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The new program, though, has many jurisdictional oddities. Both a self-employed television repairman and a TV repairman who works for a company will have their incomes regulated—but by different bodies. The Price Commission will set standards applying to the fees that the self-employed repairman can charge; the Pay Board will draw up rules governing what wages the employee repairman can collect. Doctors may eventually be visited by those much-feared IRS agents, inquiring into complaints of "excessive" charges for operations or consultations. But lawyers who are partners in a firm will face no such investigations; income from partnerships will be considered profits, which are unregulated.
These quirks result largely from the fact that the Phase II machinery has been set up to give something to everybody. Labor demanded a tripartite board, including union representatives, to determine pay, while business insisted that only public representatives chosen by a Republican White House rule on prices. Each won its point. Labor in addition got some Government gestures toward control of interest rates and profits—but the limits on "windfall" profits are so far not strict enough to anger corporate chiefs.
Economic Home Run. The first public reaction to this program was a mixture of approval and uncertainty. The most volatile economic indicator, the stock market, wobbled nervously. On the day after Nixon's speech, the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly eight points, and it closed the week at 894. Investors found it difficult to appraise the program, and they were particularly unsure about what actions the new Interest and Dividends Committee might take.
The nation's businessmen and bankers generally supported the President's actions. Said A.W. ("Tom") Clausen, president of the Bank of America: "We believe his program will begin to make possible an orderly transition out of the freeze." With liberal use of metaphor, Dow Chemical Chairman Carl Gerstacker responded in terms that Sports Fan Nixon understands best: "The President has hit another home run in the fight against inflation." Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lynn Townsend voiced the hope that the Price Commission will allow some increases on '72 models, which came out during the freeze. Said he: "We price only once a year, and the freeze caught us at the worst possible time."
Professional economists were more cautious, but mostly approving. Robert Nathan and Beryl Sprinkel, two members of TIME's Board of Economists, believe that the President was wise in trying to form a consensus on wages and prices before establishing specific guidelines. Sprinkel, although an ideological opponent of economic controls, added that Nixon acted realistically in setting his goal as 2% to 3% inflation by the end of 1972, rather than specifying some lower number that would be more attractive but unreachable.