Page 4-Saturday, May 15, 1982-The Michigan Daily
Fuel cost drop
steadies April
inflation level
WASHINGTON (UPI)- Inflation at
the wholesale level stayed nearly in-
visible in April-a scant 0.1 percent-
as sharply rising food prices offset a #
record drop in energy costs, the gover-
nment reported yesterday.
The increase reported by the Labor
Department hardly registered on
economists' charts, especially after two
previous months in which the Producer
Price Index actually 'went down,
making goods less expensive for
retailers.
WHITE HOUSE spokesman Larry
Speakes said this showed a continuing
"moderation of inflation pressures" on
the economy. Hut another key
economic indicator showed the
recession still going strong.
America's factory production skid-
ded 0.6 percent, the Federal Reserve
Board reported-the latest of the dips
that started when the recession began
last July and are held responsible for
much of the nationwide increase in
unemployment.
One analyst said industrial produc-
tion now is no higher than it was in 1978..
THE ANTI-inflation progress reflec-
ted in the price index was the latest
monthly bonus from the fading world
oil glut, and perhaps the largest for
many more months to come. The
recession's squeeze 'on prices also
helped, analysts said.
The record 5.2 percent drop in energy
prices-including 7.2 percent cheaper
gasoline prices and 8.8 percent less ex-
pensive home heating oil-accounted
for 13. percent of the entire change in
April's index. Analysts say May's fuel
figures will not show such a draMatic
decline, because there is no longer such
a large oversupply of petroleum
products.
Food prices were rocketed upward by
an explosive 13.5 percent change in
pork prices-a delayed effect of the
decision by hog farmers to sell off
animals heavily late last year rather
than risk a harsh winter. Prices also
went up for beef and veal, fresh fruits
and eggs.
A LEADING private analyst of the
index, Georgia State University
economist Donald Ratajczak said
"we're talking about three to four mon-
ths of reasonably stiff food prices"
ahead. Consumers cai look forward to
an increase in the "6 percent range"
this year, he said.
So far this year, the overall annual
rate of inflation for retailers is only 0.4
percent, administration analysts said-
far below even the moderate 7 percent
climb for all of last year.
"Without the jump in food prices, the
index would have been down again,"
said Robert Ortner, chief economist at
the Commerce Department. "It sort of
broke our winning streak here," he ad-
ded, referring to the two previous mon-
ths in which wholesale prices actually
declined by 0.1 percent.
In Brief
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press International reports
Pope's assailant arraigned
LISBON, Portugal- The rebel priest who tried to bayonet Pope John Pau
II claimed he "managed to touch" the pontiff's leg, the Portuguese news
agency said yesterday as the attacker was arraigned and jailed pending
trial.
The news agency, ANOP, also said 32-year-old Juan Fernandez Krohn told
investigators he planned the attack on John Paul for six months and that he
used a bayonet "because I did not want to pierce the heart of the church with
a firearm."
Church officials have said Fernandez Krohn was no closer than four or five
yards from the pope, and that the pontiff blessed both the attacker and the
bayonet immediately after the attempt at the Shrine of Fatima Wednesday
night, a year after the pope survived an assassin's bullets in St. Peter's
Square May 13,1981.
Hostages released in Mexieo
MERIDA, Mexico- Thirteen Guatemala Indians and leftists flew to
Mexico yesterday and released four diplomats taken hostage at the
Brazilian Embassy in return for political asylum.
A spokesman at the airport in Merida on the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula,
said the 13 kidnappers and their hostages arrived on an air force DC-6 sup-
plied by the Guatemalan government as partof a deal to end the embassy
seizure.
The Guatemala peasants, nine men and four women, seized the Brazilian
embassy in Guatemala City on Wednesday to protest alleged Indian
massacres by the military government 9f Junta President Jose Efrain Rios
Montt.
They ended their 34-hour seige of the embassy Thursday night, turned in
six .38-caliber pistols and homemade gasoline bombs and left for the airport.
The kidnappers waited for nearly 12 hours ina Guatemalan air force plane
until Mexico agreed to grant them asylum.
Hinckley's psychiatrist testifies
WASHINGTON- John Hinckley wanted only to "terminate his own
existence" and have a post-life union with actress Jody Foster when he em-
ptied his pistol at President Reagan, a psychiatrist said yesterday.
Hinckley was so mentally ill at the time that "the effect on the president
and other victims was trivial," Dr. William Carpenter testified. "In his men-
tal state, they were bit players."
In the three weeks that Hinckley has been on trial for trying to assassinate
the president, it was the first time the jury was told that Hinckley was men-
tally ill, although six days of defense testimony have strongly pointed to it.
Carpenter testified for the defense, which hopes to show that Hinckley was
insane and thus not legally responsible for the shootings, which he has ad-
mitted.
"inckley's mental state at the time was "despair, depression and a sense
of the end of things," Carpenter testified. "Most important to him is to ter-
minate his own existence."
Senate begins budget debate
WASHINGTON - Republicans and Democrats yesterday opened the Senate
debate on the 1983 budget by urging bipartisaai cooperation, and then quickly
set the battle lines on Social Security and President Reagan's economic
policies.
As Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, (R-N.M.), took
the floor, he said he hopes the budget resolution the Senate passes will have
bipartisan support.
He then, however, declared it 'imperative' that the resolution passed by
his GOP-dominated committee and backed by Reagan, retain its controver-
sial provision calling for $40 billion in unspecified savings in Social Security
over three years.
The action must be taken, he argued, to keep the fund solvent.
In response, Sen. James Exon, D-Neb., said he also hopes partisanship can
be put aside, but added that he "noticed a partisan jab or two" in the opening
remarks by the Republicans
Sales tax collections decrease
LANSING - Sales tax collections last month were disappointing, reflecting
continuing softness in the economy, but the falloff is not expected to cause
serious budget problems, officials said yesterday.
April sales tax collections, reflecting March sales, totaled $129.6 million,
down 3.5 percent from last year's $134.7 million, according to Robert Kleine
of the Budget Department.
Kleine said the department had anticipated sales tax revenues about 1
percent higher than last year's.
He blamed the slump on "weak business activity in general.
"March wasn't a very good month, either in Michigan or nationally," he
said.
The slumping auto industry played a major part in the overall gloomy pic-
ture. Tax revenues on car sales were off 16 percent.
Revenues from other taxes were considerably stronger. The income tax
brought in $204.5 million, down only slightly from last year's $204.9 million,
and use tax revenues actually spurted by nearly $3million.
Dance Theatre Studio
711 N. University (near State St.), Ann Arbor e 995-4242
co-directors: Christopher Watson & Kathleen Smith
day, evening & weekend classes
new classes beginning May 17
Dance Theatre Studio offers a complete schedule of
Modern, Ballet & Jazz classes for adults and Ballet and
Creative Movement classes for children. Our studio, across
from the UM campus, is staffed by experienced,
well-qualified instructors.