Political notes

Yugoslav Fond Shipments Stopped The United States State Department is suspending surplus food shipments to Yugoslavia. This is because of the aid that Yugoslavia has been giving to North Vietnam, This decision was arnounced on January lst. The decision is based on an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriations Act which bans the sale of surplus food to countries sending aid to North Vietnam, The decision is reported to have affected the shipment of 350,000 tons of surplus wheat to Yugoslavia, U.S. Report Reveals Further Progress in Corporate Control in Economy A U.S. Congressional Committee report, published on 28th December, alleges that bigger American financial institutions wield vast amounts of economic control and power through interlocking stock ownership, The study says commercial banks' trust departments possess tremendous econ= omic leverage through their varied stockholdings, These wre reported to be in excess of £215,000m. It further charges that the banking industry's management elite' has a highly refined system of selfperpetuation and self control by voting substantial blocks of steck held by institutions' trust departments. Mr. Wright Patman, chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, said that the report “explodes the myth ef competing financial institutions by revealing a startling degree of interlecking stock ownership". 25% increase in Portugese Arms Spending Portugal is to spend nearly 25% more on 'defence' in 1967 than it did in 1966, This was revealed in the budget figures published in Lisbon on 28th December, According to the budget escudos 3,500m is to be apprepriated for “extraordinary military forces overseas", This com— pares with escudos 2,500m spen$ in 1966 under the same heading, The additional arms spending comes as no surprise in view of the continued colonial war being waged in Angola, At the present time there are more than 120,000 troops committed in’ the war in Angola and in Mozambique and Guinea, From the increased apprepriations it would seem that military activity is to be considerably stepped up in these colenies, How About a Freeze in this Area? Figures tssued by the Associated Industrial Consultants for salary increases in Britain between 1962 and 1966 suggest that PIB would have a very fruitful field to investigate. Full time directors + 3% Heads of Major Divisions + 36.55 Senior managers + 34.5% Middle managers + 356% Middle managers (lower rank) + 44.5%