Posted on Mar 30, 2006

America's bloated budget and trade deficits are starting to worry top economists and bankers, with Federal Reserve chairman Ben. S. Bernanke saying yesterday he's “quite concerned” about the federal government's record revenue and spending gap.

“It would be very desirable to take concrete steps to lower the prospective path of the (budget) deficit,” Bernanke said in a March 9 letter responding to questions from Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.

“Such actions would boost national saving and ultimately the future prosperity of our country.”

The White House last month forecast a record deficit of $423 billion for this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Bernanke said he is “quite concerned about the intermediate to long-term federal budget outlook” because of projected spending on entitlement programs, which include Social Security and Medicare. Such spending will create “severe pressure” on the budget, he said.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department yesterday reported that the nation's so-called “current account” deficit – or the trade deficit combined with investment income – was $224.9 billion in the last three months of 2005, far higher than expected.

America's total current account deficit for 2005 was about $805 billion, yet another record.

“As a country, we're just spending way more money than we have,” said Richard Vietor, a professor at Harvard Business School.

He noted that the nation's current account amounts to about 6.7 percent of the country's total output.

“Sometimes in basket-case Third World countries it's around 7 percent,” said Vietor, noting large deficits generally can create inflation pressures, which in turn can lead to higher interest rates.

Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight, a Lexington research firm, said any trade deficit means that America is ultimately indebted to foreign countries that end up buying up American real estate, stocks and other assets.

But Behravesh said he thinks America's growing economy should be able to sustain the deficits – at least for now.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

Posted on Mar 29, 2006

Two faculty members have been named to head two vital campus programs. 

Tim Olsen, associate professor of performing arts, will be director of Africana Studies. 

“Tim has been active in many venues for the college, and his creative work and his courses have meshed nicely with this important program,” said Charlotte Borst, in making the announcements. “As a senior scholar, he realizes the need to help mentor many of the junior faculty who contribute directly to this program, and I am grateful for his leadership.”

Olsen teaches courses in the language of music, music theory, jazz improvisation, American music and the music of Black America and Latin America. He conducts the Union College Jazz Ensemble, gives private lessons in trumpet, jazz trumpet and jazz piano, and guest conducts the Union College Orchestra. He also is a freelance composer and performer.

Christine Henseler, associate professor of Spanish, will lead the Latin and Carribbean Studies (LACS) program. 

“Christine's scholarly and classroom work contribute to this vital program,” Borst said. “She is eager to reach out to many constituencies around campus to help this program continue to flourish.”

Henseler's areas of expertise are in contemporary Spanish narrative, women's studies, book publishing, visual culture, media and cultural studies. She is the author of a number of articles on contemporary Spanish literature. Her book, “Contemporary Spanish Women's Narrative and the Publishing Industry,” (University of Illinois Press, 2003) was selected an Outstanding Title of the Year. She also has published a compilation of essays by Spanish women writers, called “En sus propias palabras: escritoras españolas ante el mercado literario” (Ediciones Torremozas, 2003). She is co-editor of the special issue, “Market Matters: Literary Commodities and Exchanges in Hispanic Publishing” (The Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies; forthcoming, 2006).

“I am grateful to both faculty members for agreeing to take on this important work,” Borst said. She urged faculty to “think of creative ways to contribute and support their programs.”

Posted on Mar 29, 2006

Louisa C. Matthew, associate professor of visual arts and department chair, recently co-wrote an essay, with Barbara Berrie, for the catalogue of a major new international exhibition opening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., this spring.

“Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting,” which runs June 18 through Sept. 17, will present more than 50 masterpieces from what is regarded as the most exciting period of the Renaissance in Venice. T

he fully illustrated catalogue, which will be published in English and German, is an outgrowth of Matthew's ongoing research on Venetian paintings of the Renaissance period and her collaboration with Berrie, senior conservation scientist at the National Gallery.

The exhibit will travel to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in the fall.

Posted on Mar 29, 2006

William A. Finlay, chair of theatre and dance, has been appointed a board member for the National Museum of Dance & Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 

The former Washington Bath House is the only museum in the nation dedicated to American professional dance, and it houses a growing collection of photographs, videos, artifacts, costumes, biographies and archives comprising a contemporary and retrospective examination of seminal contributions to dance.

Posted on Mar 29, 2006

A work by Martin Benjamin, professor of visual arts, in included in the 28^th Annual Photography Regional at the Opalka Gallery, the Sage Colleges, Albany. He is one of 18 photographers included. A panel presentation will be held April 2, 2-4 p.m. The show runs through April 16.