US Presidency
1974

Overall, Americans are living more abundantly than ever before, today. More than two and a half million new jobs were created in the past year alone. That is the biggest percentage increase in nearly 20 years. People are earning more. What they earn buys more, more than ever before in history. In the past five years, the average American's real spendable income, that is, what you really can buy with your income, even after allowing for taxes and inflation, has increased by 16 percent. Despite this record of achievement, as we turn to the year ahead we hear once again the familiar voice of the perennial prophets of gloom telling us now that because of the need to fight inflation, because of the energy shortage, America may be headed for a recession. Let me speak to that issue head on. There will be no recession in the United States of America. Primarily due to our energy crisis, our economy is passing through a difficult period.