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VOL. CCLX NO. 152 * * * * * *

SATURDAY/SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29 - 30, 2012

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WSJ.com

WASHINGTON—The job ofaverting year-end tax increasesand spending cuts landedsquarely on the Senate, whoseleaders said Friday they wouldlaunch a last-ditch weekend ef-fort to avert the so-called fiscalcliff.

President Barack Obama metwith all four congressional lead-ers in an hourlong meeting in theOval Office to review an increas-ingly narrow range of options.

He later said he was “modestlyoptimistic” a deal could be

reached, echoing comments fromthe top Democrat and Republicanin the Senate.

“We had a good meeting downat the White House and we areengaged in discussions…in thehopes that we can come forwardas early as Sunday” with a plan,said Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell (R., Ky.). “We’llbe working hard to try to see ifwe can get there in the next 24hours,” he said, adding he was“hopeful and optimistic.”

Senate Majority Leader HarryReid (D., Nev.) agreed the meet-ing was “constructive.” In awarning that seemed aimed at

lawmakers in both parties, hesaid, “whatever we come up withis going to be imperfect.”

Mr. Obama said Messrs. McCo-nnell and Reid have the weekendto reach and pass a deal.

In a move meant to pressureRepublicans, Mr. Obama askedMr. Reid and House Speaker JohnBoehner (R., Ohio) to bring up abill to extend income-tax ratesfor income under $250,000 andunemployment-insurance bene-fits if Senate leaders can’t reachan agreement. “The hour for im-mediate action is here, it is now,”he said.

The two Senate leaders now

have to concoct a deal that haseluded Washington since theelection, and it remained unclearhow the two sides could bridgetheir remaining differences, inparticular over the threshold atwhich higher tax rates would kickin. Mr. Obama left open the pos-sibility at the White House meet-ing of going higher than$250,000, a senior administrationofficial said.

It remains uncertain whether abipartisan agreement can bereached. If there is a Reid-McCo-nnell deal, officials said, it wouldprobably include these elements:an extension of current income-

tax rates for most Americans; ameasure to block a scheduled ex-pansion of the alternative mini-mum tax; an extension of unem-ployment benefits and possibly ameasure to prevent a scheduled

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BY JANET HOOKAND CAROL E. LEE

Cliff Deal Hinges on SenatorsWhite House Meeting Ends With Expressions of Cautious Optimism on Negotiations From Both Sides

Air travel is now the safest ithas been since the dawn of jetplanes, with the global airlineindustry set to mark its lowestrate of fatal accidents since theearly 1960s.

There have been 22 fatalcrashes world-wide this year, anumber that includes all pas-senger and cargo flights, downfrom 28 crashes in 2011, accord-ing to data assembled by theAviation Safety Network, whichcompiles accident and incidentinformation online. That crashcount is down from a 10-yearaverage of 34 fatal accidentsper year.

The U.S. hasn’t had a fatalaccident since a commuterplane crashed near Buffalo, N.Y.,in 2009.

Airline safety has improvedsteadily over the years, and ac-cident rates in the U.S. and else-where began dropping with theadvent of voluntary incident-re-porting programs that encour-age pilots and mechanics topass on information about mis-takes without fear of retribu-tion.

Other reasons for the safetyimprovements include betterand more reliable equipment,improved pilot training, ad-vances in air-traffic-control pro-cedures and tighter regulatoryoversight in some developing

countries.Of the year’s 22 fatal crashes,

just 10 involved passenger air-craft, and just three of thosewere larger Western-built jetlin-ers.

The other seven passenger-plane incidents involved West-ern- or Russian-built turbo-props, according to Ascend, aninternational consulting firmthat assembles a separate year-end safety breakdown.

Russian-built planes typicallyfly relatively few passengers buthistorically have suffered muchhigher crash rates than aircraftmade in the U.S. or by Europeanmanufacturers.

“Overall, it was the certainlythe safest year ever,” accordingto Paul Hayes, director of safetyat Ascend. With one fatal acci-dent per 2.5 million flightsworld-wide, this year “was al-most twice as safe as 2011,which itself had previously” at-tained that distinction, accord-ing to Ascend.

