Inflation to Continue: Carter Adviser Predicts High Inflation Will Continue
-	- The nationÛªs basic rate of inflation Û¢cannot be reduced below 8 or 9 per-cent in the near future because of the *poor productivity performance of the -American economy, Economic Council</br></br>-	- The nationÛªs basic rate of inflation Û¢cannot be reduced below 8 or 9 per-cent in the near future because of the *poor productivity performance of the -American economy, Economic Council -	- This gloomy outlook on inflation -bas not been so publicly and explicitly -linked before to industrial productivity, which has been no better than -	tant productivity increases in the Û¢short run, although he spelled out .Û÷long-term tax and regulatory policies iÛ÷to get below that 8 to 9 percent >ate.Û</br></br>group, is another way of saying that even next yearÛªs expected recession wonÛªt make too much of a dent in the underlying rate of inflation. However, he also expressed the hope that ÛÏwe can drop from double digits to single digitsÛ provided that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doesnÛªt boost prices by an excessive amount at its December meeting. The current inflation rate is 13 per cent.</br></br>Schultze seemed to imply that the biggest part of this yearÛªs oil price inflation would be behind us if OPEC does no more than ratify the additional 7 to 10 percent price increases recently put into effect by some individual cartel members. Since December, 1978, the official OPEC price has increased 60 percent.</br></br>for the economy to move through the present cycle without a full-blown recession, by imposing what he called ÛÏa $50 billion taxÛ in the form of price increases.