of February. In the meantime, both the Senate and House small business committees plan hearings -- the first will be in the House on Wednesday -- to question the S.B.A. about its the rules.

''To suggest that the only women who deserve support are in industries as small as kitchen cabinet manufacturing is downright insulting,'' said Nydia M. Velazquez, the New York Democrat who heads the House Small Business Committee.

She introduced the original women's contracting bill, which was attached to the S.B.A. appropriations legislation and approved in December 2000. It was intended to carry out the goal Congress established in a 1994 law that women receive 5 percent of government contracts.

The 2000 legislation required the S.B.A. to conduct a study to identify industries where businesses owned by women were underrepresented and to set up procedures to verify eligibility for female-owned companies to receive preference.

The agency's initial study of industries was derailed after a review by the National Academy of Sciences found it flawed. A federal district court judge, ruling in 2005 in the Women's Chamber of Commerce suit, said the S.B.A. had ''sabotaged'' the start of the program and asked for a timetable for carrying it out; a hearing in the case is Jan. 28.

Last year, an S.B.A. study found that women received a disproportionately low number of federal contracts in three-quarters or more of the 140 industries, including manufacturing, real estate, health care and waste-management services. The study was conducted by the Kauffman-Rand Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy.

Ms. Velazquez also criticized the S.B.A.'s proposal that would limit each contract for businesses owned by women to $3 million (except for $5 million for manufacturing contracts), saying it would benefit ''only a tiny fraction of the business women this country.'' The S.B.A. said it was simply following dollar limits set by Congress.

Elizabeth Novak, chief executive officer of Environmental Waste Specialists, a three-person company in Chantilly, Va., that packages, transports and disposes of contaminated waste, counts herself among the critics of the proposed rules.

''I get almost no contracts now,'' Ms. Novak said. ''I'm pulling in $1 million in revenues a year now, but if I just had the opportunity to compete, I could triple that -- and give the government a better deal for its dollar.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (90%); WOMEN (90%); PUBLIC CONTRACTING (90%); SMALL BUSINESS (90%); WOMAN OWNED BUSINESSES (90%); AGENCY RULEMAKING (89%); CONTRACTS & BIDS (89%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (89%); SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE (78%); LEGISLATORS (78%); CONTRACT AWARDS (78%); AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN EMPLOYMENT (78%); PUBLIC CONTRACTS LAW (78%); MINORITY BUSINESS ASSISTANCE (77%); LEGISLATION (75%); US DEMOCRATIC PARTY (73%); INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE (54%)
ORGANIZATION: SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (58%)
GEOGRAPHIC: UNITED STATES (93%)
LOAD-DATE: January 16, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Elizabeth Novak owns a waste disposal business in Virginia.(PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHANIE KUYKENDAL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

1178 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 16, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Germany: Brothers Buy a Stake In Facebook
BYLINE: By REUTERS
SECTION: Section C; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; WORLD BUSINESS BRIEFING EUROPE; Pg. 7
LENGTH: 85 words
Three German Internet entrepreneurs, the Samwer brothers, have taken a stake in the social networking site Facebook, Alexander Samwer said. Mr. Samwer, who declined to reveal the size of the stake, said the brothers would now become Facebook's strategic partners in Europe. ''We are going to support the expansion of Facebook in Europe,'' he said. Alexander, alongside brothers Oliver and Marc, made their name in 1999 when they sold the German Internet auction site Alando.de to eBay for $50 million in stock.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: INTERNET & WWW (90%); INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING (91%); INTERNET AUCTIONS (88%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (86%)
COMPANY: FACEBOOK INC (90%)
GEOGRAPHIC: GERMANY (90%); EUROPE (90%)
LOAD-DATE: January 16, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Brief
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

1179 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 16, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Markets, Greened
SECTION: Section F; Column 0; Dining, Dining Out/Cultural Desk; LETTERS; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 100 words
To the Editor:

Re ''Hungry for a Market, but Where?'' (Jan. 2): Kim Severson is correct; the question is not whether New York City is ready for an indoor public market, but where to locate one so that it serves residents and vendors alike. The mayor and city officials must give serious consideration to a public market system that will benefit all New Yorkers. What could be more green than a network of markets that support local agriculture and food entrepreneurs while representing the city's global nature?

