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Show MOST Important on the news horizon at the moment Is the combined opinion of economist! econo-mist! that there will be continued increased spending and more Inflation In-flation on tap for the coming months. This increase will include more government spending. Congressional circles believe, following the June 15 report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed a new high in living costs and the recent announcement of U. S. Steel for another boost in steel prices, that a new economic probe may be in the making. Senator Estes Kefauver has announced an-nounced that he will start a broad Inquiry Into prices and pricing policies in his Senate Anti-monopoly Committee. At the present time Senator Harry Byrd, head of the Senate Finance Committee, is conducting con-ducting a fiscal policy probe. President Eisenhower, who in February announced that if business busi-ness and labor did not cooperate in holding prices down, the government gov-ernment might have to adopt control con-trol measures to do the job, apparently ap-parently has softened somewhat on this question. His most recent pronouncement is that he could not go along with involking wage and price controls as a solution to the inflation problem. He did, however, again urge business and labor to practice restraint re-straint in holding the price line, which was answered the next day by U. S. Steel announcement of a price boost. Today steel prices are up $14.50 per ton over a year ago ... a commodity which goes into everything every-thing from bobby pins to battleships. battle-ships. Congressional leaders are not in agreement either over the causes or the remedies of inflation. One point of view, held by Senator Byrd, blames tight credit and increased in-creased interest rates as one of the inflationary causes. On the other hand. Congressman Wilbur D. Mills, head of the Joint Economic Eco-nomic Committee, recommend i the government keep money tight and resist a temptation to cut taxes. tax-es. Byrd insists that taxes mur.t be cut in the lower income brackets. brack-ets. It Is an inescapable fact, whatever what-ever view is held by Congressional leaders, that prices will surely increase in-crease when demand Increases as in the case of credit, meat, steel and other commodities. Other disturbing facts about the picture is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that purchasing power is down; inventories are up; steel is operating only at a rate of 70 to 80 per cent of capacity; capac-ity; and increased sales are attributed at-tributed in Increases in price and not to increases in unit sales. All in all, it is a disturbing picture. |