President Told Of Gain Made in I nflation Fight
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Aug. 28ÛÓPresident Nixon received a mildly encouraging report from his economic advisers today on the administrationÛªs campaign to check inflation.</br></br>While consumer prices have not yet been affected, his advisers told him, there are some signs that wholesale prices have stopped rising so rapidly and that some durable goods orders are stabilizing, White House Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler reported.</br></br>ÛÏIt takes a while for anti-inflationary action to take hold,Û Ziegler said. But he added that ÛÏsome indicators, we think, are beginning to look encouraging.Û</br></br>The President met at the Western White House with the Quadriad, made up of Secretary of the Treasury David M. Kennedy, Federal Reserve Chairman William McChesney Martin, Acting Budget Director Phillip S. Hughes and Paul W. McCracken, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Arthur F. Burns, counsellor to the President, also attended the meeting.</br></br>In Los Angeles Wednesday, McCracken said that prices might continue to rise ÛÏby momentumÛ for a period of time. He would not predict when prices would be stabilized, but he said that ÛÏgiven the kind of time period we have faced, It would have been unrealistic that we would have contained the inflationary pressure before the year was over." ant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, said Americans can expect continued price Increases at an annual rate of about 5 per cent for the remainder of the year. He also expressed pessimism about improving the situation early next year.