Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends,americast.usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Wed, Sep 9 1992 Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 04:29:47 EDT Message-ID: 09-09 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update Sept. 9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network POSITIVE FUTURE SEEN FOR WOMEN: By 2008, women will hold at least 35% of U.S. governorships. A woman will be electable, or already elected, as U.S. president. Those are just two prognostications from "Megatrends for Women" (Villard Books, $22.50) by Patricia Aburdene and John Naisbitt. Their capsulized news for women this decade is positively blissful. Women will charge ahead in politics, business and athletics. (For more, see special Trends package below.) CARDS CATALOG HITMAKERS: Country music trading cards - more than 32 million of them - are arriving in sports card shops, music outlets and retail stores. Produced by Sterling Cards and sanctioned by the Country Music Association, the first set of Country Gold cards, with photos on the front and bios on the back, cost between $1 and $1.25 for a nine-card pack. CD PRICES GOING UP: People will have to dig a little deeper in their pocket to pay for CDs about to come out. Upcoming CDs by superstars Garth Brooks, Michael Bolton and Madonna will set new price records at $16.98. Some retailers predict others will follow the superstars and increase CD prices by one dollar. TENNIS BECOMING FASTER GAME: Pros taking the court at this week's U.S. Open tennis tournament, are wielding the latest in light and powerful rackets. Technology has also revolutionizing how the game is judged. "The game is simply becoming too fast for the human eye," said Stuart Chirls, equipment editor for Tennis magazine. "Today's rackets have turned some players into cannons." CAR THEFTS RISE IN NEW JERSEY: Newark, N.J., has won the distinction of being the nation's car theft capital. Responding to the rising thefts, New Jersey Attorney General Robert J. Del Tufo Tuesday outlined a plan for stricter sentences, tougher enforcement and community programs. Car theft is more commonly seen as a "perverted right of passage," says Sgt. Tom DeCastro of the Essex-Union Auto Theft Task Force. CAR PHONES ON THE RISE: If it seems as if every other driver on the highway is talking on the telephone, it's because nearly 7,300 people a day are joining the cellular phone users of the country. The cellular phone industry added a record-breaking 1.3 million new users in the first half of this year, pushing the national subscriber count to 8.9 million, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association said. CELLULAR INDUSTRY GROWING: Thomas Wheeler, head of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, says in the last six months the cellular industry has created 4,250 new jobs. The average monthly bill of cellular subscribers continued to drop, from $72.74 as of Dec. 31 to $68.51 as of June 30. Licenses for operations have now been granted for every area of the country. INTEREST RATES FALLING: This is a good time to buy a new car. Bank Rate Monitor reports rates on four-year, new-car loans are falling. They were at 12.83% in 1985; 12.10% in 1990; and now stand at 9.57%. Bank Rate Monitor reports that's the lowest point since May 1972. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON TRENDS: BUSINESS PREDICTIONS MADE: Today's cadre of second-echelon women, ages 35-45, will be senior execs by 2002, replacing retiring CEOs. Today's small- to medium-sized growth companies, headed by 5 million women, will become tomorrow's top businesses. Entrepreneurial couples, working together for themselves, will become the new model of the '90s; they are the fastest growing segment of the business population. LEISURE TIME TO REPLACE MONEY: The focus will continue to shift away from the self and one's achievements toward more identity with the family. Surveys show 78% of adults would prefer to work flexible hours, even if that means slower career advancement, to free up more time for the kids. Leisure time - not money - is the status symbol of the '90s. WOMEN WILL DESIGN FOR WOMEN: Women will beat men's times in the 26-mile marathon by 1998, according to "Megatrends for Women." And women will cease to "follow" fashion and male designers; fashion will start to follow women and the women designers who understand their needs. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM