OCR Text |
Show EVIDENCE OF LETUP Income and Output Hit Peak WASHINGTON. - Although both the national income and the national turn-out of services and finished goods rose to record peaks during the first three months of the year, there is evidence the boom is slackening, slack-ening, it is pointed out in a commerce com-merce department report. Since the income and production are measured in terms of money, higher prices and higher wages were in part responsible for the showing. The "gross national product," defined de-fined as "total output of final goods and services in the economy at market mar-ket prices," was advanced to an annual rate of $209,000,000,000. This, said the department, approximated ap-proximated the peak recorded in the second quarter of 1945 when huge quantities of war material were being be-ing produced. Also, it topped the fourth quarter of 1946 by $4,300,000,000, principally because of increased consumer spending, but nevertheless repre- j sented "the smallest quarterly gain j since the bottom of the reconversion decline was reached in the first j quarter of 1948." National income reached a record total in the first quarter of this year at the annual rate of $180,500,000,000, an increase of $3,000,000,000 over the fourth quarter of 1946, the department depart-ment said. Income payments to individuals rose by $3,500,000,000 to an annual rate of $177,000,000,000. Wages and salaries accounted for the largest part of the gain, $2,600,000,000 at an annual rate. Relief and social security payments pay-ments and veterans' allotments also were up by $600,000,000, reversing their downtrend through 1946. Dividends, Divi-dends, interest and net rents of landlords land-lords vere down $500,000,000. Wet income of business owner-operators was up $200,000,000. |