Full text of Papers of Charles L. Schultze : Memo, Arthur Burns to the President, Box A96-O1B

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

T HE W H I T E H O U S E
WASHIN GTON

March 31, 1977

MEiMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
FROM:

STU EIZENSTAT

SUBJECT:

Arthur Burns

Pursuant to your request, I followed up
on your telephone call with Arthur Burns
on his inflation statement.
Attached are his talking points.
He
indicated that he would like to supplement
these after his forthcoming trip to
Phoenix.




CHAIRMAN O F T H E B O A R D O F G O V E R N O R S
FEDERAL R E SE R V E SYSTEM
W A S H IN G T O N , O. C . 2 0 5 5 1

M a r c h 31, 1 9 7 7

T h e President
The White House
W a s h i n g t o n , D. C.
Dear Mr.

Pres i d e n t :

I w a s p l e a s e d to h e a r f r o m y o u this m o r n i n g . A n d I
v e r y m u c h h o p e that the a t t a c h e d m e m o r a n d u m , w h i c h I h a d
to t h r o w together v e r y quickly, m a y b e of s o m e help to you.
I realize, of c o u r s e , that s o m e i t e m s in m y listing -particularly N o . 18 a n d N o . 19 -- a r e e x t r e m e l y difficult,
if not practically i m p o s s i b l e , in t o d a y 1s political e n v i r o n m e n t .
I a m going off to P h o e n i x t o m o r r o w m o r n i n g , but I'll
b e b a c k o n S u n d a y a n d I w o u l d b e glad to clarify or to e x p a n d
u p o n a n y i t e m s in the e n c l o s e d m e m o r a n d u m that m a y be of
interest to you.
W i t h e v e r y g o o d wi s h ,
S i n c e r e l y yours,

A r t h u r F. B u r n s
Enclosure

M arch

M EM ORANDUM

FOR

ARTHUR

S U B JE C T :

P r o p o s a l s to R e d u c e In fla tio n

F.

BURNS

C u rb t h e e x p a n s io n of F e d e r a l sp en d in g and w o rk d ilig e n tly
s

2.

1977

T H E P R E S ID E N T

FRO M :

1.

31,

to w a r d s th e g ra d u a l e lim in a tio n of b u d get d e fic its .
U rg e

C o n g r e s s to p a s s t a x m e a s u r e s th a t w ill e n c o u r a g e th e

e x p a n s io n and m o d e rn iz a tio n of o u r in d u s tria l p lan t.
3.

R e s i s t in c r e a s e d b a r r i e r s to o u r im p o r ts fro m
and le a d th e e n tire w o rld

fo re ig n

co u n trie s,

co m m u n ity to w a rd a g e n e r a l re d u ctio n

in t r a d e b a r r i e r s .
4.

R e s i s t n ew r e s t r i c t i o n s on a g r i c u ltu ra l p ro d u ctio n an d u r g e
C o n g r e s s to r e m o v e

5.

R e l a x th e re g u la tio n o f t r a n s p o r t in d u s tr ie s
ra ilro a d s,

a irlin e s,

in to th e b u s in e s s ,
ra te s
6 .

s o m e of th e r e m a in in g r e s t r i c t i o n s .

w a te r tra n sp o rt

re la x re strictio n s

--

in t r u c k i n g ,

so a s to e a s e e n tr y
on ro u te s ,

and p e r m it

to m o v e f r e e l y w ith in a z o n e of r e a s o n a b l e n e s s .

M o d e r a te th e e ffe c ts of F e d e r a l e n v i r o n m e n ta l s ta n d a r d s
o n p ro d u c tio n c o s ts b y p o stp o n in g t a r g e t d a te s fo r

7.

E s t a b l i s h m o d e l bu ild ing co d e s th a t e lim in a te o u td a te d o r
u n n ecessary re strictio n s,
S ta te ,
are

8.




co m p lia n ce .

and ra tio n a liz e p re se n t F e d e r a l,

and lo c a l e n v iro n m e n ta l re g u la tio n s

--

s o m e of w h ich

o v e rla p p in g o r c o n tr a d ic to r y .

D ir e c t m o r e v ig o ro u s

e n fo rc e m e n t of th e a n titru s t la w s .

-2-

9.

A p p o i n t a n e n e r g e t i c y o u n g b u s i n e s s m a n w ith , a g o o d b a c k g r o u n d
in l a b o r r e l a t i o n s to h e a d th e C o u n c il on W a g e a n d P r i c e S ta b i l it y .

10.

O r d e r th e C o u n c il on W a g e an d P r i c f t S ta b ility t o b e a l e r t to
a p p a re n t a b u se s of eco n o m ic p o w er,
la b o r,

an d to h o ld p u b lic h e a r i n g s

w h e n th e p u b lic i n t e r e s t is
11.

In th e s k ille d

w h eth er by b u sin ess o r

on p r ic e o r w ag e i n c r e a s e s

s ig n ific a n tly in v o lv e d .

co n stru ctio n tra d e s ,

e s ta b lis h n a tio n a l b a rg a in in g

c o m m i t t e e s t h a t w ou ld h a v e th e p o w e r to r e j e c t l o c a l b a r g a in i n g
a g re e m e n ts
w age
12.

and,

th e re b y ,

r e d u c e th e lik e lih o o d of le a p fro g g in g

se ttle m e n ts.

E s t a b l i s h a n a tio n a l p r o d u c tiv ity c e n t e r to a s s i s t l o c a l l a b o r
and b u sin e ss

l e a d e r s to f o r m

p ro d u ctiv ity

in d i v i d u a l e n t e r p r i s e s in e a c h o f o u r

c o u n c ils w ith in

sizab le c itie s ,

w ith th e

o b j e c t i v e o f r a i s i n g o u tp u t p e r m a n h o u r .
13.

R eform

p re s e n t F e d e ra lly -fu n d e d tra in in g

p ro gram s

so a s to

e m p h a s i z e t r a i n i n g on th e job an d t r a i n i n g f o r n e e d e d s k i l l s .
14.

R e d u c e o r e lim in a te u n re a s o n a b le r e s t r i c t i o n s o n e n tr y in to
v a r i o u s p r o f e s s io n s and sk ille d t r a d e s .

15.

R eform

p e n s io n la w s and re g u la tio n s

s o a s to e n a b le o r e n c o u r a g e

in d iv id u a ls to p o stp o n e r e t i r e m e n t .
16.

E s ta b lis h a co m p reh en siv e p ro g ra m

o f job v a c a n c y s t a t i s t i c s

to s u p p le m e n t c u r r e n t s ta tis tic s on u n e m p lo y m e n t.
17.
18.

S p e e d d e v e l o p m e n t o f fu lly c o m p u t e r i z e d jo b b a n k s .
U rge
th e

19.

U rg e
a s to
also

20.




C o n g r e s s to r e p e a l th e D a v i s - B a c o n A c t in o r d e r to c u r b

e s c a la tio n of co n stru ctio n c o s ts .
C on gress
en cou rage
g iv e th e m

to r e d u c e th e m i n i m u m w a g e fo r t e e n a g e r s

so

e m p l o y e r s to h i r e u n s k ille d y o u th s an d p e r h a p s
o n -th e -jo b tra in in g .

A d d r e s s b y th e P r e s i d e n t on th e d ig n ity of h o n e s t w o r k an d th e
e v ils of feath erb ed d in g .

"