December 7 lives in Milan

After three years of renovations, Milan’s La Scala reopened December 7 with the same opera that inaugurated the house in 1778, Salieri’s Europa Reconosciuta. Opening night at the world’s most famous opera house was long sold out, but ten performances of the same work are scheduled through early January. Cultural tourism is big business in Europe, and it could be in Columbia. An adequate opera house on Main Street, roughly equidistant between the Hilton and the Marriott, weekend packages could be quite the norm.

Room to grow

The USC research campus is under way. The federal research funds distributed around the country suggest more could come as we expand capacity here. For fiscal year 2002–03, the University of California took in $2.9 billion, and the University of North Carolina, $840 million, while the University of South Carolina was granted $150 million in federal research funds.

More room to grow

The Frank McGuire Arena, the Carolina Coliseum, all 12,400 seats, is no longer economically viable. The land is worth too much as part of the new research campus. So the building is soon to be demolished.

Camden loses 96 jobs at Chinese refrigerator plant

Haier America’s refrigerator plant in Camden is undergoing efficiency equipment installation. The Chinese–owned plant laid off 96 workers last week, but some may expect a call back to work in January. Located in the Steeplechase Business Park north of I–20, Haier America’s plant should have about 300 employees by January.

Garment quotas due to expire December 31

Under a World Trade Organization agreement, the restrictions on volumes of garments from certain countries could be lifted at the end of this year. The big winner is probably China with its pent–up capacity to export to the US. The real winners are you and I and our affordable wardrobes. In the meantime American textile makers, to include Spartanburg’s Milliken, have requested President Bush to impose new limits.

Fed view shifting

Watch for the Federal Reserve to raise its federal funds rate on December 14 from 2% to 2.25%. In February there should be another hike to 2.5%. The Federal Reserve is beginning to fear inflation.

Weaker dollar means

a stronger SC

The stock analyst firm Nomura still lists a buy rating for BMW, even with the weakening dollar. A German car manufacturer should have a tougher time selling to Americans with their weaker currency. Nomura predicts BMW is soon to expand its manufacturing capacity near Greenville.

IBM sells PCs, all of them

IBM is in discussions with Lenovo Group Limited, the largest PC manufacturer in China. Lenovo may buy the IBM PC operation for $1 billion or more. IBM can’t turn a profit on PC sales of $11 billion. IBM is more profitable with its services side. For instance, it just scored a $970 million contract with British bank Lloyds TSB to supply Internet telephone and data services.

Start saving

The Commerce Department reported an October personal savings rate of 0.2% of disposable income. That means a take–home after–tax income of $100,000 dropped about $0.50 a day into the piggy bank. In Germany, Italy, France, on the other hand, personal savings rates exceed 10%. America is home of the greatest percentage of homeowners. If the personal residential investment were counted as savings, the savings rate would be 6% instead of almost zero.

Charleston wins big Texas–based Vought Aircraft Industries and Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica plan to build a new plant for $560 million next to the Charleston Airport. Employing initially 600 workers, the plant will partially assemble the new Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner. The 7E7 will cost 20% less to operate than existing models through the use of fuel–efficient engines and lightweight composite materials. Boeing already has firm orders for 52 7E7s, and the company claims to be on track to hit the 200–order milestone by year’s end.