On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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British supermarket chain J Sainsbury will take charge of 550 million pounds ($992 million) and lay off 750 managers as part of overhaul plan intended to cut costs and improve quality of its products Standard & Poor's cuts Sainsbury's debt level (S)
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan defends big increase in homeowner debt, speech to convention of community bankers, Washington; disputes analysts who worry that home buyers have become swept up in speculative housing bubble that Fed is partly responsible for creating; adds family finances are still in 'reasonably good shape' even though consumer debt has risen 'especially steeply' in last five years; says while home mortgages have soared, values of properties have climbed as well (M)
Germany's leading research institutes say economic growth is likely to slow in 2005 as result of higher oil prices and slow exports; project growth rate in gross domestic product of 1.5 percent next year; expect budget deficit of 3.5 percent, which would violate 3 percent limit set for countries using euro currency (S)
Federal banking regulators in Bush administration are poised to modify 1977 law requiring banks with assets over $250 million to serve low-income residents in their neighborhoods through housing investments and development projects; result has been $1.5 trillion channeled into various projects, but smaller banks complain of burden; Office of Thrift Supervision and FDIC regulators publish formal proposals to reduce number of banks subject to law, requiring only those with $1 billion in assets to comply; two other regulators, Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve Board, are likely to follow suit; law's detractors say rules are irrelevant because banks now realize importance of community reinvestment (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of October 20, 2004, covering October 20, 2004.
George Strait
Usher
Good Charlotte
Korn
Nelly
2004Anthony Hecht, American poet and educator (born 1923)[†]
Anthony Evan Hecht was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, and the Holocaust being recurrent themes in his work.
2004Chuck Hiller, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1934)[†]
Charles Joseph Hiller was an American Major League Baseball second baseman. In the 1962 World Series, he became the first National League player to hit a grand slam in a World Series.
In 2004, the world population was approximately 6,503,377,772 people[†]