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Show WHY WE HAVE INFLATION A number of excellent anti-inflation programs, which were designed to attack basic causes and not spar ineffectually ineffectual-ly with symptons, have been proposed. These programs have varied in detail, but they have all dealt with the same conditions con-ditions government spending, tariffs, subsidies, the wage-price wage-price spiral, etc. They have been widely praised by leading newspapers and magazines.. Yet, their chance of adoption, at this time, is so remote as to be non-existent politics must be played at the expense of the country. The reason for that is the pressure groups. We all want to fight inflation at the expense of the other fellow and to make none of the sacrifices ourselves. The farmers don't like to pay high prices for feed and machinery but they are all for policies which may artificially keep the prices of farm products high. Business men talk about excessive demands de-mands of labor but they vociferously favor policies which protect the price of whatever they produce. Labor blames industrial profits, even as it demands more and more wage hikes which will inevitably become a part of the selling sell-ing price of goods. And public officials blandly ignore the direct relationship between government spending and inflation. in-flation. In time, a real anti-inflation program, which will call upon every segment of the economy, to do its share, may be forced upon us by dire necessity. In time, we may learn that abundance is possible only through work, and that big cash earnings which are more than offset by ever-rising prices do us no good. Until then, inflation will remain the most ominous domestic problem. Those who rail at storekeepers or producers or any other group for jacking up prices are the victims of tragic ignorance. Fighting inflation has much in common with fighting a war everyone must take his place somewhere in the lines. |