Word: spur
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...ECONOMY The Consumer Holds Tight The odds are growing against a consumer buying spree, which President Nixon had hoped would spur the nation's dawdling economy. Despite some tantalizing flashes of free-spending ebullience, the public's mood remains generally cautious, its purchasing habits basically frugal and its saving instinct surprisingly strong...
...become effective again. Defense Department researchers are said to be toying with the idea that captured U.S. intelligence agents trained to turn on alpha could foul up enemy lie detectors and keep military secrets. In industry, major companies like Xerox and Martin Marietta are investigating biofeedback training to spur creative thinking and reduce executive tension; some are already experimenting with one of the dozen brands of portable brain-wave trainers now available for $300 or less...
...Government should spur business efforts by a program of contracts, loans and subsidies for social programs-and penalties for socially or environmentally harmful activity. In areas like pollution control, where effective action depends largely on all businesses working toward that goal, corporate executives have a moral responsibility to propose and lobby for tough federal standards that all must meet...
...Spur to Inflation. Even Medicare, passed in 1965 to lessen the economic impact of illness on the aged, has helped to push up the costs overall. The program provides broad medical coverage to an estimated 20 million Americans, most of whom would be otherwise unable to obtain insurance. But it has also worsened inflation by allowing over-generous payments for the care provided, increasing the demand for services without enlarging the supply...
Hapless Gamblers. Not filled bottles, but empties. The fancy packaging (animal, bird and political figurines), initiated in the mid-'50s by the James B. Beam Distilling Co. as a spur to liquor sales, boosted sales all right, but not just by drinkers. The bottles turned out to be every bit as intoxicating, so much so that a company called Grenadier is now in business primarily to serve "the Connoisseur Collector with the finest examples of porcelain soldier figurines [bottles] available anywhere in the U.S." Moreover, unlike their contents, the bottles have a long-term value: Jim Beam...