Steve Davies

New York

The writer is senior vice president, Project for Public Spaces.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: CITY GOVERNMENT (87%); CITIES (87%)
ORGANIZATION: PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES (55%)
PERSON: MICHAEL MCMAHON (91%)
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, NY, USA (91%) NEW YORK, USA (94%) UNITED STATES (94%)
LOAD-DATE: January 16, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Letter
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

1180 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 16, 2008 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

As Economic Worries Grow, Bush Prods Saudi Arabia on High Oil Prices
BYLINE: By STEVEN LEE MYERS
SECTION: Section A; Column 0; Foreign Desk; Pg. 10
LENGTH: 1020 words
DATELINE: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia
President Bush on Tuesday urged Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC to consider the strain the high cost of oil was having on the American economy, addressing an issue that has begun to color the last year of his presidency and dominate the presidential election campaign.

Speaking to a group of Saudi entrepreneurs and later to reporters, Mr. Bush expressed concern about the economy in some of his starkest language yet, saying that rising oil costs and gasoline prices were causing hardship for American families. He vowed to raise the issue with the Saudi leader, King Abdullah, during a meeting and dinner at the king's lush horse farm in the desert outside of Riyadh, the capital.

''My point to His Majesty is going to be, when consumers have less purchasing power because of high prices of gasoline -- in other words, when it affects their families, it could cause this economy to slow down,'' the president said in an expansive interview summarizing his eight-day trip to the Middle East. ''If the economy slows down, there will be less barrels of oil purchased.''

It was unclear whether Mr. Bush's entreaties alone would have any significant effect on the price of oil, because, as the president acknowledged, demand continues to rise faster than supplies, especially in expanding markets in China and India, as well as the United States.

Neither King Abdullah nor Mr. Bush discussed the matter publicly as they met for dinner inside a tentlike hall on Tuesday night, chatting instead about the unusually cold weather. But Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, appeared to rebuff the president's appeal earlier in the day.

Saudi Arabia, he said, shared the president's concern that a downturn in the American economy could have profound effects around the world, including on the oil market. He even raised the prospect of ''recession,'' a word Mr. Bush studiously avoided in the interview, even when pressed about ''the R-word.'' But Mr. Naimi said Saudi Arabia would raise production only ''when the market justifies it.''

''Presidents and kings have every right, every privilege, to comment or ask or say whatever they want,'' Mr. Naimi said in a news conference after Mr. Bush's remarks. ''The concern for the U.S. economy is valid, but what affects the U.S. economy is more than the price of oil.''

Mr. Bush's remarks on oil, made as voters went to the polls in Michigan, underscored a growing worry inside the White House that the economy could sour in his final year in office.

Mr. Bush has in general not weighed in so directly on economic matters. But with American consumers starting to feel the effects of rising energy costs, his administration is discussing ways to stimulate the economy. And he has raised the issue of oil's impact in public and private meetings with the leaders of several Persian Gulf states, including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and now Saudi Arabia.

The response has been muted, according to Ed Gillespie, the presidential counselor.

''They talked about the nature of the market and the vast demand that's on the world market today for oil,'' he told reporters late Monday, referring to the leaders Mr. Bush had met. ''That was a point that was obviously made in the course of these conversations by our friends, and that's a legitimate and accurate point.''

Mr. Bush last met King Abdullah in Crawford, Tex., in April 2005, before the Saudi leader's half brother, King Fahd, died and he assumed the Saudi throne. Then, too, concern about rising oil prices prompted the Bush administration to prod Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, to raise production to ease prices.

At the time, oil was selling for $54 a barrel; this year, futures have twice passed the $100-a-barrel mark, largely because of tensions between the United States and Iran.

Prices have fallen in recent days, though, as concerns grow that a possible recession in the United States might cut consumption, just as Mr. Bush warned King Abdullah.

Asked what specifically he wanted the Saudis and other OPEC producers to do, Mr. Bush said he hoped ''that OPEC, if possible, understands that if they could put supply on the market, it would be helpful.'' But he also said reducing prices would require new investments and exploration and a search for alternative fuels.

