Thursday, August 30, 1984/The Battalion/Page 7
Warped
jj
on toy, THESE BACK-TO-SCHOOL
PARTIES ALWAYS DEPRESS
ME... EVERYBODY TRY IMS TO
rtAKE IMPRESSIONS...
..AND THEY RE ALL PRETENPIA/6
SO HARD THAT THEY ARE oR
AREN'T SOME THI A/6 OR
SOMEBODY. THEYVE ALL
GOT THEIR FACES OAL
HOW CAN I TELL IF I LIKE
SOMEONE OR IF THEY LIKE
ME? IT'S LIRE THEY'RE ALL
HIDING BEHIND SOME KIND OF
MASKS...
by Scott McCullar Health CO TO
costs to rise
to $1.9 trillion
Preteen-Junior-MissY Post-Oak-Matt
THE
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GOOD EVENIA/G,^
MY NAME'S-
Indicators show decline
for two straight months
United Press International
WASHINGTON — In the most
serious signal of economic slowdown
since the recession’s end, the govern
ment reported Wednesday that its
index of leading indicators dropped
percent in July following a large
decline in June.
It was the first time in two and a
If years that there has been two
straight months of decline of any
size in the sensitive economic barom
eter. The overall 2.1 percent setback
injune and July was the largest in an
even longer time, since September
and October of 1981.
The report reinforced the impres
sion among most economists that the
Dm half of the year was the final en
core for impressive economic
jowth and that business is now set-
ingdown to something closer to av-
trage.
A few economists, however, see
ihe threat of a new recession.
A separate report Wednesday
showed that the burden of import
competition weighed more heavily
than ever on American business.
The trade deficit in July soared to a
record $14.1 billion as Americans,
encouraged by a summer strength
ening of the dollar’s spending
power, unleashed an unprecedented
appetite for imports.
Commerce Secretary Malcolm
Baldrige said slower growth forecast
by the leading indicators might help
shrink the trade deficit a little in fu
ture months but not enough to keep
1984 from nearly doubling last
year’s red ink in trade.
“The $73.8 billion deficit for the
first seven months of this year al
ready exceeds the $69.4 billion
shortfall for all of 1983,” the pre
vious annual record, he noted.
Baldrige’s department estimates
each billion in sales lost to foreigners
could support 25,000 American
jobs.
White House spokesman Larry
Speakes said the decline in the lead
ing indicators signaled some moder
ation ahead in economic activity that
should help ease upward pressure
on interest rates.
Speakes emphasized the figures
had been on the rise for two years
since the recession ended and said
other statistics show “the economy
remains strong and growing for the
foreseeable future.”
Private economist Jerry
Jasinowski, speaking for the Na
tional Association of Manufacturers,
said, “The second decline in the
leading indicators in as many
months confirms that the economy
will slow in the second half.
“Although we may see some
bounce back in economic activity in
the fall the economy is on a glide-
path toward 4 percent growth by the
end of the year.
The gross national product ex
panded at more than twice that pace
in the first half.
In another report, the depart
ment said July sales of new houses
were unchanged from June’s strong
pace, the second consecutive month
without the kind of decline the hous
ing industry has been worrying
about.
While sales remained at a 630,000
unit annual rate, above last year’s to
tal production of 623,000, the aver
age price of a new house fell by
$2,200 to $95,600.
But new housing construction has
been tapering off.
Auto workers union selects
GM, Ford for strike targets
United Press International
> DETROIT (UPI) — The United
Auto Workers Wednesday selected
both General Motors Corp. and
Ford Motor Co. as strike targets in
1984 negotiations — only the second
time in 14 years the union has
picked dual targets.
UAW President Owen Bieber said
both firms were chosen because the
union was dissatisfied with contract
proposals delivered Tuesday that
did not address the UAW’s twin
goals of job security and substantial
wage increases.
Bieber said he would lead both
bargaining teams today when talks
resume, and would participate in
“shuttle bargaining” until the con
tracts at GM and Ford expire Sept.
14.
“We are telling them to start all
over with haste because there are
only 16 days left,” Bieber told a news
conference.
The last time the union picked
two strike targets was in 1970, when
both GM and Chrysler Corp. were
selected. The union narrowqd its se
lection to GM on the night before
the contract expired. The result was
a 67-day strike that was not only the
costliest in automotive history but
also regarded as a major contribu
tion to a national economic down
turn.
The selection of dual targets came
on a unanimous vote by the UAW’s
25-member International Executive
Board at a meeting in a hotel across
from Ford World Headquarters ill
suburban Dearborn.
Bieber said the board gave him
the power to select a single target as
talks progress. He would not specu
late on the chances of a strike.
“Thank God that is not the deci
sion I have to make today,” he said.
On Tuesday, GM and Ford pre
sented the union with proposals that
did not address job security for
union members who have been
plagued with layoffs in the last few
years of the automotive recession.
GM offered workers lump sum
payments of $600 in the first year of
a contract and $300 in the second*
year, but no payment in the third
year. Ford’s proposal said workers
would have to be satisfied with cur
rent profit-sharing plans in lieu of
Wage raises.
Workers two years ago agreed to
$4 billion in concessions at the two
firms that included wage and benefit
freezes.
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Attention Friends,
Independents, and Conservative Democrats,
Help Phil Gramm “Pull the Wagon"
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FUND RAISING SUPPER
Tuesday, September 4,1984 7:30 p.m. Brazos Center
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United Press International
BOSTON — United States health
costs will double every six years until
reaching $1.9 trillion by 1999 be
cause people only want changes that
don’t affect their own health care, a
review of health surveys concluded
Wednesday.
Despite recent efforts to slow the
skyrocketing cost of medicine, the
federal government predicts the cost
of health care will increase $50 bil
lion a year, going from $322 billion
in 1982 to $ 1.9 trillion by 1999.
“The problem that appears to lie
at the heart of the matter is that
Amei icans have much more ambiva
lent feelings about controlling
health-care costs than is generally
recognized,” the report said.
The report — published in the
New England Journal of Medicine
— is a summary of 15 natiohal public
opinion surveys that found a sur
prising degree of agreement among
the respondents.
The study reached four conclu
sions:
• Both the public and elected of
ficials see rising costs as the nation’s
No. 1 problem in health care. How
ever, neither rank the issue as very
high on a list of the most important
problems facing the nation.
• Americans are deeply dis
turbed by the sharply rising prices of
their health care, particularly the in
creasing cost of a stay in the hospital
or a visit to a doctor. However, most
are not troubled by the growing
share of the nation’s economy that is
devoted to health care. Most believe
that society currently spends too
little rather than too much for such
services.
• Although most Americans be
lieve the country’s present health
care system is inefficient, however
they’re generally satisfied with their
individual care.
• Three out of four people be
lieve doctors bear a major responsi
bility for the nation’s rising health
care costs, and two out of three say
they are beginning to lose faith in
doctors. But in general doctors
maintain a unique credibility with
the public.
The report was compiled by the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
in Princeton, N.J., the nation’s larg
est health philanthropy foundation,
which provides $60 million a year to
support health and medicine in the
United States.
“The challenge ahead is for gov
ernment to put together a package
of reforms that will significantly re
duce the rate of increase of health
spending without dramatically chan
ging the way people receive their
medical care,” said Drew E. Altman,
the foundation’s vice president and a
co-author.
Correction
The Battalion incorrectly re
ported Monday the rehearsal sched
ule for the Texas A&M Women’s
Chorus. The chorus rehearses three
mornings and one evening each
week. The Battalion regrets the er-
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Battalion Classified 845-2611