Newspaper Page Text
— Griffin Daily News Wednesday, December 13,1972
Page 30
Consumer dollars
picture economy
By CARL W. RITTER
Copley News Service
Gross National Product —
the nation’s output of goods
and services for a year, ex
pressed in dollar terms — is
far from being the ideal mea
surement of economic well
being that is implied by its
widespread use.
Its relationship to the over
all economic picture is about
the same as that of the Dow
Jones industrial average to
the stock market as a whole.
Personal consumption ex
penditures are considered by
some economists to be more
revealing than GNP.
“These expenditures com
prise the dominant compo
nent of GNP and should be of
more interest to the average
person than they have been
over the years,” says David
K. Blake.
Blake deserted the execu
tive ranks some years ago to
plot economic charts and pur
sue the fuller life of browsing
among avocados in Escondi
do, Calif. As a business econo
mist, he had instructed at
General Electric Co.
Personal consumption ex
penditures, according to
Blake, relate directly to what
he terms “multiplying dol
lars” in developing a highly
graphic picture of what is
really taking place in the
economy. The dollars are la
beled primary (fresh or new)
in Blake's computations.
He employs a rather simple
formula to determine U.S.
economic health. Out of it
comes what he believes is an
essential comparison of the
economic effectiveness of
presidential administrations
which is ordinarily not
brought to the public’s atten
tion.
President Nixon is found to
be doing commendably in
overcoming the excesses of
the “get the economy rolling
again” years, although Blake
sees a difficult period in 1973
as the result of a dangerously
rising loans-to-deposits ratio
in the commercial banking
system.
A pullback, or slowdown, in
lending to business, would re
duce economic momentum to
the point of some kind of re
cession, while to keep travel
ing the present route of de
clining bank liquidity would
feed inflation, Blake says.
Thus, he sees the nation’s re
luctant choice as either of two
evils.
“Our 8 to 9 per cent rate of
increase in GNP, including a
three and one-half per cent
rate of inflation, is not sus
tainable. “We will have to get
down to around 5 or 6 per cent
— or even lower — as in the
1920 s without inflation. Ulis
would improve the situation
considerably for several
years.
“Professional economists
have neglected to pay atten
tion to this fact although
bankers are aware of the situ
ation.”
The trouble with the banks,
Blake feels, is that the major
commercial banks are al
ready operating with an 87 to
n
ACROBATESS So Ah-kuei
of the Peking Acrobatic
Troupe makes umbrella
balancing look easy. No
wind, of course.
Too Critical
The famed “Spirit of ’76.”
painted by Archibald M. Wil
lard, Ohio artist and wagon
decorator, was exhibited at
the Philadelphia Centennial
Exposition of 1876. Critics
ignored the painting, but the
public loved it.
88 percentage rate of loans
measured against bank de
mand and time deposits, leav
ing virtually no room for ex
pansion of lending when and if
an upsurge in loan demand
comes.
This appears to Blake to be
forthcoming, riding a wave of
renewed business confidence
on the heels of the Nixon re
election. A compounding fac
tor is an emerging reluctance
on the part of consumers to
keep savings at earlier high
levels and an increasing will
ingness to withdraw savings
to spend.
A declining rate of savings
coupled with a soaring de
mand for funds could bring us
back to the days of credit
crunch.
Against this potential back
drop, Blake calls attention to
his method of determining the
multiplier effect achieved by
recent presidential adminis
trations. GNP is averaged out
over a four-year term, as is
PCE (personal consumption
expenditure). The latter is
subtracted from GNP to de
termine the average number
of multiplying dollars.
These are increment dollars
from the sum of private do
mestic investment and net ex
ports, plus government ex
penditures and they expand
themselves through transac
tions.
Blake has found that their
multiplier effect was 3.10 and
3.25 in the Eisenhower admin
istrations; 2.44 for President
John Kennedy; 2.40 for Presi
dent Lyndon Johnson; and
3.23 per cent for President
Richard Nixon over his first
three years.
The latter multiple was
“unwittingly sabotaged” in
1972, however, according to
Blake, by the Internal Reve
nue Service’s overwithholding
of income taxes from pay
checks, so the multiplier fell
back to 2.78.
“Devotees of the ‘moving
economy’ seem to have over
looked the commercial bank
ing system,” Blake says.
“The consumer barely gained
by the Kennedy devices, con
tinued by Johnson.” And what
little was gained was tempo
rary, leading first into tight
money and later, into severe
inflation that the Nixon ad
ministration has been forced
to battle.
