Lesson Nineteen

Section One: News in Br

Tapescript
1. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Stievardnadze said today that
some Soviet troops will begin pulling out of Aflghanist n witl-iiii a
few days. The remarks came during a news conference held in
Ottawa. Shevardnadze told reporters, "We would like to see our
boys back home as soon as possible." Shevardnadze is now in
Mexico where he will meet up with top government officials over the
weekend.

The next space shuttle mission is planned toi- I'ft--ofl'or,, F'ebi'Ll rN
18, 1988. To(-Iiy NASA alinouncel its schedule of Ltuiich.,:s lol- the
next 7 years. NPR'sD@ti-tielZwerdliiig reports: " Theiie@k, launch
schedule is pi-ettv much whatNASA@sbeen predicting since shortlv
after the Challenger exploded, NASA administratoi- James Fletcher
said the igencv Aill slioot for oniv five shuttle launches the first v-,ai-,
1988, and that's less than half the number that NASA had been
planning for this year until the accident happened. Fletcher said
NASA will slowly work its way up to 16 launches a year in the ear!v
1990s. And as administration officials have been predicting, those
shuttles will carry a much different niix of cargoes than the shuttles
of the past, For at least the first three years. militarv projects will fill
more than half the fli(yhts. The Pentagon is way be]-iiiid launching se-
cret Star Wars tests and inilitai-v comii-iuiiication satellites. NASA
space exploration PrQjects will get next priority, such as the Cialileo
and Ulysses satellites to study Jupiter and the sun. And commercial
business satellites, which wer@ originally supposed to be the financial
backbone of the shuttle program, will get only a si-nall fraction of the

i-i@isbeer,, t i(-,@
c@i@',,i-an(J itiry ;,-j Queens. \'eA York. The Associate([ Press amd
ljnited Press International quote a source close to a criminal investi-
gation of'Zaccai-o,s@iyingthe indictment is the result of @i probe of
bribery allegations in the awarding of cable television contracts. The
cyrand 'ury tias been investigating the activities of Zaccaro and
Michael Nussbaum, Campaign Manager of the late Queens Borough
President, Donald Maniiis.

Section Two: News in Detail

Tapescript
If you want to watch the next space shuttle take-off, mark you
calendar for February 18th, 1988. That is according to NASA's offl-
cial,new 7-year space shuttle schedule announced today. NPR's
Daniel Zwerdling reports:
"During the first year, 1988, the agency plans to launch only 5
shuttles, less than half the number they'd been planning to launch
this year until the Challenger accident happened. In 1989, they'll
launch 10 shuttles, and then slowly work their way up to 16 flights a
year in the early '90s. By then, the Agency officials said today, they'll
have built the new 4th safer shuttle although they don't know yet ex-
actly where they'll get the money and they'll start building a perma-
nent station. The new shuttle program looks a lot more sober than
the previous one did. 'No," said NASA administrator James Fletch-
er,,'there are no specific plans to send up another teacher orjournal-
ist. Until the Challenger exploded, of course, NASA was holding a
widely publicized competition to send a reporter into space.'
"There/s a lot of opposition from some quarters to flying any
so-called civilians in space, but my bias is, that yes, in time, civilians
will be flying again back in space, but certainly not in the first year. I
think we want to get our act together first before we start taking a
risk of that sort. And as administrative officials have been
predicting, the shuttles will carry a much different mix of cargoes
than NASA had been planning until the accident. The military will
be much more prominent than ever before. For at least the first two
years, the Pentagon will fill more than half the shuttle flights with se-
cret Star Wars tests and military communication satellites. NASA
space exploration projects will get next priority, such as the Hubble
Telescope, which will see closer to the edges of the universe than any
telescope in the past. As for commercial business satellites, which

were originally supposed to be the ial kboni of the
program, most of them will be bumpe lack of space. Under
President Reagan's orders, all commercial space cargo launched in
the US will eventually have to fly on private industries' own rockets.
I'm Daniel Zwerdling in Washington.'

Section Three: Special Report 0

Tapescript
Forbes magazine yesterday published its annual list of the 400
wealthiest people in America. Sam Moore Walton, founder of the
Wal-Mart Department Store chain heads the list for the second year
in a row with a total worth of 4.5 billion dollars. Other familiar
names on the list include chicken producer Frank Perdue; fashion
designer Ralph Lauren, and TV producers Merv Griffin and Dick

Clark, each worth more than the minimum $ 180,000,000 needed to
get on the list. That minimum figure was up from 150,000,000 last
year. Also the number of billionaires jumped from 14 to 26. We
asked Forbes' Editor Harry Seneker to help us interpret those
figures.
"Well, it shows that the rich do get richer, and it also shows that
we've been doing a little more of our homework each year. It's quite,
a lot of work to refine your estimates of what people's assets are
worth when they are not very eager to co-operate with you. And
each year we get a little better. Each year we find a few new ones that
we'd missed before."
'And some people are left off this list because they don't co-op-
erate, Malcolm Forbes, for one."
'Oh no, he's in there. It's just that we wouldn't, for, the life of us,
say exactly where.'
'You started this list about 5 years ago. Why did it start? Why
do you continue to do it?"
"Why? Well, it started... the short answer for why it started is
that Malcolm Forbes thought that people would be interested in it
and insisted on us doing it and doing it right.'
"But he didn't want to co-operate himself.'
"Well, you run into certain problems with the IRS and inherit-
ance taxes if you put a number on yourself. You want to negotiate
that figure, or your heirs do."
'Is there any commonality to how these people have achieved
such wealth? Did they earn it the old-fashioned way?'
"Well, at some point, everybody, every fortune had to be earned
the old-fashioned way. And the old-fashioned way is, you set up a
business that can be multiplied indefinitely beyond the limitations of
your own personal efforts. It can be an oil business, like John D.
Rockefeller did with the Standard Oil Trust. It could be, you know,
an organization that can produce dozens of game shows like Merv

Griffin."
"But of most of them that are on the list , say, this year, are they
new to the list, new wealth, or is this mostly inherited fortunes?"
'There's a mix of both. You know, the new arrivals are mostly
new wealth. Every once in a while, we find a branch of an old family
that we really should have included. And this year we found a few
Melons out there in Pittsburgh.'
"Who's the youngest on the list this year?"
'One of those. His name is Michael Cqrrier. But, you know, he
goes back to the Melons on his mother's side.'
*And he is how old?'
*He'stwenty@five.'
*And how much is he worth?'
* On the order of a couple of hundred million dollars. You
k should understand with people like the Melons, it is enormously
hard to get a sense of just how much is out there. We think we're be-
ing conservative with that figure.'
'What about the oldest? Who's the oldest on the list?"
"The oldest is a lady named Dorothy Stimson Builit. And she's
known out in the Washington state. She has some radio stations and
real estate out there. The lady is ninety-four.'
'Do you get any mail response from this? People write in and
have comrhents about it?'
' We get people writing in saying. ' Gee, you missed
so7-and-so.' Once in a while, we get somebody who writes in and
says, 'You missed me.' He's usually exaggerating.'
Harry Seneker, Senior Editor of Forbes magazine.