The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-05-25

UlpS Ur WhASLllIle your falling hair, teeth and arches or your hardening arteries, yod should decide whether you like 1t or not. If you discover that you can take government standard of live ing all right, when comes the revo- lution after the war is over, you'll be that much more content.
 What does this government-in1- posed standard of living do to you?
 The responsibilities of your gov- ernment in managing your star1d- ard of living, rationing your goods and writing your tax bills, are prim- arily three:
 1. The supply of civilian goods available for distribution among the people must be equitably appor- toned. There must be no more of this x cards for congressman stuff. 2. Price ceilings must be rigidly enforced. If bootlegging and black marketing of scarce supplies are permitted to start, not only imitation will develop, but chaos as well.
 3. Every income group must be equitably taxed and assessed for savings. There can be no class eX- emptionS. States which now permit husbands and wives to file separate income tax returns in order to es- cape the higher surtax rates of a joint return are simply allowing their citizens to welch on 8 national responsibility.
 COST
 40 PER CENT
 What this full responsibility amounts to, according to some of the government economists who are planning for the management of your wartime standard of living, is that the average family in the next 12 months must be prepared to set aside some 40 per cent of its income for taxes and savings. Before the war, any suggestion that the Amer ican people could set aside 40 cents out of every dollar would have been considered preposterous. The way this works out for the average person now is something like this:
 With total national income for the coming year estimated at $l17 billion, to be divided among about 130 million people, that makes the gross per capita income around $900 a year. Put 70 per cent of that-$360-in savings and taxes, and 1t leaves $540 a year for the per capita spending money which will De left for the necessi- ties on this government-managed standard of living.
 Bear in mind that these are average dgules. Some people will be considerably above those averages. A lot more people will be way below them. Also bear in mind that these are averages per person, man, woman or child. To fit them to family, multiply those per capita figures by the number of people in your family. For an average family of three mama, papa, and the baby - 1t would work out as an income of $2,700 year, with $l,0s0 of 1t go- ing into savings and taxes and $1, ,620 of 1t left for the family to squander.
 SAME
 QUALITY
 What kind of standard of living do you get for this money?
 In general, the Idea is to give you about the same quantity of food fuel and shelter that you enjoyed in the past, with certain obvious ex- captions and certain local shortages in various areas. Sugar and prob- ably most of the imported food stuffs like coffee and tea and ba- nanas wil lbe down in consumption generally. And in defense areas and war production centers where there have been big and sudden increases in population, shelter accommoda. tions will be reduced.
 Where you will be hit hardest will be in the shortages in service! like deliveries, the shortages of con- sumer goods such as house furnish ings and clothing.
 Interpreting that in terms O stuff you can buy in the stores, means that you will pay more fo food. whether you get 1t at the gro cery or in a restaurant, for the req son that only from 60 to 75 per cen of the food items are covered b. price freezing orders. What you cal buy in clothing stores, furnitur' stores, hardware stores, drug stores filling stations and general merch andise emporiums will be darnet sight less.
 H.I.a N~~..A~.k