Ford Broadcasts, 1965-1966: 12237637

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

ANNOUNCER: High interest rates are plaguing the American people. Here is our Congressman, Jerry Ford, to give you the lowdown on high interest. Jerry...

MR. FORD: First, let me read you a letter from a distressed wife and mother in (FORD READS FROM LETTER) Grand Rapids whose husband has been transferred by his employer. She writes:

"We are unable to sell our modern four-bedroom home here due to high interest (currently 7 per cent), and the high down-payment required (currently a third).

We are therefore unable to manage the 20 percent down-payment required on a home in New York State. Of course, I do not need to tell you how difficult this is for a family with young children."

The plight of this family is a most painful one. It is multiplied many times in similar cases throughout our district and all across America. It could have been prevented.

Interest rates are the highest in 45 years. You know what that means to the family interested in buying a home--interest payments of 6 1/2 or 7 percent a year for 20 or 35 years.

But maybe you aren't about to buy a house, and so you say to yourself, 'What's high interest to me?'

High interest rates help to push up prices. They raise the businessman's costs and he generally passes the added cost on to the consumer.

High interest rates hurt every American. They show up in the form of price boosts all along the line. They hit the farmer, business, and the builder—and wind up hurting the consumer. High interest rates mean increased rents.