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Show II tel Prices Tg!3 Prss. Ford? I The political high drama of i the moment in Washington is i whether President Ford will forfeit his chance of election in 1976 if he allows fuel prices to rise sharply, by decontrolling decon-trolling the price of oil. INDUSTRY lobbyists have long pressed Congress and the President to let oil prices seek whatever level they find in the market-This being an almost biblical principle of the free enterprise system. But the oil situation cannot be realistically compared to a free market system. CONGRESS, therefore, has not bought the industry argument, ar-gument, especially as oil prices have been hiked four hundred percent in the past year around the world. Congress favors retaining price controls on old oil, and doing what can be done to hold increases to a minimum. In this Conress finally has the ear of the average voter. PRESIDENT Ford has thus far accepted dangerous, idealistic advice from some advisors and the oil industry. If he allows prices to be decontrolled and the price of all fuel rises dramatically, he is certain to be blamed by the average voter. This seems to many the only issue on which the President can cut his political throat at the moment. Yet he seems ready to do so. DEMOCRATS are set to have a political field day between now and the election of November, 1976, if the President allows events to take their course. Perhaps price rollbacks can be legislated retroactively but this will be more difficult. The upshot of the fuel price confusion could be another Ford victory over majority sentiment in Congress. But this victory could cost Ford and the Republicans the White House in 1976. The inside story on the refusal of Congress to resume military aid to Turkey, according ac-cording to reliable sources, is the hope of the Israeli lobby that loss of U. S. bases in Turkey will make Israeli bases indispensable to the West. A STUDY OF the vote against resuming aid to Turkey (the New York delegation for example) is the tip-off on the Israelis lobby's influence in the Turkish ases dispute. |