But such improvements alsounderscore persistent safetyproblems that mean signifi-cantly higher crash rates—oftenby a factor of four or more—

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BY ANDY PASZTOR

FlyingIs SafestSinceDawn ofJet Age

Of the year’s 22 fatalcrashes around theworld, 10 involvedpassenger aircraft.

MINNEAPOLIS—When Eric Kaler be-came president of the University of Min-nesota last year, he pledged to curb soar-ing tuition by cutting administrativeoverhead. But he hit a snag: No one could

tell him exactly what itcost to manage the school.

Like many public col-leges, the University ofMinnesota went on aspending spree over thepast decade, paid for by a

steady stream of state money and risingtuition. Officials didn’t keep close tabs ontheir payroll as it swelled beyond 19,000employees, nearly one for every 3½ stu-dents. “The more questions I asked, theless happy I was,” Dr. Kaler said.

Many of the newly hired, it turns out,

were doing little teaching. A Wall StreetJournal analysis of University of Minne-sota salary and employment recordsfrom 2001 through last spring shows thatthe system added more than 1,000 ad-ministrators over that period. Theirranks grew 37%, more than twice as fastas the teaching corps and nearly twice asfast as the student body.

Across U.S. higher education, non-classroom costs have ballooned, admin-istrative payrolls being a prime exam-ple. The number of employees hired bycolleges and universities to manage oradminister people, programs and regu-lations increased 50% faster than thenumber of instructors between 2001and 2011, the U.S. Department of Educa-tion says. It’s part of the reason that tu-ition, according to the Bureau of LaborStatistics, has risen even faster than

health-care costs.The University of Minnesota illus-

trates the trend. Its main Twin Citiescampus had the largest share of employ-ees classified as “executive/administra-tive and managerial” among the 72“very-high-research” public universitiesin the 2011-12 academic year, accordingto data compiled by the U.S. Departmentof Education. Minnesota officials say thefigures are misleading because not allschools report administrative spendingthe same way.

At Minnesota, tuition and fees forstate residents have more than doubledin a decade, to $13,524. That far exceedsthe average at four-year public collegesof $8,655, which also represents a dou-bling, according to the College Board.Private-college tuition averages $29,056,

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Deans List: Hiring Spree FattensCollege Bureaucracy—And Tuition

BY DOUGLAS BELKIN AND SCOTT THURM

If the Japanese Diet Included Deer, It Might Keep Wolves From the Doori i i

As the Ruminants Run Rampant, Nation Considers Introducing Predators, Venison Lunches

BUNGO-ONO, Japan—ForYusuke Hashimoto, mayor of thissmall hamlet in southwesternJapan, desperate times call fordesperate measures. The town isone of the country’s top produc-ers of shiitake mushrooms, butthey are also popular with localdeer. And that’s the rub.

“Deer are encroaching onfarmers’ ability to make a liv-ing,” said Mr. Hashimoto, whohas become part of a movementto reinstate four-legged carni-vores to control the herd.

Japan’s last native canine—theextinct Canis lupus hodophilax—

was killed off in 1905as national policy.

Bringing out a stackof books about wolffolklore, Mr. Hashimotoexplained reintroduc-ing wolves began to ap-peal to him when heread material publishedby the Japan Wolf As-sociation, a grass-rootslobbying group.

“As wild as itsounds, the more Iread about them the less ludi-crous it seemed,” he said.

Japan isn’t the only countrywith deer issues. Suburbs acrossthe U.S. battle deer foraging in

gardens, spreadingLyme disease andcausing traffic acci-dents. But the rootsof Japan’s deer prob-lem—and some of theproposed solutions—are unusual.

Japan’s deer crisisis aggravated by ex-treme demographictrends: intense urban-ization and depopula-tion of rural areas, re-

cord low birthrates and theworld’s most rapidly aging soci-ety. Venison isn’t a staple of Jap-anese cuisine, and gun ownershipis subject to strict regulation.

