A lot of pessimism rode in with the New Year 1975 today.
But as the Herald views the situation here in Utah, we see a lot of room for hope, too – hope for a good level of employment, for progress on many fronts, and for continuation of the things that make for happy living.
Nationally, gloom peddlers point to rising prices and unemployment, world energy shortages, labor troubles, political problems, and a depressed stock market.
We do not discount these. They are barriers which must be cleared, and finding solutions isn’t easy. But such problems aren’t new. America has rebounded from difficult problems before.
Cartoonists have pictured the Little New Year making an apprehensive entry while viewing the Old Year personified by a battered old man with a scythe and a tattered 1974 label.
The past year did indeed have its problems. Here in America there was scandal and political upheaval surpassing the imagination of many people.
And there was rising inflation that pushed the economy into trouble that was generally labeled “recession” in the final months of the year. World energy shortages helped complicate the problem. In the area of national unemployment, the auto industry seemed hardest hit and the jobless rate was spreading as 1974 bowed out.
To what extent unemployment will affect Utah can’t be calculated at this point. But thus far, the job situation has held up fairly well. This state hasn’t experienced the energy shortages to the extent some other areas have. Personal income is up. Utah Valley’s biggest employer, Geneva Works, has been able to function at a good employment level, with steel orders holding up – although the coal strike did indeed cause some layoffs.
New Year’s is a time of resolve. President Ford and his economic advisers have resolved to present hard-line measures that will effectively deal with inflation.
We hope 1975 will indeed see the fruition of a program of action, cooperatively implemented by both the executive and legislative branches, that will start economic indicators pointing upward again.
Such a program, of course, will require the full efforts of the private sector. And of Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen.
One thing for sure, we’ve got to slow down the pessimism and restore faith in America. And back up the faith with deeds and good works.
As for today – New Year’s Day 1975; Like Christmas, it’s something that happens in the heart as well as with the calendar. And in every heart this day is the same wish. May it be a Happy New Year!
Long Fringe
The term “fringe benefits” is becoming more and more of a misnomer.
The average amount of employer-paid benefits received by employees in 1973 was $3,230, reports the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.
In 1953, when the first data was collected, the average was only $842.
This $3,230 was, of course, money earned by American workers in 1973 that was paid to them in services or benefits – health and life insurance, etc. – rather than in (taxable) wages or salaries.
But how many workers ever bother to consider the so-called “fringe benefits” when they figure out their incomes?