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Show Pousse of Representative slows down, bringing about even higher unemployment rates than we started with. We're worse off than before. That doesn't leave us without a solution, however. Dr. Leveson suggests we restructure the public works program and develop private employment for the disadvantaged through a wage supplement. I would add that we should enact tax measures that will encourage en-courage private investment but, most importantly, put spendable income in the hands of individuals through an overall permanent tax cut. Unemployment is a serious problem. It can't be explained well in a short time, let alone solved. But the fact is it affects the stability of the individual, his family, our society, and the government. We need to approach a solution with the long pull in mind, not short-term short-term costly programs that kindle inflation. In the Hudson study, Dr. Leveson concludes, "Present indications are that unemployment will not be substantially lower over the next decade than over the last. . . Many issues and complexities arise in structuring efforts to deal with unemployment. An essential starting point is that the measures which are developed build on the strengths of the private as well as the public sector." I heartily endorse Dr. Leveson's conclusion and am watching the Humphrey-Hawkins Humphrey-Hawkins bill, as well as other public employment measures, with great scrutiny. I want to be able to solve the unemployment problem without creating another one in its place. One of the greatest needs we have in this country is to create jobs. It's not an easy subject to address, but let me give you some new perspectives and see if they make sense. First of all, we need to get a good picture of what unemployment actually is and then go about reducing it without creating other problems potentially more serious like inflation. The tendency of government--that is, Congress and the President-is to declare the problem a crisis, draw up emergency legislation calling for massive expenditures, ex-penditures, thus increasing the public debt and sparking a new round of inflation. I'm referring, of course, to the latest Humphrey-Hawkins Humphrey-Hawkins bill, which will see some kind of action next spring. This so-called full employment bill makes a modest effort at encouraging en-couraging private jobs in industry and then makes the government the employer of last resort. Incidentally, on the average it costs the taxpayers from $10,000 to $25,000 dollars for each job the government creates. In private industry that same expenditure by consumers nets not only the job but a product or service as well. To make matters worse, corporate profits are depleted and companies don't have sufficient capital to create new permanent jobs. In the end inflation kills, not cures. In a recent study by the Hudson Institute, Dr. Irving Leveson said aggressive efforts to drive unemployment unem-ployment rates below 6 percent add too much to the rate of inflation, which in turn disrupts the stability and expansion of the economy and actually creates higher unemployment. unem-ployment. It works like this: Inflation leads to higher interest rates, money is harder to get, the housing industry suffers, businessmen are unable to pay the rising costs of new plants and equipment, and are unwilling to take the risks involved in order to grow. As a result, the overall rate of economic growth |