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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 13:42:28 GMT -5
Drought Affects Crop Production - July 1988 The Agricultural Department forecast, July 12, that production of important crops would decline significantly as a result of the drought that had affected much of the nation since the spring. The department said production of corn would fall by 29 percent, soybeans by 14 percents, wheat by 13 percent, and barley by 45 percent. The department's report said foreign supplies could meet any shortages, July 28, to provide drought relief, including a grant of up to $100,000 to farmers who had lost at least 35 percent of their crops. The similar bills would be reconciled in a conference committee. Rain, in the second half of July, eased drought conditions somewhat.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 13:42:38 GMT -5
Reagan Submits $1.09T Budget - February 1988 On February 18, in submitting a $1.09T budget for the 1989 fiscal year, Pres. Ronald Reagan sought to adhere to the late-1987 deficit-reduction agreement with Congress. The agreement had provided for deficit-reduction through tax increases and reduced spending, user fees, and sales of assets. For the 1989 fiscal year, which would start October 1, 1988, Reagan projected a deficit of $129.5B. Interest on the national deby along would be $151.8B, 14 percent of the budget. Despite spending limitations, the budget called for greater outlays for education, AIDS research, space and science programs and anticrime programs--especially those aimed at illicit drugs. Farm programs and the Environmental Protection Angecy were among the targets of spending cutbacks. Reagan asked for authority to spend $299.5B for defense in fiscal 1989, a dramatic $33B reduction from the figure proposed for 1989 in January 1987 when he had submitted a budget for 2 years. One almost immediate result of this retrenchment was the resignation, February 22, of Secretary of the Navy James Webb, who had served less than a year. Writing to Reagan, Webb criticized Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci's decision to retire 16 small ships as an economy move. Carlucci said Webb had not come to him to object about the budget cuts.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 13:42:51 GMT -5
AFL-CIO Readmits Teamsters - October 1987 The 35-member executive council of the AFL-CIO decided unanimously, October 24, to readmit the 1.6M-member Teamsters union to its ranks. The scandal-ridden union had been expelled from the federation in 1957. Pres. Jackie Presser was awaiting trial, and the U.S. Justice Dept. was considering removing the union's leadership because of possible links to organized crime.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 13:43:01 GMT -5
Central American Amnesties Approved - October 1987 Two Central American countries approved amnesties in October to comply with the peace treaty signed by the region's countries. Edgar Chamorro, a former contra who had opposed Nicaragua's Sandinista regime, accepted an amnesty offered earlier by the government and returned to Managua, October 19. Pres. José Ascona of Honduras met with Pres. Ronald Reagan in Washington, October 21, and asked that U.S. military aid to the Nicaraguan contras be suspended until at least January. The peace treaty required that outside aid to rebels in Central America be ended. The killing by unidentified gunmen of the president of the Salvadoran human rights commission, October 26, increased tensions in that country, but the national assembly, October 27, approved, 45-0, and amnesty for leftist guerillas as well as right-wing death squad members and military men linked to massacres. An exception was made for the killers of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero in 1980. Those eligible for amnesty would include the killers of 4 U.S. churchwomen in 1980 and those who killed 4 U.S. Marines and 9 others in San Salvador in 1985. Pres. Oscar Arias of Costa Rica said, October 27, that Nicaraguan intransigence on peace talks was threatening the peace process. The Congress of Guatemala, October 28, approved an amnesty law. Nicaraguan leaders, October 29, reaffirmed their commitment not to discuss a cease-fire with contra leaders.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:08:18 GMT -5
Japan's New Premier Chosen - October 1987 Premier Yasuhiro Nakasone of Japan chose his successor in October. Three leading candidates had begun talks among themselves earlier in the month but had been unable to agree on which should succeed Nakasone. All said that they would essentially follow Nakasone's policies. After they asked Nakasone to choose among them, the premier, October 20, named Noboru Takeshita, a former finance minister, to replace him as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. As party leader, Takeshita was assured of being designated premier. The Diet (legislature) formally elected him premier, November 6.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:42:15 GMT -5
