business
THE BATTALION Page 9
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1980
Senate tells FTC to drop
b® Jk
schildren’s advertising issue
Use of credit increases
slightly during season
[LvH United Press International
nSt ashington — The Senate
lias told the Federal Trade Commis-
pn to drop the issue that has gotten
agency into perhaps the deepest
litical trouble in its history — chil-
n’s TV advertising.
[in addition, in completing action
iveaiU on a two-year authorization for the
imlJigency, the Senate Thursday
row; ijprdered the FTC:
cn ■—to keep its hands off the insur-
lobJec industry, with both investiga-
li^Jpons and regulations.
ish'IJ — Not to interfere with the way
Hi^BNatc industry sets voluntary stan-
lys, “[Hards for the saifety and performance
uplftof its products.
;i, —To cut by from 1,900 to 2,100
sitid thc number of small businesses that
is yjnust file quarterly reports with the
the Arc on their business operations.
The legislation passed the Senate,
77-13, and was sent to a conference
committee to iron out differences
with legislation already approved by
the House. The biggest difference
between the two bills is the House
wants a provision allowing either
house of Congress to be able to veto
any FTC trade regulation rule if
there is silent acquiesence from the
other chamber.
The Senate opted for a softer legis
lative review process that would re
quire approval of the president be
fore any FTC rule could actually be
vetoed. And President Carter Thurs
day reiterated his disapproval of the
House approach, warning he would
veto any legislation that attempted to
tear the agency apart.
In a speech to the Consumer
Federation of America, Carter called
the FTC “one of the greatest
weapons the American public has to
guarantee truth and integrity and
competition in the marketplace. I
will not let it be picked to pieces. ”
In addition, the House legislation
would tell the FTC to drop its prop
osed regulation of undertakers,
something the Senate did not get
into but it might accept in confer
ence negotiations.
The Senate voted, 67-30, to order
the FTC to scrap its project involving
children’s TV advertising. The bill
provides the agency can write rules
governing only false or deceptive
advertising, not “unfair” advertising.
The FTC project, still at the staff
level but already the subject of ex
tensive hearings, was based on the
concept advertising pitched at chil
dren could be “unfair” and therefore
deceptive.
The FTC could still revive the pro
ject under other provisions of the law
but the time and effort required to
retrace the stehs would make that
unlikely. The House is likely to go
along with the Senate action.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The use of
credit by inflation-pressed Amer
icans rose at the slowest level in
almost four years during the 1979
Christmas season, the Federal Re
serve Board says.
The central bank said Thursday
new borrowings in December drop
ped to an 11-month low of $25.81
billion, while repayment of old debts
grew to $24.26 billion.
The resulting $1.55 billion credit
gap was the smallest since the last
low of $1.48 billion in March 1976.
In curbing their use of credit, con
sumers have been reacting to in
terest rates which have have shot up
to record levels in the past four
months.
Outstanding installment credit
rose 13 percent for the year by $35.7
billion. But last year’s growth was
considerably below the 19 percent
increase of 1978 and was the smallest
since 1976.
Mart
rucks still bring profit
.fluA United Press International
’ DETROIT — The boom is off the
, Jkght truck market after a decade of
Aplosive growth, but U.S. automak-
‘ irs already are talking recovery.
° r l east ’ they expect to hold
profitable gains made during the
'^i RVOs, when cargo-haulers and four-
, n [wheel drive vehicles became rug-
tifed, civilized or luxurious status
’ jfymbols.
. ■‘‘You can recall just a few years
11 mack when a truck was a truck was a
tntaijuck and you never saw them
^marked at the country club,” said
TJonald A. Bouchard, truck sales
^"Manager for Chevrolet.
V rB Bouchard and other truck execu-
I Ijves are bullish on the future for
rl ™ .sales of vans, pickup trucks, four
-wheel drive vehicles and others.
;sasi ^“We don’t expect the light truck
'O^ffoarket to continue to grow at the
s toi jate it did in the 1970s; that was an
:eros! expansionary period that moved
Mckli'light trucks into new markets,” said
[Bennett E. Bidwell, vice president
ofilbof the car and truck group at Ford
of tkRotor Co. “We do, however, expect
II vfsflight trucks to continue to outper-
rm the car market.”
After averaging growth of about 9
percent a year through most of the
past decade, sales of vans dropped
28.1 percent in 1979 from the pre
vious year and pickup truck sales
were off 19.9 percent.
Responding to that dropoff, which
was attributed largely to the spring
gasoline crunch and climbing fuel
prices, thefour major U.S. automak
ers have been cutting back heavily
on light truck production. In Janu
ary, assemblies were off 52.2 per
cent, far greater than car assembly
curtailments.
Most automakers believe 1979,
with its large increases in gasoline
prices and consequent rush on small
cars, transformed the industry per
manently and gave automakers more
incentive to push for fuel economy.
In the next few years, he said,
trucks will be offered with new en
gines, particularly fuelstingy diesels,
and some body configurations will
change. But they will not lose their
appeal, he said.
He predicted Chevrolet will be
selling 1.7 million trucks a year by
mid-1985.
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MSC ARTS
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COMPETITION
r
MONDAY FEB. 11 — WEDNESDAY FEB. 13.
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CATAGORIES INCLUDE:
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DRAWING, PAINTING & SCULPTING.
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Presents:
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Featuring:
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FEB.11 & 12
8 p.m.
Tickets: $5.00
$4.00 with I.D.
learn about the great opportunities
available In the areas of:
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Motorola recruiters will be Interviewing
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February 18
MOTOROLA INC.
MSC
Political
Forum
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trip includes:
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tour of Williamsburg,
VA.
— White House tour
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For more
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Joseph Francis Coates
Tom Lawson McCall
Langdon Winner
Samuel C. Florman
Hazel Henderson
Melvin Kranzberg
The 25th MSC Student Conference on National Affairs
prosonts
“TECHNOLOGY: TOOL OR TYRANT?’
February 13-16,1980 Rudder Theatre
Wednesday, February 13
2:45 p.m.
“Technology: It’s
Past and Future”
JOSEPH F. COATES
former Senior Associate of the Congres
sional Office of Technology Assessment
Thursday, February 14
10:00 a.m. & 2:00 a.m.
“The Effects of
Technology on
the Environment”
TOM LAWSON McCALL
former Governor of Oregon & Environmentalist of
the Year; 1974
“Implications of
Technology for the
Individual”
LANGDON WINNER
Associate Professor at MIT • Contributing Edi
tor to Rolling Stone
Friday, February 15
10:00 a.m.
The Appropriate
Technology
Debate”
SAMUEL C. FLORMAN
author of “In Praise of Technology”
and
HAZEL HENDERSON
author of creating alternative futures and
formerly on the Advisory Council of the
Office of Technology Assessment
Saturday, February 16
11:00 a.m.
16
Technology is the
Answer But That’s
Not the Question”
MELVIN KRANZBERG
editor of the journal Technology and
Culture