Show OF or BUSINESS THE VOICE The Other Problems Haven't Gone Away By BV Arch Booth executive vice president of the Cham Chem Chamber ber of Commerce of the United States Stat Theres There's an ugly side effect of the Watergate Wa scandal that is progressively pot pol the capital It could be fully as dangerous to the Republic as corruption in high places Many of the Presidents President's enemies and even some of his former friends are arc beginning to act as though an error in one thing automatically discredits every other policy and program the Administration Administration Ad ministration has favored IN CONGRESS time longtime opponents of Administration policies such as spending spend ing control are talking as though they have suddenly acquired a mandate to revive expensive wasteful unproductive federal programs And there are indications that other legislators who now fear close identification identification with the Administration will try to demonstrate their disapproval of the Watergate events by voting against the President frequently regardless of the merits of the issue at hand IN THE executive branch the effects are less visible but nearly as damaging Elements of the bureaucracy have long been hostile to the Presidents President's economy moves both for philosophical and pocketbook pock pock- reasons Now that the iron grip of the White House stall staff has been broken bro ken this hostility is surfacing There are reports for example of one thing in public testimony and quite another in private in an effort to sabotage sabotage sabotage sab sab- otage retrenchment in their departments A certain amount of this always goes on in Washington but right now it seems to to be increasing alarmingly FINALLY IT is conceivable that the President himself may become reluctant to press his programs with the vigor he once did fearing to further anger his enemies fearing further wounds if he is overridden Settled in 72 All of this behavior taken collectively collect ively can amount to a of the policies ratified by the American people in overwhelming numbers members in the election of 1972 In terms of practical impact on the average a citizen that would be a bigger mistake than Water Watergate ate By ny now now no one needs to be told that the economy is in a very delicate state We arc are in a boom which is good But nut we arc are also experiencing severe lion tion and serious shortages of basic com come modifies That's bad enough In Itself And added to that these shortages will tend to bid up prices further contri buting to inflation ON THE positive e side the sharp spurt in prices early this year was caused in part by some one shot one shot factors that are not likely to influence the economy la later later la ter in the year These factors arc are the bulge In prices following the end of Phase II the first quarter first quarter government pay raise the refund of 9 billion of personal income taxes for 1972 and the second devaluation of the dollar Cooling the Boom So if the economy can be cooled off just a little then we may finish the year in a prosperous condition with inflation reined h in ill once again On the theother theother theother other hand with the economy in its present bursting the seams the seams condition it would not take much mismanagement mismanage ment to push It into an out control boom with wildly accelerating inflation ending in a spectacular bust THESE ARE the reasons why the fate of the Presidents President's economic policies is or should be of such great concern concern con con- cern at the moment Large federal deficits de de- deficits are not always harmful to the economy economy ec ec- onomy but they are extremely inflationary inflationary when the economy is booming Our economic problems inflation pollution energy shortages food shortages short ages the foreign trade deficit are all closely interrelated Efforts to improve one may actually worsen another Under these circumstances cool closely coordinated coordinated coor coor- action is needed on a broad front It is not the time for politicians to seize upon Watergate or anything else as an excuse to do their own thing at everybody's expense |