Word: import
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...During the 1981 campaign, Finance Minister Yoram Aridor played what his opponents called "election economics" by cutting excise taxes and import duties on foreign items like autos and color TVs. The Begin government then tried to ease the pain of inflation by broadening indexation and encouraging spending. Losing confidence in the shekel, Israelis increasingly turned to the American greenback. "Our national currency is now the dollar," Ezer Weizman, Begin's former Defense Minister, who is now heading his own ticket, charged last week. "This is a disgrace...
...other provision of Simpson-Mazzoli, as passed by the House, has stirred so much controversy that it might kill the whole bill. It would permit farmers, mostly in California, to import migrants to pick crops that would otherwise rot for lack of field hands. Opponents charge that those "guest workers"-the total might swell to 500,000-would be cruelly exploited. Cesar Chavez, president of the 40,000-member United Farm Workers, calls the provision a "rent-a-slave" program; the AFL-CIO and Senator Simpson also denounce it. The provision will probably be modified or dropped in the House...
Much of the money from foreign loans has gone to prop up the value of national currencies, which makes foreign goods cheaper and encourages consumers to go on import-spending sprees. Even though Chile's unemployment rate in 1981 was 35%, the country was a major importer of radios, TV sets, refrigerators and cars. The surge in foreign auto sales has made Santiago one of the world's most polluted capitals. Argentina went on a similar binge starting in the late 1970s, a period known as La Plata Dulce-the sweet money...
...India faced a gaping, long-term payments deficit. The previous year its oil-import bill had jumped to $5 billion and foreign exchange reserves had fallen by $1.4 billion in seven months. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, then newly returned to office, responded by negotiating the largest loan in the history of the IMF, $5.8 billion. Critics in New Delhi immediately charged that she had plunged the country into a "debt trap." Yet last November, Mrs. Gandhi announced that her government would not need the last $1.1 billion installment of the loan. What had happened? Increased domestic oil production and remittances...
...decisions gave an unfortunate boost to protectionism and put President Reagan in an election-year bind. Sweeping restrictions would be against his own free-market principles, but a vote against steel and copper quotas could hurt at the polls. New import quotas could also cause problems abroad. Chile and Canada, the two largest U.S. suppliers of copper, lobbied strongly against cutbacks. Steel producers like Mexico and Brazil have already announced voluntary restraints on their exports to the U.S., and further reductions would aggravate their debt woes...