In Abu Dhabi on Monday, Mr. Bush toured an exhibition of alternative energies at the Emirates Palace hotel built by a cash-flush government at a cost of $3 billion. He praised ''the can-do spirit'' of those seeking to exploit new technologies to replace the resource that had made the Persian Gulf states he visited rich.

Tuesday's talk of oil overshadowed other issues that have dominated Mr. Bush's discussions with King Abdullah and other leaders. Those include the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the war in Iraq and the diplomatic confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program.

King Abdullah, like most Arab leaders Mr. Bush met, has not expressed full support for Israel living side by side with a Palestinian state, though he was instrumental in pushing through an Arab League proposal laying the terms for a peace that Israel has rejected. Mr. Bush, though, said the Persian Gulf leaders supported his peace effort, started in Annapolis, Md., in November.

''They want to see a deal done,'' he said, adding that the United States had to overcome ''years of disappointment.''

On the question of Iran, Mr. Bush said he tried to explain his desire to intensify international pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program, despite a National Intelligence Estimate released in Washington in December that concluded that the Iranians had halted a covert nuclear weapons program in 2003.

He distanced himself from that finding more starkly than before, arguing that Iran's continued enrichment of uranium was a threat because the knowledge used to master that process could be transferred to weapons research.

''I defended our intelligence services,'' he said, ''but made it clear that they're an independent agency, that they come to conclusions separate from what I may or may not want.''

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: OIL & GAS PRICES (92%); PETROLEUM PRODUCTS (90%); ECONOMIC NEWS (89%); CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS (89%); US PRESIDENTS (89%); OIL & GAS INDUSTRY (89%); INTERVIEWS (89%); ELECTIONS (79%); VOTERS & VOTING (79%); PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (79%); TALKS & MEETINGS (79%); RECESSION (78%); INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS (78%); GASOLINE PRICES (78%); ECONOMIC DECLINE (78%); US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (77%); GASOLINE MARKETS (76%); ENERGY DEPARTMENTS (73%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (71%); PRESS CONFERENCES (71%); HORSE & PONY PRODUCTION (70%); DESERTS (55%)
COMPANY: CNINSURE INC (67%)
ORGANIZATION: ORGANIZATION OF THE PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES (84%)
TICKER: CISG (NASDAQ) (67%)
PERSON: GEORGE W BUSH (94%)
GEOGRAPHIC: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (90%) MICHIGAN, USA (79%) SAUDI ARABIA (97%); UNITED STATES (97%); MIDDLE EAST (79%); INDIA (79%); CHINA (79%)
LOAD-DATE: January 17, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: King Abdullah and President Bush at the king's horse farm near the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Mr. Bush has raised the issue of oil prices with leaders during his trip. (PHOTOGRAPH BY PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

1181 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
January 16, 2008 Wednesday

The New York Times on the Web

Bush Prods Saudi Arabia on High Oil Prices
BYLINE: By STEVEN LEE MYERS
SECTION: Section ; Column 0; Foreign Desk; Pg.
LENGTH: 1119 words
DATELINE: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia
President Bush urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Tuesday to take into account the toll that high oil prices are having on the American economy, gingerly touching on an issue that has begun to color the last year of his presidency and dominate the presidential election campaign.

Speaking to a group of Saudi entrepreneurs and later in an interview with reporters, Mr. Bush expressed his concern about the economy in some of his starkest language yet, saying that rising oil and gasoline prices are causing hardship for American families.

''It's affected our families,'' Mr. Bush said in the interview with reporters, adding he would raise the issue with the Saudi leader, King Abdullah, during a meeting on Tuesday evening at the king's lush horse farm in the desert outside of Riyadh. ''Paying more for gasoline hurts some of the American families,'' he said.

As Mr. Bush himself acknowledged, it was not clear that the president's entreaties could have any significant effect on oil prices. Mr. Bush said the demand for oil, especially from expanding markets in China and India, as well as the United States, was rising faster than supplies.

Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, appeared to rebuff the president's appeal, though he did so gently. ''We will raise production when the market justifies it,'' he said at press conference after Mr. Bush's remarks.

