Synthetic fuel bill gai
WASHINGTON (AP) - House mem- derived from coal, shale and other
bers, setting aside major differences on matherials.
energy, overwhelmingly approved a At Wright's urging, the House voted
plan yesterday to promote synthetic to expand the scope of the legislation to
fuels as an alternative to imported oil. set a target of 2 million barrels of syn-
On a 368 to 25 vote, the House endor- thetic fuels daily by 1990-in addition to
sed the multi-billion-dollar assortment the 500,000 barrels a day by 1984
of federal subsidies, loans and guaran- proposed initially.
tees for fuels made from coal, shale and House members also went along with
other substances. Wright's proposal to increase federal
A move by House Majority Leader price subsidies for such fuels from $2
Jim Wright to expand a package of billion to $3 billion.
proposed multibillion-dollar federal SUPPORTERS SAID the bill,
subsidies to help launch a U.S. syn- debated as the Organization of
thetic fuels industry won easy passage Petroleum Exporting Countries
by voice vote. (OPEC) was meeting in Geneva to con-
That paved the way for expected final sider another round of oil price in-
House approval of the bill, which sup- creases, could go a long way toward
porters compared to the crash program loosening OPEC's strangehold on the
that established a synthetic rubber in- U.S. energy market. The United States
dustry during World War II. imports about 50 per cent of its oil.
THE LEGISLATION would provide a "This is not going to stop gas lines but
guaranteed federal price for fuels it will show Americans the nation is
Killer's execution stayed
STARKE, Fla. (AP)-Convicted this mornig. The state attorney general
killer Charles Proffitt won an indefinite indicated yesterdday the state would
stay of execution yesterday, just 17 not immediately appeal the stays.
hours before he was scheduled to die in Hodges, who also granted a stay of
the electric chair. execution last month to convicted mur-
U.S. District Judge Terrell Hodges of derer Willie Darden, reviewed Prof-
Jacksonville indefinitely postponed the fitt's case overnight before postponing
execution after attorneys argued Prof- the execution.
fitt had an incompetent attorney during Hodges said he agreed with the
his trial for the knife slaying of a Tam- recent observation by Supreme Court
pa man in 1973. Justice William Rehnquist deploring
Hodges directed a magistrate to the pressure of last-minute petitions on
review the trial transcript and report as judges, but "the court's jurisdiction has
to whether an evidentiary hearing or been properly invoked and it has a con-
other proceeding would be necessary. stitutional and statutory obligation to
ON MONDAY, a federal judge in Fort entertain and decice the petition on its
Lauderdale ordered an indefinite stay merits."
for Robert Sullivan, condemned for the After what he called a hasty review of
1973 shotgun slaying of a restaurant- the court records, Hodges said it may
motel manager in Homestead. not be necessary to order another trail,
Both Proffitt and Sullivan had been but Proffitt's claim that he had an in-
scheduled to die in the electric chair c-:apetent attorney is new.
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, June 27, 1979-Page 11
ns bipartisan support
moving ahead," Wright said. "We are The windfall tax is scheduled for
going to declare our energy indepen- debate by the House tomorrow.
dence." An amendment to prohibit the bill
And Rep. William Moorhead (D-Pa.), from being used as a justification for
the principal author, told the House the rationing gasoline was approved by
bill would "senda message to OPEC, to voice vote.
the president and to the American SOME MEMBERS of Congress, in-
people that we will meet the challenge cluding Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.),
of energy supplies and are determined chairman of the House Commerce
to be victorious." energy and power subcommittee, had
THERE WAS only token opposition to contended the legislation in its original
the bill. The few attempts for major form would have given Carter this
modifications-including a Republican- power.
sponsored move to require the program The Congressional Budget Office has
to be paid for by President Carter's estimated the synthetics fuel measure
proposed windfall profits tax-were could cost taxpayers as much as $22
easily defeated, billion.
Gas price increaseskeep
inflation rate above 13%16X
WASHINGTON (AP)-Steep price
increases in May for gasoline and other
fuels kept inflation swirling above a 13
per cent annual rate, the government
reported yesterday, and a top ad-
ministration economist held out little
hope inflation would slow soon.
The rapidly rising cost of energy was
the main contributor to a 1.1 per cent,
overall rise in consumer prices during
May-the fourth straight month that
prices have risen by at least 1 per cent,
the Labor Department said.
CONTINUED L ARGE price in-
creases also were recorded for housing,
interest rates and new cars, but food
prices showed the smallest increase in
six months.
