Word: hiked
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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While the Carter Administration had optimistically expected a modest increase of between 5% and 10%, the 13 OPEC nations agreed on a 14.5% hike to be imposed in stages at three-month intervals in 1979. The timing could hardly have been worse. Carter must cope with an intolerably high rate of inflation, expected to be 9.5% for 1978, and the prospects of a recession next year; the OPEC decision significantly augments both problems and makes them that much harder to deal with. Reflecting the difficulties ahead, the dollar fell an average of 2.25% against major European currencies last week until...
...news broke at a time when the President was trying to finish the difficult budget for fiscal 1980 (and suffering from a flare-up of hemorrhoids that forced him to cancel all appointments on Thursday). Administration economists immediately tried to calculate what the damage from the OPEC price hike would be for 1979. They estimated that the cost of petroleum products, ranging from heating oil to gasoline, would rise 3? to 5? a gallon. The inflation rate, now projected at 7.5% for next year, would rise by another .3%. The rate of economic growth, they estimated, would be trimmed...
...Administration was surprised by the OPEC action because it had been led to believe that a more limited increase was planned. On a swing through four OPEC nations in November, Blumenthal thought he had won an agreement for a 7.5% hike in 1979. The 14.5% increase, staged in regular quarterly installments, indicated that future OPEC boosts might be cynically indexed to U.S. inflation, thus virtually dooming the U.S. to still more inflation...
...anti-inflation policy?which galls the unions because it contains a lid on wages but not prices, and pains businessmen because it puts the burden on companies to enforce the wage standards. The first vote was on the issue of sanctions against companies that violate the 5% pay hike ceiling. Five left-wing Laborites deserted the government. As a result, Labor went down to a 285-279 defeat. That led to a vote on the government's entire pay policy, which Callaghan also lost, 285-283. "Speak up, speak up," yelled Tory backbenchers in the traditional demand for a vote...
...blasting for four days and they were sure all the snow that could ever come down that winter (on both sides of the road) was down. Two and a half days of skiing out of a promised seven. Now we emerged from our wooden cocoon and took the long hike up the stairs-all 250 of them-to see what had been wrought. But the snow had come down off the cliff and flooded into the tunnel, so we had to shovel our way out onto the road...