California passed a law in September placing a 3.5 percent ceiling on check cashers' fees.

"If you want to see sustained growth, growth beyond that 3 or 3.5 percent ceiling, privatization is going to be important."

Management has offered a 5 percent ceiling, short of the 7 percent the unions demand.

Previously, the only people who got a break from the 28 percent ceiling on capital gains were those in higher brackets.

House leaders rejected the idea of a 14 percent ceiling on credit-card rates, which was approved by the Senate last week.

As a result, the average overhang reached 13.7 percent in 1999, well above the old 10 percent ceiling.

South Korea imposed a 10 percent ceiling when it first opened the stock market to direct foreign investment in 1992.

For someone 40 years old, the 70 percent ceiling would call for a heart rate of about 125 beats per minute during training.

With a top tax rate of 50 percent, that put a 20 percent ceiling on long-term capital gains taxes.

The Treasury left in place the 35 percent ceiling on the amount that one entity could buy at an auction.