Ford Administration Notes on Cabinet Meeting

THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON October 11, 1974 MEMORANDUM FOR: JERRY JONES FROM: JOHN GUTHRIE SUBJECT: Notes on Cabinet Meeting, October 11, 1974 The President opened the meeting at 10:38 a.m. thanking the attendees for coming. The President made the following points: the upcoming speech in Kansas City will stress the importance of volunteerism; there is generally strong support for his economic address; a better explanation of the surtax proposal needs to be made. Secretary Simon explained that of the 82.5 million tax returns filed annually, about 28% will be affected by the proposal. He further explained that opposition was coming primarily from Republicans and not Democrats. Dean Burch noted that there was substantial support shown in Philadelphia following the President's address there. Roy Ash reported on Personnel Reduction. He said that there have been a remarkably small number of appeals on the target figures given each department for personnel reductions. The President stated that as soon as the transition problem is solved we are going to cut down the White House staff. Roy Ash then reported that the Council on Wage and Price Stabilization will work on the elimination of rules and regulations causing inflation. He further stated that the inflation impact statements will be first carried out under executive order then be followed by an OMB circular prescribing the method of testing future rules and regulations against inflation impact. Secretary Schlesinger commented that he feels productivity could be increased while at the same time reducing the overall number of jobs if we can solve the problem of culling out incompetence which drags down the whole attitude of the bureaucracy. A general discussion followed on this subject. Roy Ash then stated that he will meet with Bob Hampton of the CSC and report back to the Cabinet with an analysis of what can be done. GERALD R. FORD LERRARY