Spending and Budget-Cutting Bills Signed - December 1987 In December, Pres. Ronald Reagan signed two budget bills. One, an omnibus spending bill, established levels for the 1988 fiscal year. It replaced 13 departmental appropiations bills that funded all government activities. The second bill sought to reduce projected federal budget deficits. Enactment of the bills canceled automatic Gramm-Rudman reductions that were already in effect. The spending bill almost foundered on Reagan's desire for "adequate" funding for the contras opposed to Nicaragua's Sandinista government. His December 18 threat to veto the bill prompted Democrats to provide $8.1M in nonlethal aid to the contras. Then, on December 21, White House opposition forced deletion of a provision restoring the so-called fairness doctrine requiring broadcasters to present all sides of controversial issues. The $603.9B spending bill represented a reduction, adjusted for inflation, of $7.6B from 1987 spending levels, with two-thirds of the cut coming from defense. The bill also gave a 2 percent pay increase for most federal workers, permitted 20 states to raise the speed limit to 65 miles an hour on rural 4-lane highways that were not a part of the interstate system, banned cigarette smoking on airline flights under 2 hours, and delayed for 8 months imposition of penalties on cities that fail to meet clean-air standards. The budget-reduction bill included $9.1B in tax increases, targeted mostly on corporations and wealthy individuals. According to projections, the bill's provisions would reduce the deficit by $33.4B in 1988 and by $42.7B in 1989. Reagan signed both bills, December 22.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:42:57 GMT -5
Trade Bill Veto Upheld - June 1988 The Senate failed, June 8, to override Pres. Ronald Reagan's veto of the comprehensive trade bill. The vote to override, 61-37, was short of the two-thirds majority required. Senate leaders thought it possible that a revised bill, as urged by Reagan, could not be drafted during 1988. In Japan, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, having previously called the bill racist and protectionist, hailed its failure to pass.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:43:15 GMT -5
Prime Rate Cut again - November 1987 On November 5, for the second time in two weeks, U.S. banks lowered their prime rate by one-fourth percent, this time from 9 percent to 8.75 percent. The U.S. dollar slid to postwar lows, November 10, against the Japanese yen and the West German mark, but recovered a bit, November 11, after Pres. Ronald Reagan remarked that he didn't look for a further decline and didn't want one. The Labor Dept. reported, November 6, that the unemployment rate in October had edged upward from 5.8 percent to 5.9 percent. The U.S. trade deficit declined in September to $14.08B from $15.71B in August, the Commerce Dept. reported, November 12. The news gave an immediate 61-point lift to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Labor Dept. said, November 13, that prices charged by producers for finished goods declined 0.2 percent in October, the first such drop since July 1986. Housing starts declined 8 percent in October to the lowest level in 4 years, the Commerce Dept. said, November 18. The Labor Dept said, November 20, that the consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in October. Having plummeted in October, the Dow Jones average closed, November 30, at 1833.55, a more modest decline for the month of 159.98 points.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:43:26 GMT -5
1989 Budget Approved - May 1988 A Senate-House Conference Committee completed action, May 26, on a nearly $1.1T budget for the 1989 fiscal year. Military and nonmilitary spending were both up for the year, and a deficit of $135.3B, which some critics thought optimistic, was projected. The House, May 26, approved the plan, 201-181. The Senate, June 6, gave its approval, 58-29.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:44:18 GMT -5
Gandhi Visits U.S. - June 1985 For the first time since he became prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi visited the United States. The U.S. trip, June 11-15, was part of a 5-nation tour that included Egypt, France, Algeria and Switzerland. Welcoming Gandhi, June 12, Pres. Ronald Reagan gave his support to a united India, a pointed rebuff to the Sikh separatist movement. Sikh extremists had assassinated Gandhi's mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and other Sikhs had threatened to kill Rajiv Gandhi during his U.S. visit. Gandhi reportedly told Reagan he was concerned that Pakistan would develop nuclear weapons with U.S. aid. Addressing Congress, June 13, he sought to meet U.S. concern about India's failure to oppose Soviet intervention in Afghanistan by calling for a political settlement that would preserve Afghan independence.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:44:28 GMT -5
Thousands Killed in Mexican Earthquake - September 1985 A powerful earthquake sent deadly shockwaves through central and southwestern Mexico, September 19, taking more than 5,000 lives and causing widespread destruction. Heaviest devastation was in the capital, Mexico City. The epicenter of the quake was placed 230 miles southwest of the center of Mexico City. The quake measured at a high of 7.8 on the Richter Scale. A second earthquake, lesser in force but still severe at 7.3 on the scale, struck some of the same areas, September 20, that 250 buildings had been destroyed in Mexico City and 50 more had been damaged beyond repair. In the days after the quakes, more buildings collapsed. Rescue efforts concentrated on saving living persons trapped inside the wreckage, and thousands of people helped remove the rubble, using their hands, picks and shovels, and larger equipment where it could be employed safely. Tens of thousands of people were made homeless, and most of them had no choice but to live and sleep in the open.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:44:40 GMT -5