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MAKING COMPACT CARS, or making cars compact, is easy for the Hanomag C-20 as it demonstrates in Munich,
West Germany. The 400-hp, 23-ton behemoth, with its four spiked wheels, approaches a pile of junked vehicles,
left, and leaves them pancaked, right. It was designed originally for compressing garbage. You can pick one up
for about SBO,OOO, or 240,000 marks, whichever is easier.
Special care for Poinsettias
By BILL WAGES
Assistant County Agent
Poinsettias are a source of
pleasure to many during the
Christmas season. To some the
pleasure may be short lived due
to improper care of the plants.
look at the kind of care
that is needed if your plant is to
last throughout the holiday
season.
Remember that poinsettias
are native of the tropics. This
means they like a warm tem
perature and a high humidity.
One of the chief problems that
we have with poinsettias is the
rapid dropping or loss of leaves.
There are many causes for
this loss of leaves. It may result
from chilling of the plant. Pots
of poinsettias should not be
placed where they will be
subject to blasts of cold air
when a door is opened.
Neither should they be placed
where they will receive a blast
of hot air from heating vents.
For the best results, poinsettias
should be placed in a location
that is free of drafts, and has a
uniform temperature in the GO
-75 degree F. range.
The foliage may drop because
of inadequate light. If plants are
used in rooms with little
sunlight, it will be wise to move
them to a brightly lighted
window during the day. Avoid
direct sunlight. Make sure the
leaves or bracts do not touch the
glass as this may cause chilling.
If there is a danger of chilling
the plant it should be moved out
of the window at night.
Soil moisture is another
factor in maintaining beautiful
poinsettias. You should try to
maintain a uniform moist soil.
Do not allow it to dry out and do
not drench the soil. Check the
plants every two or three days.
In warm rooms it may be
necessary to check more often.
When watering, apply just
enough water to moisten the soil
throughout the pot. Keep the
soil moist to the touch.
Incidentally, if in spite of all
your efforts the foliage still
drops, here’s a tip. Use short
pine branches to fill in around
the bare stems. It can be most
attractive.
If the plant is in good con
dition when you get it, it should
keep its colored bracts for three
weeks at a room temperature of
70 degrees F. If the temperature
is kept between 55 degrees and
60 degrees F, red poinsettias
will stay colored for four to six
weeks and white poinsettias for
two months.
If you want to keep a plant
after the bracts fall, place it in a
cool, well lighted location and
water sparingly. The plant will
become dormant.
In April or May, cut the plant
back to within six inches of the
pot. Repot the plant in regular
soil mixture and resume
watering often enough to keep
the soil moist.
Take cuttings of the new
vegetative growth. When the
cuttings root, pot them in a
regular soil mixture.
Before the first frost, move
the plants, both old and new,
into a sunny window. Beginning
aboutOctober 1, keep the plants
in a night temperature of 60
degrees F and protect them
from artifical light at night. The
plants should be well colored for
Christmas.
If you will follow these
suggestions you can maintain
this beautiful plant that adds so
much to the tradition and
festive spirit of these days.
SKIN AND BONES
STATELINE, Nev. (UPI) -
When sheriff’s deputies opened
the car door, the emaciated
little dog was too weak to lift
her head.
Cindy, a black poodle terrier,
had lost 24 pounds and was
“just skin and bones” after
being locked in the car for 74
days without food or water.
Deputies freed the animal,
which weighed only six pounds,
gave it some milk and then
called its owners, Mr. and Mrs.
Ernest Nechvatal of San
Calif.
They caught a bus and
claimed their pet and their car,
which they had reported stolen
Sept. 28 from a gambling
casino parking lot in this
California-Nevada border town.
Another casino notified deputies
Sunday that the car was on its
lot.
“It’s a miracle she’s still
alive,” said one officer. “She’s
just skin and bones.”
Bill to legalize horse racing being prepared
ATLANTA (UPI) — A bill to legalize horse racing and
parimutuel betting in Georgia is being drawn up with the
forecast it will bring in $4.5 million to the state if passed.
Cot Campbell, head of the legislative committee of the
Georgia Thoroughbred Association, said the proposal
would make horse racing in Georgia a nonprofit operation
with 8 per cent of the take going to the state, 85 per cent to
the bettors, and the remaining 7 per cent for purses,
charity and operation.
The $4.5 million would be spread equally to Georgia’s
159 counties under the act, Campbell said.
He said the Keeneland Race Track in Lexington, Ky.,
had operated on that basis for more than 30 years,
providing “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for charity.
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