Word: direness
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...These dire events became more and more likely when President Ford vowed emphatically last week "to veto any bill that has as its purpose a federal bailout of New York City to prevent a default." That left city officials with virtually no hope of gaining a federal guarantee of securities that would enable New York to raise some $4 billion by June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Default is almost assured, either in mid-November if the city cannot raise $150 million to help meet payrolls and payoffs of securities due then, or during the week...
Default and its nationwide consequences are the real issues at the moment, but Ford has managed--despite many economists' dire warnings--to depict the question of federal intervention as a struggle between New York and the rest of the country. It is now a political choice between irresponsible social services and a balanced budget, between "socialism and freedom," as William Simon put it last week, while pushing the administration's new budget cut proposal...
...York City is assured of being able to pay its bills until December, but the possibly dire effects of an eventual default continue to stir up worry all over the country. Last week a federal study indicated that about 100 of the nation's 15,048 banks had invested sums equal to 50% or more of their capital in New York City bonds and other obligations and thus would be in serious trouble if a default caused the value of those securities to plunge. The banks would probably not be wiped out: Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns has pledged...
WHEN I START talking about the dire straits we could fall to, my grandmother says things like, "Well and it won't be long before the Lord'll come and take me home. I'm tired and I'm ready." All personal considerations aside, though, I sure hope she's around next November. She'll vote for a candidate who wants to keep old oil controlled, to mandate high-milage cars from Detroit, to require energy efficiency reports from the 2000 largest energy users, to give tax incentives for good insulation. Her candidate will probably call for antitrust action...
...remotest resemblance to a prince. He is like a little boy throwing a nightlong temper tantrum. His twitchy gestures suggest those of a puppet on the strings of a drunken puppeteer. His voice is woefully devoid of resonance. He delivers the Shakespearean line like a squawk box in dire need of a lozenge. Add to this little humor and less thought, and Hamlet the Dane becomes Hamlet the Cipher...