U.S.-Soviet Summit Set for November - July 1985 Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to the United States, met with the U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz in Washington, July 1, and it was announced, July 2, that Dobrynin had conveyed the USSR's agreement to a summit conference. The summit meeting, between Pres. Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was scheduled for Geneva on November 19 and 20. U.S. administration officials sought to diminish speculation that the meeting might lead to a significant breakthrough in resolving the differences between the 2 countries. The second round of U.S.-Soviet arms control talks ended in Geneva, July 16. No tangible progress was reported, and each side criticized the other. The White House said that the Soviet delegates preferred not to "deal in concrete terms and with hard numbers," and the chief Soviet negotiator, Viktor Karpov, said that the United States was marking time while it pushed its military buildup. Gorbachev, in a statement issued July 29, declared a unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests, to begin August 6. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz rejected the freeze, saying it did not have any provisions for verification.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:45:02 GMT -5
British Coal Miners Vote to End Strike - March 1985 The long violent strike by British coal miners ended in March when they voted to return to work. The end of the strike, which had lasted almost a year, represented a defeat for the miners. Their principal issue---the decision by the National Coal board to shut down 20 pits that it said were "uneconomic"---was not resolved. By March 1, more than half of the miners had already returned to work. On March 3, the delegates to a conference of the National Union of Mineworkers voted to go back to work, and by March 5, the strike had formally ended. Union leader Arthur Scargill, who opposed the decision, blamed the failure of the walkout on the refusal of most other unions to support it. Nearly 10,000 persons were arrested during the strike, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, March 5, that there would be no amnesty for those who had committed "serious criminal offenses."
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:45:13 GMT -5
Statue Honoring Vietnam Veterans Unveiled - November 1984 The addition of a statue completed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in November, and it then formally became a national monument under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Three days of ceremonies began in the Washington, D.C. area, November 9, with the unveiling of Three Servicemen, a sculpture by Frederick Hart. At a distance of 80 feet, the 7-foot tall figures faced the V-shaped wall of black granite inscribed with the names of 58,022 Americans killed or missing in action in Southeast Asia. A candlelight vigil was conducted at the monument, November 10, and on November 11, Armistice Day, Pres. Ronald Reagan dedicated the sculpture and addressed 150,000 persons.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:45:26 GMT -5
Albanian Leader Hoxha Dies - April 1985 Enver Hoxha, first secretary of the Albanian Communist Party since 1944, died April 11. Active in the resistance to Italian rule during World War II, Hoxha never yielded power once he attained it upon liberation. He supported Soviet leader Joseph Stalin without reservation and, after the USSR turned away from Stalinism, Hoxha broke with the USSR. He had later formed an alliance with China, only to withdraw again and lead Albania into almost total isolation. Albania, on April 12. rejected condolences from the Soviet Union. Radio Tirana announced, April 13, that Pres. Ramiz Alia had been chosen to succeed Hoxha as first secretary.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:45:36 GMT -5
Greek Premier Wins National Election - June 1985 Premier Andreas Papandreou retained power in the Greek national election, June 2, by a larger margin than had been forecast. His Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement won 46 percent of the popular vote and 161 seats in the 300-member parliament. The conservative New Democracy Party, led by Constantine Mitsotakis, got 41 percent of the popular vote and 125 seats. Two communist parties received most of the rest of the votes. Mitsotakis had promised improved relations with the United States, which had been rebuked on occasion by Papandreou. The left-leaning premier had once threatened to close U.S. military bases in Greece. The 18 percent inflation rate and the growing foreign debt were other issues. But abusive language had dominated the campaign, and Papandreou hailed his victory as one of "democracy, progress, and change" over "reaction" and "authoritarianism."
