Masonry Magazine October 1967 Page. 27
Washington Wire
THE BUSINESS RECOVERY MAY SOON BRING BACK SHORTAGES of skilled labor. Rising factory output is soaking up the available supply of trained manpower. (The supply never got very loose, even in the relatively slack first half, because industry held on to its craftsmen all through the "readjustment.") Demand will be strongest for engineers, technicians and for health workers.
THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK FOR 1968 IS BECOMING A BIT CLEARER these days. Economists are now certain that the first three months will be very strong, just like the fourth quarter. Business should be good next spring as well. Rising spending by the government and by consumers virtually guarantee this. The end to the inventory liquidation, and the shift back to accumulation, adds still more to strength. Indeed, some forecasters are talking of a new surge in spending for plant and equipment-which would really boom things.
The forecasters' crystal balls turn cloudy at mid-year and the rest of 1968. Spending for the war in Viet Nam is one big question-mark. No one can say whether it will keep on rising-or, perhaps, begin to level off by the spring.
ALMOST $1 BILLION IS AVAILABLE NOW FOR THE "ABM" the anti-ballistic missile system for which the President has now given a green light. With funds voted this year, and carried over from last year, the Pentagon can no doubt carry on all the research, development, testing, and production that it can manage with no need to return to Congress for money in fiscal 1968.
U.S. officials will continue efforts to make an agreement with the Russians to limit the ABM race, despite the program for a "thin" system. But the State Department knows that time is short. The older, more "moderate" leaders in the Kremlin are ailing. Before too long, they will be replaced by more aggressive types, out to spread Communism again. Some overtones of the Cold War could reappear once more.
CORPORATE PROFITS LEVELED OFF IN THE SECOND QUARTER, after some six months of decline. Seasonally adjusted estimates of government statisticians dip only about $300 million, winter to spring. But now some plus factors are coming into play. One is price increases. Another is the increases in productivity from rising output. These will outweigh higher wage costs.
PROTECTIONIST FEELING IS RISING IN CONGRESS, partly because of the injury many producers say they will suffer as a result of the tariff cuts nego-
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