Now, too few hunters prowlthrough rural Japan’s thick bam-boo and cedar groves, and deeraccount for an estimated $33million in annual crop loss, triplethe total a decade ago, accordingto Japan’s environment ministry.

So Japanese authorities arelaying more traps, and ring-fenc-ing rice paddies and timbergroves. They’re also trying tomake hunting fashionable foryoung urbanites and introducingvenison to school lunches.

Wolf advocates submitted apetition with 94,468 signaturesto the Environment Ministry inApril. It urged the ministry to

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BY CHESTER DAWSON

Sika Deer

WEEKENDREVIEW

THEFUTURE

OFMEDICINE

REVIEW offduty

ALongWeekend inHonolulu

OFF DUTY

n The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage fell 158.20 points, or1.2%, to 12938.11, as inves-tors lost hope for a last-gaspdeal to avert the fiscal cliff.The selloff capped a five-dayslide that put the Dow intothe red for the month. B1

n Pending home sales rose9.8% in November from ayear ago, the latest sign ofhow housing demand hasfirmed up as mortgage ratestumble to new lows. A2

n Milk prices could rise inthe new year due to a quirkof dairy-pricing law. A4

n A dockworkers’ contractextension averted a shutdownof ports from Boston toHouston but too late for re-tailers that had reroutedspring product shipments. B1

n Japan’s plan to phase outnuclear power by 2040 couldbe scrapped. Meanwhile, thenew finance minister lashedout at the U.S. and Europeover the strong yen. A9

n Publisher Pearson enteredthe e-reader market by buy-ing a 5% stake in Barnes &Noble’s Nook Media. B3

n Dexia’s wind-down wasformally approved in Eu-rope. The bank was an earlyfinancial-crisis casualty. B2

n Spanish companies arefeeling the strain of the gov-ernment’s unpaid bills. A7

What’sNews

i i i

Business & Finance

World-Wide

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CONTENTSBooks..................... C5-C10Cooking...................... D5-7Corporate News..... B1,3Heard on Street.......B14Ideas Market............... C4Letters to Editor.... A12

Opinion................... A11-13Sports............................ A14Stock Listings....... B9,13Style & Fashion.... D3-4Travel..................... D1-2,10Weather Watch...... B14Wknd Investor.... B7-10

s Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company.All Rights Reserved

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InsideNOONAN A13

About Those2012 Political

Predictions

n The Senate will launch alast-ditch fiscal-cliff effort.Obama met with the fourcongressional leaders on Fri-day. While Senate leadersfrom both parties expressedoptimism they could forgean agreement, it remainedunclear how the two sidescould bridge their remainingdifferences. The House willreconvene Sunday. A1, A4, A6

Obama reiterated his pro-posal to extend current taxrates for those reportingincome up to $250,000.

n Russia’s ban on U.S. adop-tions was signed into law byPutin, who ordered his gov-ernment to make it easierfor Russians to adopt. A8

n The young Indian womanwhose gang-rape sparkeddemonstrations has died. A9

n Deadly jetliner crashesare at their lowest since themid-1960s. But turbopropsremain less safe and parts ofAfrica and Latin Americaface safety problems. A1n New FCC rules make iteasier for companies to offerInternet on board airplanes.n A Greek corruption scan-dal deepened, involving alist of thousands of holdersof Swiss bank accounts. A7

n Vietnamese police detaineda well-known dissident andblogger, as the Communist-run nation cracks down onInternet criticism. A8

n Died: Jean Harris, 89,killer of “Scarsdale Diet”doctor Herman Tarnower.

Close to the Edge Earners of $200,000-plus

brace for a tax hit.............. A4 Payroll taxes will rise ....... A6 Dow falls 158.20 points.... B1 Weekend Investor: Who’s

‘rich’ by definition?............ B7 Updates at WSJ.com

On Tasting Menu, Scrambled Eggs With a Dusting of Flour

FAST FOOD: Each year on Dec. 28, residents of Ibi in southeastern Spain celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents with a mock battle. A groupcalled the Els Enfarinats takes control of the village, prompting opposition forces to fight them off. Their weapons are eggs and lots of flour.

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