Word: indexable
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Perhaps the most interesting example of Reagan's curious way with facts came when he was asked in Kansas whether he supported 100% parity, a formula that pegs the price of grain to an index of what various consumer goods cost in 1914. To oppose parity in Kansas is considered somewhere between blasphemy and heresy, but Reagan's answer was almost as bad: "I have to confess to you that I'm not as familiar with that as some things." Pressed the next day, he admitted: "I know more about it than I indicated there." The trouble...
...whatever reason, public interest in incest as a subject seems to have increased. Hollywood provides a good index; one survey shows there were six movies about incest in the 1920s, 79 in the '60s. The numbers are still growing. Recent films on the subject include Chinatown, Luna and the made-for-TV Flesh and Blood. But probing a sensitive subject for better understanding is one thing, and justifying incest is quite another...
This time around, nobody is in a panic, but the anxiety index is rising. Some economists are beginning to wonder whether Federal Reserve-imposed credit controls and prohibitive interest rates may lead to an economic freeze rather than simply the desired cooling shower for business. Almost as soon as interest rates hit the numbing 20%, several bankers were predicting that they would keep marching toward 22% or more and cause a serious economic decline. Yet the high cost of money seemed unavoidable, if inflation is to be controlled. Said Economist Alan Greenspan: "The only safe policy at this stage...
There were some signs that the cooling of the economy is taking hold. Last week the Commerce Department announced that its Index of Leading Economic Indicators had declined for the fifth straight month, dropping 0.2% in February. Normally, three consecutive drops in the index is considered evidence of an upcoming recession. Unemployment last month also edged up to 6.2% from February's 6%, while inflation continued to roar ahead. Prices paid to producers increased 1.4% in March, a stunning annual rise of 18.2%. The auto industry is certainly slowing down. Car sales slumped 18% last month from the same...
...identified by Okun's universally used definition: two consecutive quarters of negative G.N.P. growth. In the early 1960s he devised Okun's Law: for every 3% jump in economic growth, unemployment declines 1%; until the 1970s stagflation, the rule worked perfectly. Okun also invented the "discomfort index," the sum of the rates of unemployment and inflation. Okun's abiding concern was to control inflation without triggering recession and its grim results for the poor. Economic efficiency, he believed, must yield somewhat to social equality, or as he put it: "Society can transport money from rich to poor...