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Show Outlook 1976 Utah will see employment rise 4 per- cent and over 10 personal income increase by if percent made by predictions the Utah Economic & Business Review hold Perspectives Clash m Impact off Materials Cornell Opinion remains divided on the impact of present and future shortages of minerals and fuel. Can high prices contain consumption? Do consumers face a lower standard of living? In a two part series (well run longer if we have to) the Utah Enterprise Review will examine local attitudes of the materials crunch and how it affects Utahns and Utah indsutry. as if they didnt exist, Dick says. If we refuse to face the problem, our political risks are greater than if we recognize it and begin to plan accordingly. We dont make these predictions wrong by ignoring them. Lets think about them, Shortages Herald Coming Revolution The present shortage of right places. Take water, and minerals and fuel is an early the Central Utah Project. Isnt symptom of a revolution of this project assuming an ununprecedented magnitude. limited amount of water, with We are being awakened the only problem being how to from a dream into very harsh get it to the right places? he daylight. Furthermore, were asks. being awakened at noon, Knowing present trends says one University professor. cannot be maintained for long, Speaking as a private citizen we have the choice between a B.' Gale Dick; professor of disastrous collapse or an agonphysics at the University of izingly difficult transition. The Utah, says if fuel and mineral transition would be from our consumption continues at its present state of constant present rate, it will be decades expansion to some form of a not centuries, before we steady state society. All of this doesnt necessarily simply run out Computer modeling sug- point to disaster. What seems gests more than ten but less certain, however, is rapid and he. than a hundred years until fundamental change, trends turn into catastrophe, says. A steady state society would he says. Dick claims our economy be an economy in which and entire way of life has been population and wealth are based on an assumption of maintained constant at some abundance. We assume we desired level. It is clearly a have an unlimited amount of utopian idea, he admits, and resources, and have only to adds, it is entirely opposite disover how to get them to the of what we do now. Now we share no concern for efficiency or conservation. Our habits d and culture are It is more sensible to recognize and use limits to plan our future, rather than go ahead waste-oriente- Allan Howe has of the become a Government Economy and Spending Reform Act of 1976. About the bill, he said, Its absolutely ridiculous that the government goes on financing co-spons- or useless programs because existing programs and agencies dont have to justify their continued existence, B, Gale Dick only increases in their budgets. This bill will give Congress a way to easily eliminate useless spending. Howe explained, the bill would require full Congressional review of all spending, 18,000 new jobs in the Utah economy, with increases occurring in almost every sector with ag- a trend that might be termed "recovery" from minor declines in 1975. Virtually the demand exceeds supply at a given price, says Blaine Huntsman, dean of the Business College, University of all of the increase will occur in the copper and coal pro- ducing counties, while manufacturing increases will con- Utah. spending programs to determine if they duplicate other programs, if they are achieving their objectives, and what their objectives are for the next four years. And, if program is accomplishing nothing of value, its funding can be cut-of- f. Under current budgetary procedures, detailed reviews are conducted only for budgetary increases, which means add approximately ufacturing sectors in 1976, Robson adds, A shortage occurs when including current programs as well as proposed programs, at least once every four years, in zero-bas- e a budgeting process. This means a detailed review will be conducted of all to can expect to see large gains from the mining and man- tinue along the Wastach Front. Although state and local govern- will continue to grow at ment employment rate equal. to or greater than the a Blaine Huntsman sized. Who actually bears the cost of government subsidies? Huntsman asks. No one really knows, he answers, saying no one has studied the question. We must gain a broader understanding of our economic system. We need to understand how regulation and subsidies really affect the system, he added. continued on page 6b Howe Calls for Elimination of Federal Excess Through Spending Reform Act WASHINGTON-Con-gressm- an 1976 can be expected We Price Alters Supply and Demand industries are no longer subsidized, Huntsman empha- - Director of the Bureau, growth in bson, riculture. states. . disposability. But all these changes will take place only if inefficient Says Thanye Ro- the exception of he Huntsman said that he sees no " drastic, sudden change looming in the future as a result of mineral or fuel shortages. Rather we will see slowly increasing costs. As minerals become harder to find and concentrated ore grades are replaced by those less rich in minerals, the cost of extracting resources will increase. As the cost of basic minerals and fuels increases, so will the cost of goods. The economic marketplace will force consumers to change habits of waste, he continues. We will become less wasteful and consume less. Consumers will look for durability and quality rather than variety and true. useless programs can go on costing the taxpayers money as long as they dont ask for an increase in funds. Rep. Howe pointed out that there are compelling reasons to cut spending. The federal budget has increased by 132 percent since 1967, he said. And we now have about 1,000 federal programs and over 1,200 advisory boards general Increase, declining federal employment result- ing largely from national military-relate- d manpower cutbacks , will tend to hold general government employment growth behind all other sectors over the year . The copper indus- try still faces less than optimal conditions with lagging demand, high inve- ntories and depressed The prices. steel outlook, while stronger than copper, also is awaiting in the pick-u- p mand a de- for automobiles and in and non-residen- residential tial construction. outlook is for The mo- dest improvements in and commissions. Plainly, many of these do nothing but copper and substantial improvements cost money and should be eliminated.This bill will give summer. us the mechanism to get rid of them. in steel by late ' |