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:45:50 GMT -5
Brokerage Firm Admits Check Fraud - May 1985 E.F. Hutton, one of the nation's largest brokerage companies, pleaded guilty, May 2, to 2,000 federal charges related to the manipulation of its checking accounts. The New York City company agreed to pay $2M in fines and pay back up to $8M to banks it had defrauded. Under the complicated scheme, Hutton had interest-free use of up to $250M a day that it did not in fact possess. U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese said the prosecution of the case was a signal "to the business world that so-called white-collar crime will not be tolerated." About 25 persons were identified as organizers of the plot, and 50 employees had been given immunity from prosecution. Fifteen U.S. senators wrote Meese, May 7, protesting what they called the "blatant failure to find individual liability" in the case.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:46:22 GMT -5
Soviet Missile Overflies 2 Neighbors - January 1985 It was revealed in January that a Soviet cruise missile had flown over the territory of Norway and Finland on December 28. The defense ministries of the 2 Scandinavian countries reported the overflight, January 2, and officials of the 2 countries said, January 4, that Soviet envoys had apologized and had said that the object was an old Soviet cruise missile used for target practice. Finnish border guards began searching for the missile, which disappeared in the vicinity of Lake Inari, near where broders of all 3 countries meet. They found it near the lake, January 30.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:46:47 GMT -5
OPEC Cuts Oil Prices Amid Discord - January 1985 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut prices of most brands of its crude oil in January, and its internal squabbles threatened to weaken the future effectiveness of the cartel. Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, nine members of OPEC approved the new pricing structure, January 30, but three nations (Algeria, Iran and Libya) refused to go along with the reductions and Gabon abstained from the voting. Energy conservation and competition from non-OPEC suppliers had forced the OPEC majority to act. OPEC decided to retain its outpost ceiling of 16M barrels per day, which had been imposed in 1984 to deal with the oil glut on the world market.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:47:01 GMT -5
Duarte's Party Wins El Salvador Election - March 1985 The Christian Democratic Party headed by Pres. Jóse Napoleón Duarte scored a surprising victory, March 31, in elections to fill seats in the National Assembly. In the previous assembly, 2 conservative parties, including one led by Duarte's bitter rival Roberto D'Aubuisson, had held a majority of the seats. The old assembly had thwarted many of Duarte's reforms and had resisted his efforts to make peace with leftists guerillas. In the March 31 voting, the Christian Democrats won a small majority in the 60-seat assembly despite the adoption by the previous assembly of a law that had favored the rightists by permitting them to form a coalition. Duarte pledged to continue his peace efforts and his investigation into human-rights abuses.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:47:32 GMT -5
New Orleans Fair Files Bankruptcy - November 1984 The 1984 Louisiana World Exposition filed for protection from its creditors, November 6, under Chapter 11 of the U.S bankruptcy code. The New Orleans fair had already defaulted on a $40M loan obtained from more than 100 corporate backers. Losses for the fair were reported to be in excess of $100M. The fair concluded its 6-month run, November 11, and fair officials said they did not have enough money even to dismantle the facilities. Only 7.2M persons attended the fair, far below the hoped-for 11M. Construction-cost overruns and under decapitalization were also blamed for the huge deficit. A real-estate development company came to a partial rescue by working out a deal to purchase part of the fairgrounds for incorporation into a riverfront marketplace and entertainment center.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:48:28 GMT -5
AMA Calls for Abolition of Boxing - December 1984 The American Medical Association, December 5, adopted a resolution for an end to both professional and amateur boxing. The resolution was approved overwhelmingly in a voice vote at the annual meeting of the AMA House of Delegates in Honolulu. It warned of "the dangerous effects of boxing on the health of participants." Dr. Joseph Boyle, president of the AMA, said that scientific study showed that blows sustained in boxing resulted in "both acute and long-term brain injury." He added that even short exposure to boxing could result in disabling injuries.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:49:50 GMT -5
