March 2, 2008 — Dear John: Back in November I used the Chase ATM located in the building where I work. I keyed in the amount of $110, but instead of getting that amount, the ATM spewed out the amount of $220 in twenty dollar bills.

But it only debited my account for $110. I walked to a nearby branch to report the incident in person and I re-deposited the extra $110 back into my account so when the error was found the money would be there and I could pay it back.

How much longer before I should just say that I’ve been blessed? Or will it be a matter of time before this is found and corrected? C.C.

Dear C.C.: You have been blessed - with a conscience and good sense.

This question does come up from time to time.

So I called Chase to ask them about accounting errors like this. And, as you probably realized, I changed the initials on this letter and obscured some details so you can keep your little secret if you’d like.

Here’s what probably happened.

Chase says all ATM machines count the number of bills dispensed but can’t keep track of the denominations. Very few of the machines handle $10 bills. Most just do $20s.

Since you wanted an amount divisible by 10, you got the smaller bills.

But the person who filled the machine probably put $20 bills in the slot by mistake. So you - and probably some other customers that day - made out like bandits.

Which gets me to the other point of this. The bank will probably never be able to figure out where the money went.

But if it does you would be in trouble.

You may feel better that you reported the ATM incident in person but did you receive any type of acknowledgment from the person at the bank?

Dom Amorosa, former federal prosecutor who is now in private practice, thinks you should protect yourself - and your reputation - by sending a letter or an e-mail to Chase.

!

Dear John: We have as much oil in the Rockies as some Mideast OPEC suppliers. We just don’t dig for it. Shouldn’t we stop buying oil from OPEC and stop supporting terrorists? E.D.

Dear E.D. Yep, we should drill for oil anywhere it exists in the US. We should do so very carefully to preserve our country’s beauty. But America isn’t going to look very beautiful if we don’t arrest our current economic distress - which is very much the result of our dependence on foreign oil and wars we fight to keep the goo flowing.

By the way, there have been reports that the oil deposits on government land in the Rockies exceed by many times the known reserves in Saudi Arabia.

Send your questions to Dear John, The N.Y. Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, N.Y., N.Y., 10036, or john.crudele@nypost.com.**

March 2, 2008 — As both individual and institutional investors get scorched by the choppiness of the stock and bond markets, many are turning to that which glitters - gold.

And who can blame them?

With the threat of so-called “stagflation” - a condition when the economy slows down at the same time that inflation rises - emerging for the first time in 30 years, traditionally safe places to put one’s money are becoming fewer and fewer.

Even real estate - once considered the safest investment - is now free-falling with no end in sight, as what was once considered a vibrant “market” of buyers and sellers has all but dried up.

Gold, meanwhile, has seen its appeal soar, much as its price has done in recent weeks.

In fact, gold is now at a 25-year high, closing at $975 an ounce from a low of $252 an ounce in 1999. On Jan. 1, 2007, gold was $639 and rose to $833 by year’s end - an increase of 30 percent.

The 16 percent gain in the price of gold this year means the precious metal has beat the major US equity market indexes, all of which are negative for the year.

The spike in gold prices can be blamed on growing inflationary fears.

Oil prices closed at $101.61 yesterday, off 98 cents from its Feb. 28 high of $102.59 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) - the government’s statistic on inflation each month - released the same day, showed an unexpected increase of 0.4 percent for January.

That, combined with a falling dollar, makes US dollars worth less, increasing the demand for gold.

Indeed, gold seems to be the one sure investment that is universally recognized and valued.

Gold has been used for jewelry, decoration and as currency for thousands of years, and since everyone recognizes the value of gold as a common means of payment, it is a coveted and powerful commodity when there’s economic uncer tainty, geopolitical instability and questions about the value of more contempo rary investments.

Gold has been espe cially appealing to Mid dle Eastern investors looking to diversify out of the falling dollar. They are reportedly going to gold- mining companies directly in order to purchase their gold before it is sold through other channels.

For it’s part, Wall Street seems to be bullish on gold after a long hiatus.

In a recent report, Goldman Sachs analyst Oscar Cabrera wrote, “We now expect the first decade in 2000 to exit with a $1,000/oz gold price.”

ROME/MILAN: Two offers for ailing Italian airline Alitalia are far below market price, with one bid of just one euro cent a share, a source close to sale talks said, sending shares into a tailspin that prompted their suspension.

Domestic minnow Air One has offered just one euro cent per share, the source told Reuters on Friday.

Air France-KLM has offered 35 euro cents per share — but even that only values the Italian flag carrier at about 485 million euros, or 346.7 million pounds, less than half what the market thought it was worth on Thursday.

Shares in the loss-making airline, which has been hawked by the government for nearly a year, tumbled and trading was halted several times. Shares fell as much as 30 percent before recouping some losses to close 13 percent down at 0.76 euros.

“The offer by Air One is at one cent per share,” the source told Reuters, adding that Air Frances offer is at 35 euro cents per share.

Both Air France and Air One declined to comment. The offers are non-binding and both can be reviewed.

Alitalia said in a statement the bid prices were “not full and complete,” adding that as they pertained to non-binding offers, they were “a mere first reference to value.”

In a separate statement requested by the stock market regulator, Alitalia said it will consider the financial resources of the bidders and also their ability to create a single hub to rival other large European airports.

Both these criteria suggest it favours Air France-KLM, which wants to ditch the companys twin hub strategy and focus on Rome at the expense of Milan.

Alitalias Chairman Maurizio Prato has already spoken favourably of the French bid, but that view faces domestic pressure to keep the flagship carrier in Italian hands.

Italys main employers body, its largest unions and several politicians have come out in favour of Air One, whose bid is backed by Italys biggest retail bank Intesa Sanpaolo.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he could talk about Air Frances offer with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi when he visits Rome on Thursday.

JOBS, STRIKES, POLITICS

Unions, worried over potential heavy job cuts in both offers, threatened on Friday to strike unless the government consulted them before choosing a buyer and told them what the bidders plans were.

Roberto Formigoni, a key politician in the region where Alitalias Milan hub is based, also called on the government to give details of the plans.

“The industrial plan is the most important part of the valuation: it does not matter who offers a cent more or a cent less. It is all about the commitment of the company presenting strategy,” he said.

Alitalia, whose main attraction for buyers is its dominance of the route from financial capital Milan to Rome, has put off a final decision on the offers to December 18 after the government failed to pick one at a long meeting on Wednesday.

Prodi said on Thursday there were “clearly …different instinctive opinions” among his cabinet over the best partner.

His fragile centre-left coalition government put Alitalia up for sale at the end of last year but a first auction flopped in July when all the bidders pulled out.

Time is now running out for the government to find a survival solution for the airline, which loses a million euros a day and has said it has funds for a year if it sells assets.

Rome cannot give any more money to Alitalia, which already is burdened by 1.2 billion euros of debt, after a ban from the European Union on further state aid.

Uncertainty around the sale heightened this week when a group claiming to include Singapore Airlines sent a letter expressing interest to Alitalias board which met on Thursday.

Singapore Airlines said later it had no intention of bidding for Alitalia and it had never heard of “Singapore Airlines Holdings,” which was mentioned in the letter. Deutsche Bank denied newspaper reports it would advise the mystery group. — For a factbox on the Alitalia bids click on

(Additional reporting by Alberto Sisto; Writing by Jo Winterbottom and Gavin Jones; Editing by David Cowell)