nation
•sdd
bngressional office:
nemployment will rise
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Congres-
Jsional Budget Office predicts unem-
satJlployment levels will average about
7.8 percent this year and may top 8
percent hy the end of 1981, a slightly
more pessimistic -assessment than
the administration’s estimate.
The forecast is part of the office’s
economic message presented to the
House Budget Committee Tuesday.
The president’s budget message re
leased Monday projected employ
ment would be about 7.5 percent
this year and decline to about 7.3
percent in 1981.
The congressional office, which
develops econonmic projections to
assist Congress in its legislative deci
sions on such matters as the federal
budget, expects a mild recession in
1980, followed by a relatively weak
recovery later this year and in 1981.
lepa
The administration made a similar
projection Monday.
Also consistent with President
Carter’s budget message, the office
assumes there will be no tax cuts in
1980. Consequently, it said rapid in
flation will push wage earners into
higher tax brackets, thereby further
reducing spendable income.
Personal savings, which fell to re
cord low levels in 1979, are expected
to recover somewhat this year, furth
er restricting household spending,
the congressional office said.
The congressional office assumes
tight credit restrictions will continue
to reduce automobile and residential
home sales resulting in layoffs in the
automobile and construction indus
tries with depressing ripple effects
on the rest of the economy.
But some offsetting factors will
buffer the effects of the recession.
Export growth is expected to be
strong.
Current inventory build-ups are
not significant, so business can con
tinue normal production schedules
without trying to work off stockpiled
supplies. And federal expenditures
— particularly defense purchases —
may provide a small positive thrust
to the economy during 1980.
Inflation is not expected to show
any significant improvement this
year as rising energy, food and labor
costs continue to put pressure on the
economy.
However, a recovery is expected
to begin sometime around mid-1980,
the congressional office said. It said it
expects after-tax income to begin ris
ing in the second half of thd year;
mortgage rates to decline, thereby
spurring new housing; and business
investments to rebound.
.'fccc
THE BATTALION Page 11
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1980
*<«
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Defense secretary defends
iprojected budget increase
:nt&
COB
ould'
imm
gt
enlii|
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Defense Sec-
iblics retary Harold Brown Tuesday de-
tecot fended the projected $15.3 billion
Cart increase in defense spending against
Tei charges that much more is needed,
omen and spoke out again in favor of the
controversial SALT II pact with the
orio^Soviet Union.
"It (SALT) serves our national
security interests — even more so
when the Soviets are aggressive —
but the timing of its ratification must
defer to the urgent need that we
assess and respond to Soviet actions
gres
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in Afghanistan,’ Brown told the
House Armed Services Committee.
“Although the Soviets have shown
little restraint in their defense deci
sions, they have been willing to
negotiate arms control agreements
that promote strategic stability,” he
said. “SALT II is such an agree
ment.”
Defense sources said Gen. David
Jones, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, would warn Congress in his
presentation the chances of a U.S.-
Soviet military conflict “will increase
significantly’ in the first half of the
1980.
Brown said SALT should be
approved because it puts a ceiling on
the strategic bombers and missile
launchers of both superpowers, it
allows U.S. intelligence to monitor
Soviet weapons programs better,
and it does not put constraints on any
U.S. weapons development prog
rams.
In advance of Brown’s appear
ance, key Republican and Democra
tic legislators criticized the proposed
1981 fiscal year’s $142.7 billion de
fense budget as insufficient.
Experimental facility used
to test making oil from coal
United Press International
BAYTOWN — Engineers Tues
day showed off an experimental facil
ity that will test a way to make oil
from plentiful American coal and
might launch a new industrial re
volution ending America’s peed for
Arab oil.
The $200 million, 20-acre maze of
pipes and multi-story cylindrical
towers — to the untrained eye a re
finery with a coal chute — will be
finished in March after two years of
construction on the edge of Exxon’s
largest oil refinery.
In May, Exxon, the Department
of Energy and five other American,
German and Japanese partners will
start a 30-month series of tests to see
whether the facility can produce oil
from coal economically.
At peak operation the plant will
turn 250 tons of coal into 600 barrels
of oil daily, not even a nick in the
nation’s 19 million barrel-a-day oil
habit, but plenty for experimenta
tion.
Exxon’s W. Robert Epperly said
that if thfe project goes as hoped, sci
entists and engineers will have
enough data by 1982 to decide
whether to build a commercial-size
plant capable of handling thousands
of tons per day.
