News stories from Thursday December 18, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The House failed to override President Ford's veto of the tax-cut extension bill, thus raising the prospect of a withholding tax increase for almost everybody, starting in January. The vote was 205 to 157, 17 short of the required two-thirds of those present and voting. Neither Democrats nor Republicans were happy about the outcome of the confrontation between Congress and the White House in their battle over the way to control government spending. [New York Times]
- Some leading private economists believe that if the tax cuts are not extended, the economic recovery, which is already wobbly, could weaken further. A rise in income taxes at this early stage of recovery is not regarded with favor by most economists. Virtually every 1976 forecast prepared by the nation's top business economists has been based on the assumption that the tax cuts will be extended. They believe that Congress and President Ford must and somehow will find a way to extend the reductions. [New York Times]
- A federal grand jury indicted Gov. Arch Moore of West Virginia on a charge of extorting $25,000 in 1972 from a businessman who sought a state bank charter. The charter application was eventually rejected and the man who sought it, Theodore Price, has since pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges and is cooperating with the prosecution. Soon after the indictment was announced, Mr. Moore held a news conference to declare his innocence. He said that he would run for a third term. [New York Times]
- Seven people died and six were injured this morning in a fire that destroyed the Blue Angel nightclub at 125 East 54th Street, off Lexington Avenue in New York City. Fire Commissioner John O'Hagan said that there would have been no loss of life if the club's employees had not delayed reporting the fire after having discovered it. [New York Times]
- The Ford administration sought to reach a compromise with the Senate that would allow the United States to continue covert support operations in the Angolan civil war. The compromise was initiated by Senator Robert Griffin, a Michigan Republican, after John McClellan, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, failed to induce President Ford to concur in a system that would enable Congress to play a larger role in deciding on secret operations. [New York Times]
- Well-informed officials report that the Ford administration's initial authorization for substantial Central Intelligence Agency financial operations inside Angola was made in January 1975, more than two months before the first significant Soviet build-up there. [New York Times]
- Governor Carey of New York, faced with a choice of settling for a reduced tax package or ending the year with no new taxes at all, accepted a package worked out by the legislative leadership that will yield $600 million in increased business taxes over the next 15 months. [New York Times]
- A study by the Board of Higher Education says that the new standards for admission to New York City University could cut minority enrollment in next fall's freshman class by more than two-thirds and eventually leave the university with the same racial composition it had before the open-admissions policy was begun five years ago. The study was made to gauge the effects of the board's policy, adopted as a money-saving device on Monday, that would require all new students to demonstrate a minimum of an eighth-grade reading and mathematics ability for admission to the university. [New York Times]
- Calling on the nation's armed forces to overthrow the government, a group of Argentine air force officers kidnapped their commander in chief and seized control of two air bases. The commander was later released, but his replacement was announced. The officers in the revolt called for a military government that would eradicate "corruption and Marxist subversion." An emergency meeting of chairmen of political blocs in Congress was called. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 852.09 (+5.82, +0.69%)
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* |
| December 17, 1975 | 846.27 | 89.15 | 16.56 |
| December 16, 1975 | 844.30 | 88.93 | 18.35 |
| December 15, 1975 | 836.59 | 88.09 | 13.96 |
| December 12, 1975 | 832.81 | 87.83 | 13.10 |
| December 11, 1975 | 832.73 | 87.80 | 15.30 |
| December 10, 1975 | 833.99 | 88.08 | 15.68 |
| December 9, 1975 | 824.15 | 87.30 | 16.04 |
| December 8, 1975 | 821.63 | 87.07 | 14.15 |
| December 5, 1975 | 818.80 | 86.82 | 14.05 |
| December 4, 1975 | 829.11 | 87.84 | 16.38 |