1971 USA - Color, President Richard Nixon: New Economic Policy Speech To Nation. Pt. 1 of 2
00:06:00 Continued... Looking to the future, I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to recommend to the Congress in January new tax proposals for stimulating research & development of new industries & new techniques to help provide the 20 million new jobs that America needs for the young people who will be coming into the job market in the next decade. To offset the loss of revenue from these tax cuts which directly stimulate new jobs, I have ordered today a $4.7 billion cut in Federal spending. Tax cuts to stimulate employment must be matched by spending cuts to restrain inflation. To check the rise in the cost of Government, I have ordered a postponement of pay raises & a 5 percent cut in Government personnel. I have ordered a 10 percent cut in foreign economic aid. In addition, since the Congress has already delayed action on two of the great initiatives of this Administration, I will ask Congress to amend my proposals to postpone the implementation of revenue sharing for 3 months and welfare reform for 1 year. In this way, I am reordering our budget priorities so as to concentrate more on achieving our goal of full employment.
00:07:22 The second indispensable element of the new prosperity is to stop the rise in the cost of living. One of the cruelest legacies of the artificial prosperity produced by war is inflation. Inflation robs every American, every one of you. The 20 million who are retired & living on fixed incomes, they are particularly hard hit. Homemakers find it harder than ever to balance the family budget. And 80 million American wage earners have been on a treadmill. For example, in the 4 war years between 1965 & 1969, your wage increases were completely eaten up by price increases. Your paychecks were higher, but you were no better off. We have made progress against the rise in the cost of living. From the high point of 6 percent a year in 1969, the rise in consumer prices has been cut to 4 percent in the first half of 1971. But just as is the case in our fight against unemployment, we can & we must do better than that. The time has come for decisive action; action that will break the vicious circle of spiraling prices & costs.
00:08:39 I am today ordering a freeze on all prices & wages throughout the United States for a period of 90 days. (NOTE: Executive Order 11615). In addition, I call upon corporations to extend the wage-price freeze to all dividends. I have today appointed a Cost of Living Council within the Government. I have directed this Council to work w/ leaders of labor & business to set up the proper mechanism for achieving continued price & wage stability after the 90-day freeze is over. Let me emphasize two characteristics of this action: First, it is temporary. To put the strong, vigorous American economy into a permanent straitjacket would lock in unfairness; it would stifle the expansion of our free enterprise system. And second, while the wage-price freeze will be backed by Government sanctions, if necessary, it will not be accompanied by the establishment of a huge price control bureaucracy. I am relying on the voluntary cooperation of all Americans, each one of you: workers, employers, consumers-to make this freeze work. Working together, we will break the back of inflation, and we will do it w/o the mandatory wage & price controls that crush economic & personal freedom.
00:10:07 Continued on 250303-01C
Post-Vietnam Economics; Unemployment; 1970s; Federal Government Business Tax Cuts; Presidential Speech; Oval Office; Government Control;
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1971 USA - Color, President Richard Nixon: New Economic Policy Speech To Nation. Pt. 1 of 2 00:06:00 Continued... Looking to the future, I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to recommend to the Congress in January new tax proposals for stimulating research & development of new industries & new techniques to help provide the 20 million new jobs that America needs for the young people who will be coming into the job market in the next decade. To offset the loss of revenue from these tax cuts which directly stimulate new jobs, I have ordered today a $4.7 billion cut in Federal spending. Tax cuts to stimulate employment must be matched by spending cuts to restrain inflation. To check the rise in the cost of Government, I have ordered a postponement of pay raises & a 5 percent cut in Government personnel. I have ordered a 10 percent cut in foreign economic aid. In addition, since the Congress has already delayed action on two of the great initiatives of this Administration, I will ask Congress to amend my proposals to postpone the implementation of revenue sharing for 3 months and welfare reform for 1 year. In this way, I am reordering our budget priorities so as to concentrate more on achieving our goal of full employment. 00:07:22 The second indispensable element of the new prosperity is to stop the rise in the cost of living. One of the cruelest legacies of the artificial prosperity produced by war is inflation. Inflation robs every American, every one of you. The 20 million who are retired & living on fixed incomes, they are particularly hard hit. Homemakers find it harder than ever to balance the family budget. And 80 million American wage earners have been on a treadmill. For example, in the 4 war years between 1965 & 1969, your wage increases were completely eaten up by price increases. Your paychecks were higher, but you were no better off. We have made progress against the rise in the cost of living. From the high point of 6 percent a year in 1969, the rise in consumer prices has been cut to 4 percent in the first half of 1971. But just as is the case in our fight against unemployment, we can & we must do better than that. The time has come for decisive action; action that will break the vicious circle of spiraling prices & costs. 00:08:39 I am today ordering a freeze on all prices & wages throughout the United States for a period of 90 days. (NOTE: Executive Order 11615). In addition, I call upon corporations to extend the wage-price freeze to all dividends. I have today appointed a Cost of Living Council within the Government. I have directed this Council to work w/ leaders of labor & business to set up the proper mechanism for achieving continued price & wage stability after the 90-day freeze is over. Let me emphasize two characteristics of this action: First, it is temporary. To put the strong, vigorous American economy into a permanent straitjacket would lock in unfairness; it would stifle the expansion of our free enterprise system. And second, while the wage-price freeze will be backed by Government sanctions, if necessary, it will not be accompanied by the establishment of a huge price control bureaucracy. I am relying on the voluntary cooperation of all Americans, each one of you: workers, employers, consumers-to make this freeze work. Working together, we will break the back of inflation, and we will do it w/o the mandatory wage & price controls that crush economic & personal freedom. 00:10:07 Continued on 250303-01C Post-Vietnam Economics; Unemployment; 1970s; Federal Government Business Tax Cuts; Presidential Speech; Oval Office; Government Control;