This Day In 1970's History: Wednesday January 15, 1975
- President Ford, declaring that "the state of the union is not good," urged the Democratic Congress to enact speedily his new plan for stimulating the economy and to approve a sweeping program aimed at achieving energy independence. He also asked Congress to refrain from tying his hands in the conduct of foreign policy. It was the gloomiest State of the Union Message delivered by a President since the Great Depression of the 1930s in terms of his description of the domestic scene. [New York Times]
- The administration said it expected the budget deficit to go as high as $34 billion this fiscal year and $47 billion in fiscal year 1976, assuming that Congress enacted the entire Ford economic program. It appeared almost certain the deficits would go considerably higher, however, because the program included some proposed restraints on spending that Congress seemed determined to set aside. [New York Times]
- The President proposed a many-sided plan to achieve national independence in energy, with higher energy prices for all consumers as its central feature. He held out the prospect that the plan would move the country toward becoming an important exporter of energy and energy technology by the end of the century. [New York Times]
- Influential Senators and House members were sharply critical of many of the President's proposals to conserve energy and invigorate the economy, and there appeared to be little chance that the proposals would be approved intact. Among those objecting were members of Congress from the oil-producing and oil-consuming states, as well as liberals who would limit tax rebates to persons with low incomes and conservatives who objected to budget deficits. [New York Times]
- The nation got encouraging news on the inflation front when the wholesale price index for December after seasonal adjustment declined by half of 1 percent -- the first drop since October, 1973. But deepening recession was strongly confirmed when the Federal Reserve Board showed a huge 2.8 percent drop that month in industrial production, the largest since August, 1959. [New York Times]
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