Sentence Commuted in Rape Case - May 1985 Gov. James Thompson of Illinois commuted the sentence of Gary Dotson, who had been serving a prison sentence for the rape of a teenage girl in 1977. In April 1985, the supposed victim, Cathleen Crowell Webb, had recanted her testimony at the trial and said she had not been raped at all. Thompson presided at a hearing of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, May 9-11, that considered Dotson's petition for clemency. A former prosecutor, Thompson questioned many of the 24 witnesses, including Dotson and Webb. In commuting Dotson's sentence, May 12, Thompson said he had not granted a pardon because Dotson had been "proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. ..." He noted that Dotson had already served longer than average for a convicted rapist in Illinois. Dotson and Webb embarked on a whirlwind tour of media interviews and received offers for the publication of their story.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:50:01 GMT -5
Pentagon Loses Ground in Budget Battles - May 1985 The federal budget for the 1986 fiscal year began to take clear shape in Congress in May, and defense spending appeared headed for unanticipated retraints. The compromise worked out in April between Pres. Ronald Reagan and Republican Senate leadership became a casualty on May 2, when the Senate voted, 51-48, to limit Pentagon outlays to 1985 levels, adjusted only for inflation. Reagan had agreed to a 3 precent "real" increase, coming down from his original request for a 6 percent increase. Twelve Republicans voted against him. Recent publicity about waste in the procurement of weapons and dishonesty among defense contractors had apparently taken its toll. The Senate, May 8, rejected 2 Democratic budget plans that would have included tax increases. It completed action on a budget resolution, May 10, but only after Pete Wilson (R-CA), recovering from an illness, was rushed to the Senate chamber. Vice Pres. George Bush cast a vote to break a 49-all tie. In the final package, Social Security, federal pensions, and veterans' benefits were frozen at current levels for one year, with no cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). The budget resolution backed Reagan on some domestic cuts; 12 programs, including general revenue sharing, were eliminated, and others survived only with reduced funding. The Senate budget would reduce the 1986 deficit by more than $50B. However, the House Budget Committee, May 16, approved a 1986 budget resolution that differed sharply from the Senate version. The projected reduction in the deficit was about the same---$56B---but the committee rejected cuts in Social Security COLAs and the other benefits. Worse, from the administration's point of view, the committee froze military spending at 1985 levels, without even an adjustment for inflation. Among domestic programs, only revenue sharing would be killed outright. Two GOP-sponsored budget plans were rejected on the House floor, May 22, and the House, May 23, approved, 258-170, the budget resolution essentially as it had emerged from committee. Twenty-four Republicans joined the majority. A conference committee would have to resolve the considerable differences between the 2 resolutions.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:50:15 GMT -5
U.S. Aims "Radio Marti" at Cuba - May 1985 The United States, May 20, began a new radio broadcasting service for Cuba. Radio Marti, scheduled to operate 14½ hours a day, was to bring Cuban and world news to the Caribbean island nation. Cuba denounced the broadcasts as a "barefaced provocation" and called the use of the name Jose Martí, an independent leader, a "gross insult." In retaliation, the government of President Fidel Castro suspended an immigration agreement between the 2 countries that had been announced in December, 1984, under which former political prisoners would be allowed to emigrate to the United States. The agreement had also provided that Cuba would take back 2,746 Cuban criminals and mental patients who had traveled to the United States in 1980 from the port of Mariel.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:51:03 GMT -5
Brock Replaces Donovan in Cabinet - March 1985 Raymond Donovan, the first sitting member of a president's Cabinet ever to be indicted, resigned as secretary of Labor, March 15. He had taken a leave of absence in the fall of 1984 after having been indicted in New York on charges of being involved with an attempt to defraud the New York City Transit Authority. Donovan denied the accusations, which related to events that occured before he entered the Cabinet. He resigned after a New York state judge rejected his motion to dismiss the charges and ordered him to stand trial. Pres. Reagan, March 20, nominated William Brock, the U.S. Trade Representative and a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, to succeed Donovan. The choice of Brock, a well-regarded political moderate, was seen as an effort to improve the administration's relations with organized labor.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:51:13 GMT -5
