Page 14-Thursday, July 24, 1980--The 0

Six killed,
100 hurt
in Tehran
shopping
area blast
By The Associated Press
Bomb blasts rocked a busy shopping
arcade in downtown Tehran yesterday,
killing six people and wounding almost
100 others, Tehran Radio reported. The
terror attack in the heart of the Iranian
capital came as the revolutionary
leadership neared a potentially crucial
decision for Iran and the American
hostages - choosing a new prinie
minister.
The official news agency Pars said
political observers believed President
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr may have
decided to nominate Mostafa Mir-
Salim, the clergy-backed chief of state
police, as prime minister.
IRANIAN LEADERS have said that
once a prime minister and Cabinet are
appointed, the Parliament can get
down to the business of dealing with the
country's major problems and decide
what to do with the 52 hostages, who
spent their 263rd day in captivity
yesterday.
Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh
conferred with Bani-Sadr yesterday af-
ternoon. Later, he denied rumors he
had resigned but said he did not intend
to stay on in the new administration ap-
pointed by the prime minister.
"This government's period of office
should end," Pars quoted him as
saying. "Of course, I will not take part
in the next government."
THE GOVERNMENT-RUN radio,
monitored in London, quoted a
spokesman *for the Islamic Revolution
Central Comnmittee as saying there
were "clues" to who planted the bombs.
But the spokesman did not elaborate.
There were no immediate reports
that any group claimed responsibility
for the attacks.

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A REVOLUTIONARY GUARD and several civilians assist a man who was injured when several bombs exploded in a
downtown Tehran shopping mall yesterday morning. The explosion killed at least six persons and injured approximately
100 others.
Iflationrate at 12.4%
housin prices increase

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From UPland AP
WASHINGTON -- Inflation at the
consumer level edged up slightly in
June, increasing to an annual rate of
12.4 per cent as rising housing costs
overshadowed declining energy prices,
the Labor Department reported yester-
day.
But Charles Schultze, the ad-
ministration's chief economist, predic-
ted a "very substantial decline" in in-
flation in the months ahead, and said
there is evidence "the severest part" of

the recession is over.
THE CONSUMER Price Index -
designed to measure the cost of living
for a typical American city dweller -
stood at 247.6 in June, which means
goods and services that cost $100 in 1967
now cost $247.60.
Put another way, the 1967 dollar is
worth only 40.4 cents today.
The department reported that four-
fifths of June's one per cent increase was
due to housing prices and mortgage
costs. That entire component jumped

Long: Senate will OK tax cut

WASHINGTON (AP)-Sen. Russell
Long said yesterday he thinks the
Senate will pass a tax cut this year,
clouding the Carter administration's ef-
fort to block any reduction before the
Nov. 4 elections.
The prediction by Long, chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee, did not
budge Treasury Secretary G. William
Miller from his insistence that passing
such a bill in the heat of an election
campaign was risky economic policy
that might benefit nobody but the
special interests.
AS AN ELECTION approaches,
Miller said, Congress "has a tendency
to move emotionally rather than
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rationally." If the economy really
needs a tax reduction in 1981, he said a
bill could be passed early next year.
Long reminded Miller that Senate
Democrats had twice defeated a
Republican tax-cut plan last mon-
th-but only because they wanted to
study the proposal and hold some
hearings. "They thought a tax cut
should be voted this year with an effec-
tive date of Jan. 1,1981," Long added.
"The Senate looks pretty much
favorable to a tax cut voted this year,"
he said, noting the committee is under
orders from the Senate Democratic
Caucus to produce a tax bill by Sept. 3.
AS THE FINANCE Committee
opened its tax-cut hearings with
testimony from Miller there were these
other developments:

* Although the Carter administration
has not yet taken a position, the Finan-
ce Committee-like the Ways and
Means Committee in the House-seems
to take for granted that taxes will be
reduced in 1981. The only question is
whether the bill will be passed this year
or early next year;
- Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas),
chairman of the Joint Economic Com-
mittee, praised President Carter's
courage in battling inflation and
recession but added, "It's time for the
administration to get its face off the
floor....As we go into the elections, the
American people should know this ad-
ministration is committed to a tax cut
in 1981;" and,
s Republicanseon the committee
blasted Carte's economic policies and
again recommended their tax-cut plan
as a cure. That proposal, endorsed by
GOP presidential nominee Ronald
Reagan, would reduce taxes by $36
billion in 1981 with 90 per cent of the
benefits going to individuals.

1.8 per cent, but officials said it should
show sharp declines soon.
"MORTGAGE INTEREST rates
have declined, but did not show up in
June's figures," said Labor Depar-
tment economist Patrick Jackman.
"We know they will turn around
drastically next month, but we aren't
quite sure about home prices."
Schultze, chairman of the Council of
Economic Advisers, said the impact of
falling mortgage rates will become
evident in July's numbers and should
lead to several months of lower in-
flation.
AT THE SAME time, Schultze told
Congress' Joint Economic Committee
he believes the recession will bottom
out before the end of this year and a
slow recovery will follow in 1981.
"Evidence has begun to accumulate
that the severest part of the decline is
behind us and some harbingers of a
later upturn have begun to appear,"
Schultze said.
However, he warned the committee
that the underlying or "core" rate of in-
flation will remain around nine per cent
to 10 per cent for some time. And he
cautioned Congress to use restraint in
enacting a "quick fix" anti-recession
tax cut in this election year.
The most encouraging aspect of
June's inflation report was gasoline
prices. They declined for the second
straight month, falling a seasonally ad-
justed one per cent.
Despite the small increase in con-
sumer prices in June, inflation has
cooled considerably.in recent months.
The Labor Department said inflation
rose at an annual rate of 11.6 per cent
during the April-June quarter, down
considerably from the torrid 18.1 per
cent pace in the first three months of
the year.

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