Word: portents
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Last week the battle against inflation entered a new and crucial phase. The phase began when the nation's commercial banks raised their minimum interest charge for loans from 71% to an unprecedented 81% - a move that was widely interpreted as a portent of a serious credit crisis. The next day, the Government's top economic policymakers managed to sound downright alarmist as they made a rare joint appearance at a Washington press conference to plead for an extension of the 10% surtax on personal and corporate incomes. That tax, which is due to expire June...
...Portent of Decline. The consumer price index, of course, is a better indicator of the past than of the future direction of the economy. Says Economist Arnold Chase, assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics: "Prices tend to coast up even after the economy has begun to cool off. There has been no fuel added to the fire for several months." Several special circumstances, moreover, contributed to the March price increases. One was the fact that high interest rates were suddenly included in the figure for home ownership costs. Prices for used cars, which swung downward temporarily last year...
...East and West Germany. Two hours later, after cars and trucks had piled up for nearly a mile, the East Germans reopened the road and the traffic flowed once more between West Berlin and West Germany. It was a chilling reminder of West Berlin's vulnerability and a portent of what may come...
Whatever the portent, things were different in the academic world last year--different and difficult--and they continue so this year. The ivory tower has become a laughably grotesque symbol of the contemporary institution of higher learning. What do we do in such troubled circumstance as we are now experiencing? I suspect the path of prudence for those of us in positions of responsibility for academic institutions is simply to stay alert, to keep mindful of our distant goals, and in a tumultuous sea, to navigate as best we can. Fortunately, difficulties of the unsettling kind now being experienced...
...watchdog body that protects animals from cruel treatment on TV and movie sets. The judges are newspaper columnists, but neither Price Waterhouse nor a saliva tester authenticates the ballots. The master of ceremonies was a human TV personality, Woody Woodbury, who may go far if the past is any portent. The first M.C., back in 1951, was Ronald Reagan, whom fans will remember for his smooth presentation of the top Patsy Award to Francis the talking mule...