Mr. Naimi said that his country shared Mr. Bush's concern that a downturn in the American economy could have profound effects around the world, including in the oil market. He even raised the prospect of ''recession,'' a word Mr. Bush studiously avoided in his interview with reporters even when pressed.

''Presidents and kings have every right, every privilege, to comment or ask or say whatever they want,'' Mr. Naimi said. ''The concern for the U.S. economy is valid, but what affects the U.S. economy is more than the price of oil. We are very much concerned. We don't want the U.S. economy go into recession in the future.''

Nevertheless, Mr. Bush urged OPEC to consider increasing production, saying it would be helpful. His remarks, coming as voters went to the primary polls in Michigan, appeared to underscore worry inside the White House that the economy, which Mr. Bush again called ''fundamentally sound'', could sour on his watch.

Mr. Bush, nearing the end of an eight-day trip to the Middle East, has not generally been inclined to weigh in directly on economic matters, but with rising energy costs taking a toll, the price of oil has come up in meetings with the leaders of several Persian Gulf states, including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and now Saudi Arabia.

The response has been muted, according to the presidential counselor, Ed Gillespie. ''They talked about the nature of the market and the vast demand that's on the world market today for oil,'' he said on Monday night, referring to the leaders Mr. Bush met. ''That was a point that was obviously made in the course of these conversations by our friends, and that's a legitimate and accurate point.''

Mr. Bush last met King Abdullah in Crawford, Tex., in April 2005, before the king's half-brother died and he assumed the Saudi throne. At the time, concern about rising oil prices prompted the Bush administration to ask Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, to raise production to ease prices. At the time, oil was selling for $54 a barrel; it is now hovering above $90 a barrel.

Since the beginning of the year, oil futures have touched the symbolic mark of $100-a-barrel twice because of tensions between Iran and the United States. But prices have fallen in recent days as concerns grow that a possible recession in the United States might cut petroleum consumption. Crude oil for February delivery fell 2.6 percent to $91.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.

There have been many factors behind the rise in oil prices in recent years, including high demand from China, tight global supplies, and a lack of enough exploration investments in the 1990s. Political tensions, especially in the Persian Gulf, where more than 60 percent of the world's oil reserves are located, has also played a big part in a quadrupling of oil prices since around 2000.

For the most part, a growing American economy has had little trouble absorbing higher oil prices even at near-historic high levels. The United States consumes about a quarter of the world's oil every day. Petroleum consumption last year in America still managed to grow, barely, by 0.2 percent to 20.7 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Department. Global oil demand, meanwhile, has been boosted by strong growth in China and the Middle East, which together accounted for two-thirds of consumption growth last year.

The risk today is that these high energy prices will act as an additional weight on the sputtering economy just as consumers are cutting down on their spending.

While oil producers blame market speculators for rising prices, OPEC's behavior in recent years has largely contributed to the rising prices as well.

Since the oil prices collapse of the late 1990s, OPEC has been patiently propping up oil prices through a careful policy of supply management led mainly by Saudi Arabia.

Because it is the world's largest producer, Saudi Arabia has the biggest clout within the disparate OPEC group and its decisions are typically followed by other members.

OPEC members do not directly set oil prices. Those are determined on commodity exchanges in New York or London. But through its decisions to lower or boost output, OPEC affects global oil supplies, and therefore plays a key role in influencing global prices. OPEC's 13 member countries account for 40 percent of the world's oil exports.

Last year, thanks to Saudi leadership. OPEC cut its production twice in order to lower the level of commercial oil stocks held by developed economies. The strategy succeeded in forcing refineries to draw on their oil reserves instead of buying more oil on the market.

''OPEC started the snowball rolling,'' said Lawrence Goldstein, an economist at the Energy Policy Research Foundation. ''By reducing inventories last year, they created the environment where noise from Nigeria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Algeria, you name it has an impact on the market. They were very successful with the two quota cuts.''

Mr. Goldstein estimates that American consumers paid an extra $75 billion to $90 billion more in petroleum products last year than they did in 2006, because of higher prices.

''One of the real risk is that they start to believe in their own propaganda and think they are entitled to high prices,'' Mr. Goldstein said.

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