News stories from Tuesday January 30, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Defendants James McCord and G. Gordon Liddy were found guilty on all counts in the Watergate bugging case. Liddy's attorney Peter Maroulis said that E. Howard Hunt was the last link in the chain of command to have knowledge of the bugging, and Maroulis asserted that Liddy is innocent. McCord's attorney Gerald Alch said that McCord was justified in bugging in order to prevent violent demonstrations against Republicans. Prosecutor Earl Silbert asked the jury to find the defendants guilty and thereby restore faith in this country's political system. [CBS]
- Ground fire in Vietnam began to subside in the third day of the cease-fire, but a big battle took place in Quang Tri province near the DMZ. South Vietnamese troops seized the area just before the cease-fire. Now they are fighting the Viet Cong. [CBS]
- The International Control Commission is not yet organized. Additionally, South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese members of the military commission are not yet ready with translators for the peace-keeping teams. [CBS]
- U.S. planes are still active over Laos. A reporter claims that 100 American planes attacked in northern Laos and along the Ho Chi Minh trail today. [CBS]
- Vice President Agnew arrived in Saigon and talked with President Thieu. Agnew declared that America recognizes the Thieu government as the only legitimate government of South Vietnam. South Vietnam Foreign Minister Lam met President Nixon at the White House and also spoke with Henry Kissinger. [CBS]
- Ambassador William Porter, the Paris peace negotiator, stated that U.S. aid to North Vietnam and South Vietnam may depend on how those countries adhere to the cease-fire agreement. Porter has been nominated as undersecretary of State. [CBS]
- The Soviet Union says that the world powers should now try to get peace in the Mideast. Communist party leader Leonid Brezhnev, meeting with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho, said that the Vietnam cease-fire proves it is possible to find peaceful solutions to world problems. [CBS]
- Donald Slayton, the only original astronaut not to fly in space, has been named to the crew of the joint U.S.-USSR space flight which is scheduled for 1975. The two other crew members are Thomas Stafford and Vance Brand. [CBS]
- In an interview, presidential aide John Ehrlichman said that President Nixon impounded funds which were authorized by Congress because Congress is financially irresponsible. Ehrlichman noted that the law imposes on the President, by use of the debt ceiling and other laws, the duty to spend money wisely.
Senator Sam Ervin has introduced a bill that would require the President to justify impounding funds authorized by Congress and allow Congress 60 days to "un-impound" them. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says that Ervin's bill is not tough enough. Senator Hubert Humphrey lamented that Congress is steadily losing power.
[CBS] - The Navy is sending two ships to New Orleans in March for the Mardi Gras. Navy wives say that the move is a public relations gimmick at a time when the Navy is cutting back elsewhere, and they claim that the ships will function as private hotels for Navy VIP's. [CBS]
- President Nixon said that Congress must restrain federal spending in order to prevent runaway inflation. [CBS]
- The index of business indicators rose 2.2% for December. For the last quarter of 1972 the index was up 4.5%, a good omen for the economy. [CBS]
- The yearly grocery bill for a family of four went up in December to $1,338. Farm prices increased 5% from mid-December to mid-January, and were up 21% for the year. [CBS]
- A government official stated that the IRS will investigate oil companies which have raised their prices during the fuel shortage. [CBS]
- The energy crisis is due to the failure of industrial and governmental programs. Policies limit the supply and therefore affect the price of oil; the government also limits oil imports. Foreign oil is plentiful and cheap, and would be coming into the U.S. more if quotas didn't limit imports. Three years ago a task force concluded that the result of import restrictions was that oil prices are $5 billion a year higher than they would otherwise be. This increases America's fuel bill by $24 per person. The price of foreign oil is up now due to transportation costs.
The argument for quotas is that foreign competition would drive domestic oil companies out of business. Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton says that imports would make us dependent on other countries for fuel, but 25% of U.S. oil already comes from overseas. By 1985 we will be importing 50% according to a Chase Manhattan Bank study. This year the government increased imports by one million barrels per day. Many American oil companies have plants overseas because the oil supply is better and the tax structure is more favorable. Three years ago a task force headed by George Shultz, now Secretary of the Treasury, concluded that oil import quotas are unrelated to national security, and recommended the abolition of quotas. The recommendation was not adopted, but now the Nixon administration is reconsidering its position on import quotas. The government is concerned with the balance of payments and how Arab states might react to increased U.S. trade.
The oil depletion allowance exists because companies use up assets. The formula allows companies to deduct 22% of their income from taxes. In the past 14 years, drilling for oil in the U.S. is down 40%. M.I.T. professor Morris Adelman says that the depletion allowance does promote oil exploration, but the amount of the incentive is small in relation to the actual cost, and he believes that higher prices would be a better incentive.
[CBS] - Marine Ronald Ridgeway was declared dead five years ago in Vietnam. Today he was identified as a POW. A body thought to be Ridgeway's had been buried in a mass grave in St. Louis, Missouri. Ridgeway's mother says that she knew her son was still alive; she never believed he had been killed because she never had any proof. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 992.93 (-3.53, -0.35%)
Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish. | |||||||||||||||
| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| January 29, 1973 | 996.46 | 116.01 | 14.68 |
| January 26, 1973 | 1003.54 | 116.45 | 21.13 |
| January 24, 1973 | 1004.59 | 116.73 | 20.87 |
| January 23, 1973 | 1018.66 | 118.22 | 19.06 |
| January 22, 1973 | 1018.81 | 118.21 | 15.57 |
| January 19, 1973 | 1026.19 | 118.78 | 17.02 |
| January 18, 1973 | 1029.12 | 118.85 | 17.81 |
| January 17, 1973 | 1029.12 | 118.68 | 17.68 |
| January 16, 1973 | 1024.31 | 118.14 | 19.17 |
| January 15, 1973 | 1025.59 | 118.44 | 21.52 |