Output Drop Is Worst Since 1958: GNP Falls Sharply in Quarter
The nationÛªs economic output dropped drastically in the first three months of 1974, the Commerce Department reported yesterday, but the inflation rate reached 10.8 per cent a year, the highest since the Korean War.</br></br>5.8	per cent from the last quarter of 1973 to the first quarter of this year, the most severe drop since 1958.</br></br>The remedy, the administration declared, is to try to curb inflation rather than stepping up consumer demand.</br></br>The consumer is now buying less only because inflation is rising faster than his earning power, Assistant Secretary of Commerce* Sidney L. Jones told a press conference.</br></br>ÛÏI still think that we will have growth in the second half of the year ÛÓ but we are seeing a brutal effect of inflation,Û Jones said.