Word: weights
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...coins issued in 1963 were the same size as those they replaced, except for the 50-centime piece, which was considered too cumbersome. It was trimmed down to within 1½ millimeters of the diameter of the new 20-centime piece and to within a few grams of its weight. Frenchmen often mistook the 50-for the 20-centime piece, and they soon discovered that the 20-centime piece worked perfectly well in 50-centime vending machines, while the 50-centime worked in 1-franc machines...
Since factory output goals are either laid down in weight or quota by the planners a knitwear plant ordered to produce 80,000 caps and sweaters naturally produced only caps: they were smaller and thus cheaper and quicker to make. A factory commanded to make lamp shades made them all orange, since sticking to one color kept the assembly line uncomplicated. Tire production one year was fixed without checking the plan for motor-vehicle output. Taxi drivers were put on a bonus system based on mileage, and soon the Moscow suburbs were full of empty taxis barreling down the boulevards...
...important bureaucrat took these ideas a logical step farther, demanding an interest charge on capital and prices rooted in economic reality rather than planning fiction. Academician Vadim Trapeznikov, revered in Russia as the "father of Soviet automation," threw his weight in with the reformers all along the line, noting that "one hears the view that interest on capital is a concept of capitalistic society." Wrong, he insisted. "In fact, the form here is identical, but the essence is different...
...gold standard in hopes of pressuring the U.S. and Britain into accepting lesser changes in the monetary system favorable to France. For the past six months he has been urging the creation of a new international reserve currency called the "cru" (for collective reserve unit), which would give greater weight to gold and more financial power to nations with heavy gold supplies. The U.S. has opposed it, but De Gaulle's attack on the dollar may force Washington to reconsider...
Blough also praised the steel industry's efforts to develop better quality steel, noting. "With the same weight of steel used originally, we can now put 20 more floors on the Empire State Building...