Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

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and inflation, many people who had previously lived comfortably now had to tighten their belts just to break even. Economic forecasts for the immediate future provided little relief. It appeared that both unemployment and inflation were destined to get worse before they got better. The prospects for a quick upturn in the economy seemed remote, and people prepared for a long siege with hard times. The energy situation continued to loom in the background as a potential source of disaster. Although gasoline was readily available at prices far below those reached during the Arab oil embargo, concern for the future remained. The constant uncertainty of the volatile Middle-East situation served as a harsh reminder of the long lines at gas stations a year ago. Consumers were further frightened by Ford ' s attempt to conserve fuel through a steep oil import tax, as they were already paying dearly for this necessary commodity. Ford ' s efforts to establish a peaceful co-existence with Congress failed, and conflict ensued. His bill to tax imported oil was voted down overwhelmingly by Congress, as was his proposal to raise the price of food stamps. Many of Ford ' s other economic policies drew harsh criticism, including his plan for a tax rebate to encourage consumer spending. Congress favored a larger tax cut to be administered in a slightly different manner. Ford countered these setbacks by accusing Congress of being more concerned with censuring his programs than with taking constructive action to combat the economic dilemma. Locally, the effects of the economic situation were very evident. The university made large budget cuts to make up the deficit left by steadily declining enrollment. The enrollment drop itself may be partially attributed to the high cost of education. The immediate future gave little cause for optimism, and it appeared that tight money might remain a problem for quite a while. Americans have a reputation for standing firm in the fact of adversity, and this year ' s economic crisis gave the country another chance to prove it.

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M fflH ■! mmT ml fra Inflation, Recession or Depression . . . Stop It, Whatever It Is! BY JOHN MICKLOS The economic outlook was bleak for Americans this past year. The combination of deep recession and double-digit inflation was devastating, and continuing concern about energy added to the problem. Also, President Ford ' s difficulty in working with a Democrat-controlled Congress did little to spur the confidence of the American people in their government ' s ability to solve these serious problems. The worsening recession hit Americans hardest, as production fell and the Gross National Product declined steadily. Unemployment reached 8.2 per cent in January, its worst level in 34 years. Seven and one half million people were jobless, and bread lines appeared for the first time since the Depression. The sharp decline of the automobile industry led to much of the unemployment. Tight money caused sales to drop drastically, and numerous plants were forced to either cut back production or close down entirely. At one point, 245,000 workers, 31 per cent of the industry ' s labor force, were out of work. Led by Chrysler, auto manufacturers tried to boost sales by offering cash rebates of $200 to $600 on new cars. This ploy was only partially successful, and the long-time outlook for auto sales remained dismal. Spiraling inflation also put the crunch on Americans, as prices rose to staggering heights. Utility rates rose, accounting for much of the problem. Nationwide, the cost of electricity rose 20 per cent, and even higher prices were predicted for the future. Telephone rates, especially on long-distance calls, also underwent sharp increases. Food prices rose less dramatically, but still caused consumer headaches. Many individual items shot up in price, and several in this category were staples. Sugar, for example, jumped from a price of 13 cents a pound to a high of 75 cents a pound before stabilizing at about 60 cents a pound. Other everyday items also became increasingly expensive, and Americans became ever more concerned about the high cost of putting food on the table. The American dream became a nightmare for many families trying to make ends meet. Luxury items were omitted, yet families still had difficulties paying the monthly bills. Helpless against the combination of unemployment

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America Leaves Vietnam Retrospection of Our Longest War s BY ROBERT P. TKACZ The end of wars in Indochina and the American involvement in those (no, they are not the same thing) would have marked the starting point for the volumes of thoughtful retrospection, unthinking recrimination and blamesaying that have traditionally followed this country ' s other military involvements. Would have — if our 20-odd years in Southeast Asia had been more normal, as normality in things like war goes. But it wasn ' t and not just because we lost this time. Neither is this to say there hasn ' t been retrospection, recrimination and blamesaying. There has, almost for as long as American money or ambassadors or advisors or armies have been there. From the advent of the American involvement in Indochina to the evacuation of the last 1,000 US embassy staffers on April 29, 1975, there has not been a moment when our policy was directed toward winning, at least under the normal definition of winning ' ' in things like war. We fought merely to stop the North Vietnamese from winning, not even to make them lose; the No-Win Policy. If they ' d only have gone back up north and left our dictator alone, we certainly would have stopped fighting and bombing them. But they didn ' t, so we couldn ' t until we were forced to. Confronted with this analysis, many good and ugly Americans might agree with Senator Barry Goldwater who once suggested that civilians, which in this case is to say politicians, did not allow our generals the freedom they needed to win ' ' in Vietnam. Those same Americans might not disagree with the suggestions by General Curtis LeMay to bomb North Vietnam (and maybe the South as well) back to the Stone Age. We could have, you know. So perhaps it is to our credit that some civilians, many of who were not politicians in this case, realized that if a country had to be destroyed to be saved from something, that particular form of salvation was not what it needed after all. Nonetheless, it having been America ' s want to save peoples and countries once we had decided they needed DID ANYONE EVER. STOP TO ASK (WHY WE WERE INVOLVED IN THIS FRATRICIDAL CRA2 NB55? DID ANYONE EVER CARS ABOUT THE VICTIMS? V V THE FINAL- ANALYSIS, WHERE DIP THE RESPONSIBILITY REALLY LIE? WHO MADE VIETNAM HAPPEN? MO WAS REALM TO BLAME?! WHO?! saving, regardless of their own particular opinions about their futures, the US took right up where the French quit. From just 16,000 advisors in South Vietnam during President John F, Kennedy ' s administration, American involvement rose to a high of 543,400 troops in April of 1969 (excluding US forces in Thailand, and sailors off-shore). Then there was the bombing, which actually began in December, 1964. Who will ever remember Operation Rolling Thunder? Not the Gene Autrey movie about the Texas Range wars, it was the code name for the sustained bombing of North Vietnam. Of course, bombs and advisors don ' t grow on trees, just generals, But never it let it be suggested that America doesn ' t pay for her wars with cold cash, among other things. It is doubtful, not to say irrelevant, that the financial cost of the US involvement in Vietnam will never be computed. Suffice it to note that by 1957 American aid to South Vietnam supported the whole cost of the Vietnamese Armed Forces, almost 80 per cent of all other government expenditures and almost 90 per cent of all imports to the country. But those bargain war days never last forever and by 1968, about the peak time of US involvement, the war was costing more than $70 million per day. One could go on for maudlin hours over Vietnam but that wasn ' t the only war in the hemisphere. There was Cambodia wherein American know-how and ingenuity 28