Altogether, consumer prices have
risen 10.8 per cent since May 1978. So
far this year, they have been rising at a
13.4 per cent annual rate.
"You can't look for any significant
moderation of inflation in the next few
months," the director of President Car-
s
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Kahn: Livingstandards must fall
tape decks were accumulated with lost purchasing power to American
tandard of living for a few years," he frenzy. One way to make up for the loss woul
aid, although he acknowledged they But so far in the '70s, there has been be to produce more, expanding th
von't grow as rapidly as before. very little gain in the standard of living, nation's total wealth. But this hasn
Gar Alperevitz of the National Center and it has even faltered at times, happened.
or Economic Alternatives said, "A COMMERCE DEPARTMENT
ery large number of things can be figures showed that after adjusting for Productivity, rising at 3 per cent a
one long before asking people to take inflation and taxes, the buying power of nually not so many years ago, scarce
urther cuts in their standard of living. earnings and salaries declined 0.3 per increased at all last year and actual
. , We could control a good chunk of in- cent in 1978, the first decline in four dropped early this year.
ation by putting controls . back on years.
nergy prices." Weekly earnings were down 2.6 per The government hopes business it
JACK CARLSON, chief economist of cent in this April, the sharpest monthly vestment will boost productivity, b
he U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said drop in the 15 years the government has inflation and the threat of recession ar
ahn's statement showed the Carter - kept such figures. They were off 4.6 per making businessmen cautious abot
dministration "has given up on any cent for the 12-month period ending in investing.
eform of the government policies that April.
re causing inflation." He said costly And noting that consumer spending is "It is clear that unless we can i
egulations and excessive government down 3.5 per cent this year, Blumenthal crease productivity, which als
pending are at the heart of the said the other day, "Quite clearly . . . requires bringing inflation under co
roblem. consumers do not have the money left trol, then we could not expect the star
American living standards ap- to maintain the purchases they other- dard of living to rise the way it hasi
roximately doubled in the 1930s and wise would because they are spending the 50s and the 60s," Blumenthal said.
960s. Many families went from one more on energy.
ar to two; a summer cottage was no EACH DOLLAR hike in the price of a
anger just for the wealthy; and barrel of foreign oil drains $4 billion
adgets from electric toothbrushes to from the United States, which becomes
s.
ild
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ly
ly
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i-
in
ter's inflation-monitoring agency told a
congressional committee after the
latest inflation report was released.
BARRY BOSWORTH, outgoing
director of the president's Council on
Wage and Price Stability, told the Joint
Economic Committee that energy has
replced food as "the most serious in-
flation problem we face."
"I see no hope for moderating energy
prices" in the near term as long as
shortages for crude oil continue.
Bosworth said in explaining his gloomy
assessment of administration efforts to
combat inflation.
Despite the latest sharp rise in con-
sumer prices, the average worker was
able to keep up during May, the Labor
Department said ina separate report.
AFTER ADJUSTING for inflation
and subtracting taxes, a worker's real
spendable earnings remained un-
changed from April, the government
said.
But for the 12 months ending in May,
workers' purchasing power declined by
3.3 per cent, indicating they could not
keep pace with inflation during that
longer span. 4
Gasoline prices jumped 5 per cent in
May, followinga 6 per cent rise in April.
So far this year, gasoline prices have
been rising at a 55 per cent annual rate,
the government said.
Price rises for other fuels were
equally dramatic. Home heating oil
prices jumped 5.3 per cent. Gas and
electricity prices rose 2.6 per cent.
EVERYBODY KNOWS
ABOUT THIS GAME
... but how many
can play it?
BILLIARDS
at the UNION
open 11:30 A.M.
__. _
City employee strike likely
Coninued from Page. Police and firefighter contracts also
in Ann Arbor when compared to em- expire June 30, but the deadlines'are
ployees of similar classifications in automatically extended by state law if
other cities, according to Muskovitz. agreement is not reached by the ex-
The AFSCME workers should not be piration date. Negotiations with those
compared to police andfirefighters, he employees have been proceeding
sbid. -,-, stgwly, accordiing t0,Mussko,,tz, -
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
HADRIAN VII
a staged reading of the Broadway play
Friday and Saturday, June 29 and 30
8 p.m at CANTERBURY LOFT
332 SOUTH STATE STREET-second floor
$2 general admission beginning at 7:30 p.m.