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This Copy For PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON'S NEWS CONFERENCE #9 Held in the East Room At The White House Washington, D. C. January 30, 1970 At 6:30 P.M. EST (Friday) Official White House Transcript THE PRESIDENT: Will you be seated, please? Mr. Cornell. QUESTION: Mr. President, for several days I have been collecting some headlines that sort of point up the question I would like to put to you. I would like to run over some of these headlines with you. "Balance of trade makes slight progress in 1969." "Circus rings up record 1969 profits" that is Ringling Brothers. "Big firms, 1969 profits down." "Dow average hits new low for three years. = "GNP rise halted." "Ford joins GM-Chrysler in work cutbacks." "Wholesale prices show sharp rise." "U.S. Steel will raise sheet prices February 1." The question is, how, sir, do you assess the possibility that we may be in for perhaps the worse possible sort of economic conditions -- inflation and a recession? THE PRESIDENT: Well, Mr. Cornell, the major purpose of our economic policy since we came into office a year ago has been to stop the inflation which had been going on for five years without doing it so quickly that it brought on a recession. Now, as a result, we are now in a position, the critical position, in which the decisions made in the next month or two will determine whether we win this battle.