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Remarks of the President to the Members of the National Industrial Council [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7339587
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Remarks of the President to the Members of the National Industrial Council [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1975-06-10
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1975
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Digitized from Box 12 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 10, 1975
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL
THE EAST ROOM
5:10 P.M. EDT
Let me thank you all for coming, and let me most
warmly welcome you to the White House.
I do like to meet with groups such as this, make
a few comments and then chat with you informally, so, when
we are through, I would like to invite you all into the
State Dining Room for a little reception and maybe some
refreshments.
It is nice to meet with the National Industrial
Conference. I come from a family that was not a very big
industrial organization, but it was an organization that
participated in our industrial society. My father started
a small paint factory back in 1929. (Laughter.)
He was lucky to survive, but he did because he
seemed to have that knack of working hard and convincing
people that he had a good product. And he apparently was
a sufficiently good salesman to make enough to keep the
business going, and it never got very big, but it was a big
part of the Ford family background.
I used to go over there and clean cans and fill
cans and get pretty dirty during the process, but I learned
a few things that did pay off later, as a part of my education
in growing up. But at least, that was my first exposure to
our industrial society, and it was significant to me. And
it was a darn good education, as far as I am concerned.
What I would like to say this afternoon involves
the three major issues that I think are on the country's
agenda in 1975. Those three are in the domestic area,
energy, the economy and the budget.
Jim Lynn probably just filled you in on the details
of the budget, but let me add one or two observations, if I
might. I never anticipated I would ever be in a position of
endorsing a deficit of some $60 billion. It was totally con-
trary to my philosophy of fiscal or financial affairs, as
far as the Federal Government was concerned.
MORE
Page 2
But when we took a look at all the facts and the
figures, the existing laws, the status of the economy, we
came to the conclusion that there was no alternative for the
submission of the budget in January of this year with any-
thing other than a deficit of $52 billion, which has sub-
sequently expanded to a figure of approximately $60 billion.
We are going to hold the line, and as of today, I think, we
are, according to the latest figures, $59.9 billion. It is
pretty close, but we have drawn the line.
We have held the line as far as the Congress is
concerned, despite some of the tremendous efforts to go
above it. I hope that the veto that was sustained last
week will help to create an environment in a fiscal sense
that will keep us within the $60 billion deficit figure.
MORE
Page 3
The vote last week was very close. I think we
prevailed with a margin of some five votes. That is not
very many when you are talking about the vote of 400-plus.
But I think the American people are beginning
to realize that anything above a $60 billion deficit is
a real danger area, and when we look at some of the
proposals that are coming from subcommittees and full
committees in both the House and the Senate, unless we
stop them we are going to have a $100 billion deficit,
and that, of course, is an area which is really treacherous.
So I just hope and trust that as we struggle
in trying to have a responsible and a reasonable
restraint on Federal spending, we can get some help
and assistance from all of you.
Now let me turn to energy. It is becoming
more and more obvious that we have to stimulate new
sources of energy and we have to conserve the energy
that we have.
I presented a very comprehensive program to the
Congress in January. It is still the only energy program
in town. (Laughter.) We started out with figuratively
535 energy programs up on Capitol Hill. It has now been
winnowed down to roughly five, six, maybe ten. We are
going to keep the pressure on because this country cannot
stand increasing vulnerability to foreign sources of oil.
Now we had a very close vote up there today.
(Laughter.) We thought we would do better, but other
pressures that wanted to curtail coal production and make
us more and more vulnerable to foreign sources of oil
really put the pressure on. We persuaded enough people
to stand fast under this kind of pressure.
Now, we do have to find an answer to the energy
program. We are going to submit a recommendation for
decontrol of old oil which I think will be a reasonable
and a responsible proposal. If we don't raise the price
of old oil and stimulate additional production in this
country, every day the clock ticks America becomes more
and more vulnerable.
Now we don't anticipate -- and we certainly
want to preclude -- any developments in the Middle East
that would end up with another oil embargo. But if you
look at the statistics that come to my desk and maybe
to yours, we are much more vulnerable right today if an
international cartel should impose another oil embargo
than we were in October, November and December of 1973.
MORE
Page 4
We are much more vulnerable. And it would have
not only serious implications to the strength of the
country but it would have a terribly bad effect on our
capability to come out of the current recession and move
into a more prosperous economy in the months ahead.
I just hope that you can help persuade Members
of Congress that if they can't buy the good program
that we submitted, they ought to at least come up with
a program of their own. And as of today, there has been
nothing but backward movement rather than forward movement.
Now let's talk about the economy. I think that
the statistics today are encouraging. I don't mean to
imply that every report that I get is the kind I want to
see, but when you look at the problems we have had for
the last five months and see where we are today, and look
at the forecast for the months ahead, we have made a
lot of headway.
In the last five months we have done very well
in cutting back the inflationary problems that we have
today; or over the last five months the rate of inflation
has been about 5.6, 5.7, which is roughly half of what
it was in the last few months of 1974.
Unemployment is too high. We had five months
in a row where we lost approximately 400,000 employees,
gainfully employed in our civilian economy. It was a
precipitous slide but the last two months, even though
unemployment rates have increased, we started to climb
up again with a total number of people gainfully employed.
In the last two months we have added approximately
400,000 -- 450,000 to those gainfully employed,
It is the consensus that we are on our way out,
just beginning to get out of this recession.
MORE
Page 5
But, if you look at the consumer confidence
figures, if you look at the wide range of other economic
indicators, including those that came out of the Department
of Commerce last week, there is good reason for us to
believe the strength of this economy is such that we are
going to be looking at a much better picture in the third
and fourth quarters of 1975 and increasingly better in
1976. This has been a hard, tough period, whether it is in
the budget, whether it is energy, or whether it is in the
economy, but wherever I go, I find the spirit of America
good.
Adversity seems to strengthen us, gives us the
feeling that we will stand up to the pressures and meet
the challenges, and this is the kind of spirit that I think
is essential and necessary if our country is to continue
to be the leader at home as well as abroad.
We have got a great system. We have wonderful
people. We have an industrial capacity that is not matched
by any elsewhere in the world, and if we keep the faith,
I am convinced that America can and will be the leader in
the months and years ahead that we have been in the past.
Thank you very much.
END
(AT 5:20 P.M. EDT)