September 13, 1985
This morning we have received more very encouraging news about our nation's economy. Retail sales for the month of August rose sharply, while our standard measure for inflation at the producer level actually declined. Sales for August rose a robust 1.9 percent. Much of that gain came from an impressive 7.8 percent increase in new car sales, and other sales categories also showed increases. In the midst of this healthy consumer activity, we also saw prices at the wholesale level for August fall 0.3 percent while industrial production in the manufacturing sector rose 0.5 percent, the largest increase in a year. Industrial production overall climbed 0.3 percent.
All of this good news follows a drop in our unemployment rate of three-tenths of 1 percent and the Census Bureau's announcement that 1.8 million fewer Americans are living in poverty. This is further evidence of the miraculous powers of American enterprise. If the Congress will help me to control domestic spending, to work for freer and fairer trade, and to reduce tax rates further by passing our fair share tax plan for all Americans, then we can reach our goal -- we can unleash a decade of growth and create 10 million new jobs in the next 4 years.