Strong 1984 Economy Painted by Numbers - January 1985 Statistics released during January established that 1984 had been a very good year for the American economy. Data released on January 4, showed that sales of automobiles in the United States had risen 13.1 percent in 1984. The total of 10,358,166 cars was the highest since 1979. Some 76 percent of these were produced in the United States. The Labor Department said, January 9, that unemployment had edged upward in December to 7.1 percent from 7.0 percent in November. The Labor Department reported, January 11, that the prices paid by producers for finished goods rose only 1.8 percent in 1984. Continuing a trend, major banks again cut their prime rate, January 14, this time to 10.75 percent; the rate stood at its lowest point since August 1983. The Commerce Department reported, January 17, that construction in 1984 on 1.74M housing units, a 2.4 percent increase over 1983. The Department said, January 22, that the nation's real gross national product had increased 6.8 percent in 1984, the highest rate of gain since 1951. The Labor Department said, January 23, that the consumer price index had risen by only 4 percent in 1984, the third consecutive year of relatively low inflation. Worker productivity, a key factor in controlling inflation, rose 3.1 percent in 1983, the Labor Department reported, January 29. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high of 1292.62 on January 29. On the dark side, the Commerce Department said, January 30, that the U.S. trade deficit stood at $123.3B in 1984, far above the previous record of $69.4B reported in 1983. The Department said, January 31, that the index of leading economic indicators had edged downward by 0.2 percent in December.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:51:29 GMT -5
Western Nations Step Up Famine Relief - November 1984 The United States joined other western nations in November in rushing assistance to millions of people in Africa who faced starvation as a result of a prolonged drought. The United Nations estimated, November 28, that 325,000 tons of food had been pledged by foreign governments to Ethiopia during the previous 2 months. U.S. aid was valued at about $103M. The famine was at its worst in Ethiopia, where estimates of potential deaths ran as high as 6 to 7M. The civil conflict in Ethiopia added to the difficulties in providing aid. A U.N. report, released October 29, said that 35M Africans were threatened by food shortages in 36 countries.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:52:20 GMT -5
Hart to Leave Senate - January 1986 Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO) announced, January 4, that he would not seek reelection to the Senate in 1986. He left open the possibility that he would make another bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988. Hart had made a strong run for the nomination in 1984 before losing to former Vice President Walter Mondale. Hart's immiediate challenge was to pay off his 1984 campaign debt of almost $3.5M.
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Post by colinouchou on Apr 30, 2024 14:52:31 GMT -5
Spacecraft Photograph Comet - March 1986 Four space vehicles flew near Halley's Comet and photographed the mysterious object that passes near the sun every 75 years. Vega I, a Soviet spacecraft, came within 5,600 miles of the nucleus of the comet, March 6---at a distance of more than 100M miles from earth. A Japanese vehicle came within 94,000 miles of the comet, March 8. The Soviet Union's Vega II got within 5,125 miles on March 9. Both Soviet vehicles were damaged by dust particles and by chunks of debris as large as a fist. Giotto, a craft operated by the European Space Agency, came within just 335 miles of the nucleus, March 14. It's signals, presumably affected by the dust and debris, shut off 2 seconds before the close encounter. Analysis of the photographic data indicated that the comet had a nucleus 9.3 miles long and 2.5 miles wide that was wrapped in a cloudof dust and debris. The comet's head was estimated to be 100,000 miles across. Halley's Comet, whose path takes it to the outer reaches of the solar system, had passed closest to the sun, February 9, and it came closest to the earth---39M miles---on April 18.
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