The ending of the decade of the seventies and the dawning of the eighties can be characterized as a period of great uncertainty with prospects for economic political instability. High inflation and fluctuating exchange rates in the de veloped Western world have served to strengthen the forces of disequilibrium in the fmancial markets, leading to an investment situation with several unusual but significant factors. Capital spending by business, leading to the creation of new jobs, has not been reduced substantially during this period of uncertainty, as happened in similar periods in the past....