1968 - Commerce

Commerce

Half of all U.S. mothers of school-age children are in the workforce as of March, and seven out of 10 work full time (80 percent of these have no husbands). All but 10 percent say they need the money, either to support themselves and their families or to pay for medical care, save for a child's education, or buy a house.

The gap between rich nations and underdeveloped nations must be narrowed or "men and women will be impelled to revolt," warns India's prime minister Indira Gandhi at New Delhi.

U.S.-owned multinationals have been the chief beneficiaries of the European Common Market, says French economist Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber in his book The American Challenge.

Economic inflation continues to mount in much of the world. The United States and six West European nations agree March 18 to supply no more gold to private buyers.

Britain's Exchequer issues the nation's first 5- and 10-pence coins April 23 as the British shift to the decimal system after centuries of dealing with guineas, crowns, half-crowns, sovereigns, shillings, sixpences, and threepences (see 1971).

Japan's Gross National Product (GNP) climbs 12 percent to $140 billion and passes that of West Germany by $10 billion to make Japan the free world's second strongest economic power after the United States (whose GNP is $860 billion), but per capita income is $921, little more than that of Ireland.

The United States has 4,462 corporate business mergers, up from 2,975 last year (see 1969).

The Consumer Credit Protection Act approved by Congress May 29 will stand as landmark legislation; the so-called "Truth in Lending" Act requires banks and other lending institutions to disclose clearly the true annual rate of interest and other financing costs on most types of loans.

President Johnson signs a bill June 28 adding a 10 percent surcharge to income taxes and reducing government spending, but the war in Indochina is costing the United States millions of dollars per day.

The Pentagon announces August 1 that it will buy steel only from firms that have not raised prices, but wholesale steel prices beginning at the end of this year will climb in 15 of the next 18 months as American steelmakers negotiate agreements with European and Japanese mills to reduce their shipments to the United States and U.S. industry raises prices in anticipation of possible price controls.

First Philadelphia Bank installs a one-way cash dispenser imported from Britain; Canton, Ohio, safe manufacturer Deibold & Co. begins making automatic teller machines, patented in 1960 by inventor Luther Simjian, but, like cash dispensers, they require paper vouchers (see 1969).

Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average closes November 29 at 985.08 and closes December 31 at 943.75, up from 905.11 at the end of 1967.

BankAmericard holders number 14 million by year's end, up from 2 million at the end of 1966, and 316,000 U.S. merchants accept the card, up from 64,000 at the end of 1966. By 1974 there will be more than 26 million BankAmericard holders and at least 33 million Master Charge card holders. Bank credit cards will be used to finance $13 billion worth of business per year in the United States (roughly 2.6 percent of all retail sales), 970,000 U.S. merchants will honor BankAmericard and more thousands will honor Master Charge, thousands of merchants in other countries will honor the cards, and approximately 3.8 percent of U.S. consumer debt will be in loans outstanding on bank credit cards, much of it at interest rates as high as 18 percent per year.