Ifthey decide to go ahead, Epper
ly said a commercial plant — making
refinable oil and gas by mixing coal
with hydrogen at very high pressures
and temperatures — could be in
operation before 1990.
Emphasizing the ifs and maybes,
Exxon’s Bob Larkins said gasoline
from coal might cost as little at $1.50
a gallon in 1978 dollars, or about 40
cents more per gallon than the cur
rent national average.
Epperly said many questions re
main unanswered.
“Personally I’m optimistic about
solving all the problems, but I have
been working on process technology
for 20 years and I think this is the
most difficult technology I’ve ever
worked with,” Epperly said.
Plant manager Robert E. Payne
said an example of the potential
problems is the untested wear and
tear on pumps and valves.
They never have been subjected
to sustained handling of semi-solids
at pressures as high as 2,000 pounds
per square inch (psi) and tempera
tures of up to 1,000 degrees
Fahrenheit — conditions required
for coal liquefaction.
One valve used to downgrade
pressure on the liquefying coal from
2,000 pounds to 72 psi was wearing
out every 20 minutes two years ago.
Engineers now have it lasting a
month and hope they can triple that.
That one valve costs as much as
$32,000.
A major factor is the relative cost of
building a coal liquefaction plant
Payne said. Projections indicate a
coal liquefaction plant could cost five
times as much as the $3,000 per bar
rel of production an oil refinery now
costs.
A commercial coal liquefaction
facility could cost $3 billion.
Another key in determining
whether coal liquefaction becomes a
major factor — it has been technolo
gically feasible since World War II
— is the relative price of oil which
has risen as high as $41.30 per barrel
on spot markets.
Larkins said oil from the coal plant
could cost $30 to $35 a barrel.
“If it (the relative cost) were out
rageous, we wouldn’t be working on
it,” Epperly said. “It is an option
which is going to be considered se
riously in the future, assuming this
program is successfully completed.”
Burroughs
Our business is data and word recording, computation,
processing and communications management. Our
range of products is one of the broadest and most
advanced in the data processing industry, and is
complemented by a strong and successful range of
office products.
According to objective industry sources, Burroughs has
moved into SECOND position in the data processing
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following majors to learn more about our successful
team:
Computing Science
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Electrical Engineering
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We will be on the Texas A&M University Campus
conducting Interviews on Friday, February 8,1980. Sign up
at the Career Planning & Placement Center NOW!
Location of our facilities: Southern California
Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/H
Burrougli:
MSC TOWN HALL
PRESENTS
IRA LEVIN'S
DEATHTRAP
Scenery by
WILLIAM PITMAN
Costumes by Lighting by
RUTH MORLEY MARC B. WEISS
Original New York Production Directed by
ROBERT MOORE
Restaged by
PHILIP CUSACK
“SEEING ‘DEATHTRAP' IS LIKE A RIDE ON A GOOD
ROLLER-COASTER WHEN THE SCREAMS AND LAUGHS
MINGLE TO FORM AN ENJOYABLE HYSTERIA!”
— Jack Kroll, Newsweek
Sat. Feb. 2 8
Rudder Auditorium
Tickets Info. MSC Box Office
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G.P. 4.50 5.50 6.50
Std. 2.75 4.00 5.25
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TECHNOLOGY: TOOL or TYRANT?
MSC SCONA celebrates its 25th conference this year. From February 13-16, over 200 student delegates from nearly eighty
colleges and universities from the United States, Mexico, and Canada will convene at Texas A&M to discuss this year’s topic,
Technology.
Guest speakers will include (pictured from left to right) Joseph F. Coates, president of think tank J. F. Coates, Inc. which
deals in future research; Tom L. McCall, environmental protection advocate and former governor of Oregon; and Langdon
Winner (not pictured) professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of Autonomous Technology:
Technics-out-of-Control as a theme in Political Thought.
Also speaking will be large technology advocate, Samuel C. Florman, principal and vice-president of Kreisler Borg Florman
Construction Company and small technology advocate, Hazel Henderson, an independent futurist. Melvin Kranzberg, a
pioneer in the history of technology, will serve as wrap-up speaker.
Texas A&M University will have 25 student delegates at this conference.
YOU CAN BECOME A TEXAS A&M DELEGATE
For an opportunity not only to represent Texas A&M at SCONA 25, but also to receive an educational and awareness
expanding experience you will never forget, come by the MSC Directors Office, MSC 221, and apply for an interview to serve
as a delegate to SCONA 25. Deadline for applying is 5:00 pm, Thursday, January 31.
MSCSCONA25