Nixon, Connally & Ziegler on US Economy and International Monetary Policy

2:53:02I love you.
2:54:02and I have a busy day.
2:54:04I said, no change.
2:54:06I said, well, it's like, yeah, yeah, something like all that.
2:54:09That's easy.
2:54:10You know, I mean, but I've got more to talk about.
2:54:14I'm going to go on Tuesday to Oregon and see the OPD.
2:54:18And he's going to fight like hell.
2:54:23They might just get the SSD back in the house.
2:54:26I think that'll go right to the senators.
2:54:28And then the way that has to work is that Maggie and Jackson
2:54:33You've got to put in the cold turkey because you have three guys, you can't grow.
2:54:36Tell me, the grants would say, look boss, we will, we're going to kill your lockheed unless you give a sentence.
2:54:45Do you think so?
2:54:48Tell me, tell me, what the, what does it do on the computer?
2:54:54I noticed, I noticed my boss, Juan Luis, that the reason that many of our dollars are in trouble because of
2:55:07You're taking a positive line.
2:55:09Yes.
2:55:09Yes, the place we have been.
2:55:11I know you've been talking.
2:55:13We've got goons of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.
2:55:17He's talking a little lovely.
2:55:19The foreign exchange bankers, he's in our parts and all of us in the bank.
2:55:24And basically, they're all saying we ought to have a parity.
2:55:27We ought to keep this thing stable.
2:55:30It ought to be fixed.
2:55:31They don't know what the germs are going to be.
2:55:33They're still not working on a statement.
2:55:36that I may release, and I think I'm the call to order.
2:55:43I should, in effect, just say that here's a statement I have released.
2:55:50I will read to you, and it explains our situation.
2:55:54There is no change, particularly of our position.
2:55:59Thank you.
2:56:02I don't think the dollar is as weak as they all talk about it.
2:56:26and uh if we try to crank it down that folks they're going to tell everybody in europe and we cram it down everybody's going to say well the dollar is we in the united states where canada's got a floating exchange rate with us and has had for a year
2:56:47they'll tell everybody, and then that will be an indication of weakness.
2:56:50That's correct.
2:56:51And I just don't think we ought to reflect that kind of weakness.
2:56:54I just think we take a position that we're going to have our position negotiated.
2:56:57It's a responsibility that we're going to have, and we're going to see who's going to negotiate it.
2:57:02So that's the baseline.
2:57:04You might have seen that right there.
2:57:11That's the baseline.
2:57:14That's the position.
2:57:15That's the position.
2:57:17I mean, for Christ's sakes, we're in Spain.
2:57:21We're the worst.
2:57:22We've cut 60% in the last two years.
2:57:24It's not a big problem.
2:57:29I think this international thing, the Washington thing, will overwhelm the wholesale prices, I think, to be my guess, although that's always all right.
2:57:41So that's just my point.
2:57:43I don't consider that policy to be what I think it is.
2:57:46and I would bounce them in and say, isn't it a heavenly way to the agriculture?
2:57:49Yes.
2:57:50I did not, I didn't even open the way to where I think it did.
2:57:53When I was, I had a restaurant in San Diego, and I said, look, we're going to bounce them down.
2:58:00Inflation is still a problem.
2:58:01We're still working on it.
2:58:03We're going in the right direction.
2:58:05Unemployment is still a problem.
2:58:08We're working on it.
2:58:09But I just think that, you know, we should instill, we should not, that we do not consider this a, I mean, we could say this points up, you might say this points up, but the President said Saturday that inflation is still a problem, but we are moving in the right direction.
2:58:26And we're not going to live until we can.
2:58:29We can't run this old deal of, you know, move on.
2:58:32And it has a tendency to,
2:58:35If you just die a thousand deaths, that's what the cowards always do.
2:58:39Now, how was it every month, every ride?
2:58:43That's the question.
2:58:44What's the corridor look like?
2:58:46Right?
2:58:48Right.
2:58:48Now, I'll take a very strong, positive line, but it probably has to do with the shield.
2:58:53Yes, sir.
2:58:53Yeah.
2:58:55Well, I mean, it's great to see the presence of his first secretary, the presence of this woman.
2:59:00I just want to be there.
2:59:02and other major American industries are reaching a moment of truth.
2:59:22And unless they become more responsible in their wage and price policies, they're not pricing themselves out in the world.
2:59:29This is a problem with industry and labor.
2:59:32And this is a problem not only in the field, we're not selecting it out, and it's not a problem not just labor, it's a problem of management of labor, management of its pricing policies.
2:59:45Labor's wage demands have gotten to dip into account the fact that we are pricing ourselves out.
2:59:52If you could refer to the Press Conference, would you refer to the drop in the market position?
3:00:01Take 50% of steel.
3:00:0320 years ago, we had 50% of the steel of the world.
3:00:05Now we produce 20% of the steel of the world.
3:00:07Now that's a hell of a number.
3:00:12So let's get going.
3:00:1420 years ago, the United States
3:00:21share of steel production in the world since the 1950s was 47%.
3:00:26Today it is 20%.
3:00:28And in two years, the Japanese will pass this steel production.
3:00:32The Japanese.
3:00:34And we have got to have a steel industry in this country.
3:00:36No great industrial power can afford to pay the bill to have a steel industry.
3:00:39We want it to be there.
3:00:41It must be healthy.
3:00:42It must be strong.
3:00:42It just can't be on the wall.
3:00:44It has to be competitive.
3:00:46What we're talking about is being competitive in the world.
3:00:51Well, there's a lot of thinking in this administration about the future of America's competitive position.
3:00:59We are caught up.
3:01:00Let's understand.
3:01:01We're not going to simply say the reason we speak out on matters of this earth is because
3:01:25Thanks.
3:01:26The Bank of America raised their fine rate.
3:01:28They're probably asking about that.
3:01:29I'm just going to raise it.
3:01:31It's the same as I said before.
3:01:32It's the same as what you said, Chase, and I didn't even start with you.
3:01:36I just said this earlier.
3:01:37I already expressed my disappointment at this fine rate increase.
3:01:40I still feel the same way.
3:01:43The main point is, let's have this administration
3:02:11If you would head back down into us and actually be listening.
3:02:17Hit with us, be in the sight of the angels.
3:02:20By God, we're growing in restraints and we're growing in ourselves.
3:02:23We're growing in ourselves.

Nixon, Connally & Ziegler on US Economy and International Monetary Policy

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on May 6, 1971

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