Word: important
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Minister Moshe Dayan, Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and Finance Minister Yigal Hurvitz helped to give the coalition the illusion of unity, even if some critics saw it more properly as a vacuum. Newly appointed Finance Minister Yoram Aridor had added an undeniably popular move by reducing excise taxes and import duties on luxury items like color television sets and autos. The "Aridor effect," as it promptly became known, sent Israelis on a crazy buying spree. Laborites angrily charged that it was a shameless attempt to buy votes for which the country would have to pay later. Some middle...
...Bank of Israel's Gafny, "is the fact that for the past seven years the economy has not been growing. Our G.N.P. is almost static." In 1980, in fact, the rise in G.N.P. was a mere .9%, a disaster for a nation that must pay ever higher import bills. Israel's energy bill alone, a relatively tiny $200 million in 1973, had increased tenfold by 1980, to $2.2 billion. Foreign debt stood at a chilling $17.5 billion-an awesome 83% of the G.N.P. -$4,500 for every man, woman and child in Israel...
Brock warned the Japanese that if they did not take action themselves, Congress would almost certainly impose formal import quotas. Tanaka at first proposed a one-year reduction of auto exports from last year's 1.82 million to 1.7 million. Finally, Brock accepted a limit of 1.68 million vehicles annually for two years, ending in March 1983. If U.S. auto sales pick up during the second year of the agreement, Japan will be able to boost exports by 16.7% of the amount of the increase. The number of imports allowed in during the third year was left open...
Michigan, of course, is hardly another Saudi Arabia. A recent Government study pegs the state's overall oil and gas reserves at no more than about 2% of total U.S. reserves. Yet, as long as the U.S. continues to import more than one-third of its total oil needs, every bit of domestically drilled fuel counts. Says Sherwood Frezon, an official with the U.S. Geological Survey: "The country couldn't survive on the oil supplies of Michigan, but because there are places like Michigan, we can live a lot better...
...Sometimes I use the time to sort out important issues," says Secretary of Agriculture John Block of his open-road hours as a long-distance runner. Ruminating and running, Block, 46, looked as cool as an Illinois-grown cucumber as he glided across the finish line of the 85th Boston Marathon in 3 hr. 6 min. 49 sec. Still, Block was well to the rear of Toshihiko Seko, 24, a compact Japanese import who set a U.S. marathon record of 2:09:26, and New Zealander Allison Roe, 24, who came from down under and well back in the pack...