Such was the business community's preoccupation with size in '98. Whatever financial warning signs appeared this year were successfully ignored by most U.S. companies and consumers or became road kill under a blazing national economy. Still, the red flags were fluttering and will command more attention next year. Don't forget the consumer. With unemployment near record lows and the stock market near record highs, consumers are spending big-time.
Problem is, consumers are spending all of their incomes and then some, government figures show.
The country's personal savings rate fell below zero for the first time in the postwar era. Corporate layoffs multiplied in 1998, up more than 50 percent from 1997. But the volume of cuts accelerated late in this year. New York's Citigroup, for example, this month said 10,400 people, or 6.5 percent of its work force, will be trimmed. Florida's Sunbeam Corp. Layoffs proved commonplace in the health care field.