Vol. LXXXIX, No. 41-S TcWednesday,Julyi1, 1979 Twelve Pages Ann Arbor, Michigan Ten Cents AND DECIDES AGAINST TAX CUTS Carter fixes lifting gas controls WASHINGTON (AP) - President Carter has decided against lifting federal price controls on gasoline and feels it is too soon to consider using tax cuts to counter the anticipated recession, spokesman Jody Powell said yesterday. Carter and three Cabinet members met yesterday at Camp David with businessmen, union leaders, economists and investment bankers See unemployment predictions, Page 2. and discussed burgeoning inflation and the looming recession. Afterwards, Powell, White House press secretary, told reporters, "The president has no intention to deregulate gasoline at this time." POWELL SAID lifting federal con- trols on gasoline prices would do more to spur inflation, boost unemployment and damage the economy than almost anything Carter might do to deal with energy problems. Lifting federal regulations on gasoline prices would "drain several tens of billions of dollars from the economy" and boost retail gasoline prices to between $1.10 and $1.50 per gallon, Powell said. He said every 20 cents per gallon increase in gasoline prices adds a half a percentage point to the inflation rate. Earlier, an administration source had said the presidential staff was con- sidering proposing that Carter remove controls on gasoline. The source said the plan would call for a tax on gasoline at the refineries, which would raise some $25 billion a year. He said the tax money would go to the Social Security system. BUT POWELL said the president reached a decision against gasoline deregulation "several days ago." R4P CAMP "ap AP Photo SECRETARY OF STATE Cyrus Vance met yesterday with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as hearings continued on the SALT It treaty. VANCE TESTIFIES TO SENATE: SA LT needed to halt arms race WASHINGTON (AP)-Senate rejection of the SALT II be induced to moderate its defense spending or become more treaty would lead to "unlimited nuclear competition and a cooperative in the Third World ... In such an atmosphere, serious increase in U.S.-Soviet tensions," Secretary of State each crisis and confrontation could become more Cyrus Vance said yesterday. dangerous." He testified for the second consecutive day before the On the other hand, Vance said, "We do not suggest that Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the treaty, which SALT II by itself will carry us to a new world of prosperity would limit long-range nuclear missiles and bombers and peace ... Nor do we suggest that if SALT is not approved, through 1985. we could not survive. We could." Vance said it was impossible to predict with certainty Vance said the ratification of the treaty was essential to what the Soviets might do - in the event the treaty is rejected. further progress on a number of arms control issues, in- BUT, HE ADDED, "I see no reasonable basis for cluding a comprehensive nuclear test ban, force reductions believing that if SALT II is not ratified the Soviet Union will in Europe, banning anti-satellite weapons, and restraints on See SALT, Page 2 Skylab to hit earth today; Pacific Ocean likely target WASHINGTON (AP) - Skylab's six- year career as an orbiting laboratory and then as a space derelict comes to a shattering end today, its remains destined to plunge nearly unobserved into the briny deep of the south Atlantic. "We'd like to see those predictions stay," said Richard Smith, head of the Skylab Task Force as he talked about a final orbit that would take Skylab and its debris only over water. THE NORTH American Air Defense Command, (NORAD), which tracks the 77% ton hulk on its 16 daily trips around Earth, said Tuesday evening that Skylab will fall between 7:50 a.m. and 4:14 p.m. EDT. Despite American preparations to cope with an embarrassing catastrophe anywhere in the world, the demise of Skylab promised to be a harmless event, a celestial shower over wide stretches of open sea. Nothing could please the U.S. gover- nment more. SKYLAB, host to three crews of astronauts, was launched May 14, 1973. It's been a piece of junk on the sea of space since the last crew left Feb. 8, 1974. When it breaks up, it will have made 34,981 orbits during its 2,249 days as a man-made moon, travelling around one billion miles. The latest forecast served to narrow the time frame for Skylab's final plunge, but left the midpoint - statistically, the most probable time - unchanged from 12:02 p.m. EDT. If Skylab crashes at that time, it will splash into the Atlantic near the Equator off Africa's Ivory Coast. Its debris would scatter from that point See SKYLAB, Page 10 - Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, died yesterday in his home in Massachusetts at age 84. He is shown here behind the podium, leading the orchestra during its debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1972. See story, Page 6.