The Michigan Daily-Saturday, July 24, 1982-Page 5
13.3% JUNE JUMP CALLED 'PROBLEM NUMBER'
Gas fuels inflation rise
WASHINGTON (AP)- Consumer
prices soared by a stunning annual rate
of 13.3 percent in June as higher
gasoline costs kept the inflation rate in
double digits for the second month in a
row, the government reported yester-
day.
Economists called the fresh surge in
the Labor Department's Consumer
Price Index "a problem number" but
said it should be the last high flying one
for the rest of the year.
INFLATION was running at an an-
nual rate of 5.1 percent in the first six
months of the year, and Larry Speakes,
deputy White House press secretary,
noted it wA% 7.1 percent for the 12 mon-
ths ending in June.
"What we look at is not the month-to-
month changes, but the sustained year-
to-year numbers," Speakes said.
Donald Ratajczak, economic
forecaster at Georgia State University,
said, "It's not, 'Hey, the game is over
with and we're back to double digits for
the year,' " but he added, "It's a
problem number."
DONALD Straszheim, vice president
at Wharton Econometrics in
Philadelphia, said he was "clearly
Senate pas
GOP tax in
WASHINGTON (AP) - Less than a
year after embracing the largest tax cut
in history, the Senate passed yesterday
a record $99 billion grab bag of in-
creases that includes a surprise assault
on the "three-martini-lunch," a deduc-
tion long held dear by business.
The Republican bill has dozens of tax
increases - on families with high
medical expenses, cigarettes, savers,
drug pushers - that add up to the biggest
tax boost in the nation's history. Tax
cheating would be tougher and business
would lose more than a third of the tax
benefits voted by Congress last year.
THE MOST-disputed provision would
impose a 10 percent tax withholding on
interest and dividends of more than
Regents
approve
tuition hike,
faculty raises
(Continued from Page 1)
received a pay raise.
The University's tuition hike is
similar to those at other Big Ten in-
stitutions and schools around the coun-
try, Frye said. Michigan State Univer-
sity trustees raised students fees 14.9
percent yesterday.
This year's tuition hike represents
the third year in a row that the Univer-
sity has seen double-digit fee increases.
Last year, the Regents raised tuition by
disappointed" that consumer prices
had gone up sharply two months in a
row but said the small advances earlier
in the year "were too good to last."
He cautioned, "This report is higher
than you should expect to persist for the
rest of the year (so) take it very.
lightly.",
Noting the weakness in the economy,
James Annable, economist at the First
National Bank of Chicago, said, "It's
just not an environment for double-digit
inflation."
ALSO yesterday, the Labor Depart-
ment released figures showing
Americans' inflation-adjusted average
weekly earnings were down 1.2 percent
in June after falling 0.2 percent in May.
A 0.1 percent increase in average
hourly earnings was offset by a 0.3 per-
cent decrease in average weekly hours
and a 1 percent increase in consumer
prices, the department said.
Overall, the Consumer Price Index
rose a seasonally adjusted 1 percent in
June, matching May's gain but sharply
ahead of the 0.2 percent increase in
April and the 0.3 percent decline of
March, the department said.
THE INDEX rose 8.9 percent last
ses large
erease
$100 a year. Low-income and elderly
savers would be exempt.
The GOP-controlled Senate passed
the bill, 50-47, in a 20-hour session that
ended just before 5 a.m. Independent
Harry Byrd of Virginia and 49
Republicans voted yes; Republicans
Paula Hawkins of Florida, Robert
Kasen of Wisconsin and Mack Mat-
tingly of Georgia joined Democrats in
opposition.
the bill now goes to the House, where
the majority Democrats are eager to
ensure that whatever tax increase
passes in this election year is clearly
labeled as a GOP product. Democratic
leaders have not decided how to handle
the bill.
year and 12.4 percent in 1980.
If prices rose for 12 straight months
at June's pace, the yearly increase
would be 13.3 percent. The annual rate
reported by the department is based on
a more precise calculation of monthly
changes than the figure the department
makes public,
June's advance reflected steeper
prices for gasoline, houses and medical
care. Food prices rose moderately.
Gasoline prices were up 5.4 percent
last month, well above the 0.9percent of
May but under the 9.4 percent peak of
March 1981, the report said.
Weidenbaum sees end
to nation' s reeession
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Reagan's departing chief economist,
although conceding that the ad-
ministration's latest economic forecast
is too optimistic, said Friday he
remains convinced the end to the
nation's deep recession "is in sight."
Murray Weidenbaum, chairman of
Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers,
acknowledged that Reagan did not
always heed his economic advice, but
he disputed reports by associates that
mounting unhappiness and frustration
with his lack of influence lay behind his
decision to leave.
"When I gave my resignation to the
president last week, it was because of
my desire to return to Washington
University" in St. Louis, where he
taught before joining the ad-
ministration, he told a group of repor-
ters.
NOTING FEW of his predecessors
stayed a full four years doing this "ar-
duous" job, a cheerful, relaxed
Weidenbaum said, "I'm leaving
because I think I've had ample oppor-
tunity to make my contribution to
economic policy."
"I'm enthusiastic today as I was in
January 1981 about the policy of the
Reagan economic program," he said.
"It continues to be what the economy
needs."
Weidenbaum is the latest - and
highest-ranking - in a string of
economic officials who have left the
administration since late last year, at
Weidenbaum
... made his contribution
least partly because of displeasure with
presidential decisions. Recent exits
have been made by two economic
policy-makers in the State Department,
two leading "supply-side" economists
in the Treasury Department, the chief
domestic policy adviser in the White
House, and a second member of the
three-man economic council Weiden-
baum has headed.
Reagan announced the 55-year-old
Weidenbaum'sresignation Thursday
night in St. Louis. White House aides
said four or five people are under con-
sideration for a replacement.
Artist's stained glass show
mixes modern, traditional
(Continued from Page i)
dows," he decided to make his own.
PORTER CLAIMS he is a self-taught
craftsman who learned the art from
library books and experimentation.
Last year he quit his job to become a
full-time glass maker.
It was a timely switch. "I got into the
business at the right time," he said.
"For the past five years or so, stained
glass has enjoyed a surge of popularity.
The residential aspect is being
revived."
The work is fun, too. "Creatively, it's
the most rewarding thing I've ever
done," Porter said.
THIS YEAR'S art fair sales are bet-
ter than last year's, according to Por-
ter.
He admits that he did not think
business would be so successful. "I was
apprehensive because of the economy
the way it is. I thought if I was going to
have a bad year that this would have
been it. I don't know why the show is as
good as it is but I don't want it to stop."
Drug Salesman robbed
A man trying to sell marijuana from
a room in the Holiday Inn Hotel at 3750
,Washtenaw was robbed at gunpoint by
a male and a female Wednesday, police
said. The robbers took the marijuana
and several hundred dollars in cash.
The victim reportedly was trying to sell
marijuana to the couple when the male
pulled a gun and took the money and the
drugs. the victim called the police, who
apprehended the couple driving south
!on U.S. 23 near Stony Creek road. The
man 29, and the woman 21, are from-
Toledo.
r rye
... tuition increase necessary
18 percent, which followed a 13 percent
increase in 1980. Tuition increased bet-
ween 8 percent and 9 percent in each of
the four years previous to 1980.