Courier-herald. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1949-1950, 1949-12-24
Roy Tucker
Won't Shoot Santa

Under the politico-economic formula
he and his advisers have framed at Key
West and Washington in the dying days
of the current year, there will be no let
down in the current level of business activ-
ity and high but subsidized prosperity if
he and the national treasury can do it. q
Nineteen-fifty will be what Treasury
Secretary John w. Snyder, after conf
dental chat with Mr.. Truman, describes
as "a good business year based on sound
factors in the economy +" i.
RISK-Skeptics like Dr.. Edwin G..
Nourse, who resigned as chairman of the
Presidents Economic Council because he
could not stomach the Administration S
spending and-taxing schemes, look into
the future through darker glasses.
Managed inflation,' he says, referr-
ing to the Truman-Snyder prosperity for
mula of huge expenditures, peak taxes,
continuing high wages and prices and gov
ernmental stimulation of business, indus
try and agriculture through federal use of
money, lis greater risk than we can
afford to take" - .~.~~
? :. So far, so good But what does this
high-level discussion of 1850 prospects
mean in bread-and- butter language, and
how will it affect the average mans
pocketbook and his wife's weekly budget?
INCREASE-The basic and primary
consideration in forecasting economic
trends for 1850, and possibly for several
years beyond-certainly until after the
1852 presidential contests that the Tru-
man Administration has increased or
sponsored the increase of the three items
which determine all living costs.
Messrs. Truman and Snyder have
agreed that they must be kept at a swol-
len state through use Of the governments
power to tax and spend.
These items are, in the order of the
Importance of their financial reaction on
every individual, family and corporations:
Wages, taxes and transportation.
MANAGED-Dips and lifts of price in
isolated fields may affect living standards
and costs slightly and temporarily.
But there can be no sharp downward
movement in prices and in the size of the
individual or national budget as result
of the Administrations inflationary poll
cies in these fields. Those policies and
prices are fixed
Thus the politico-economic watchword
for 1850, as DR.. Nourse suggests, is IMAM
aged initiation
CONTROL - From the ballot-box
standpoint alone, Mr.. Truman cannot af-
ford what is variously called "deflation,"
a recession" or depression"
Business stagnation, drop in prices,
unemployment and a consequent decline
in Treasury receipts would be Demo-
cratic calamity on the eve of the 1850
Congressional election. It might prove po-
Iitically disastrous in the 1852 presidential
contest.
Therefore, President Truman and Sec
rotary Snyder will utilize every ounce of
their interchangeable control over federal
money and credit to prevent any serious
decline.
In short, Uncle Sam will pay out, pick
up and cash the checks as long as the
money holds out. He will make the old
fashioned Santa Claus look and feel like
piker.
DRoP-The Truman-Snyder Wape-tax
policies indicate that the general level of
prices in 1850 will drop only about five
per cent, possibly ten, whereas a normal
readjustment at about twenty per cent I
below the 1948-49 peak has been antici-
pated by private and government experts.
incidentally in this analysis the term
wage" includes federal subsidies to farm
ers as well as factory pay boosts promoted
by the White House.
There will be price drops in certain
In others. And if ever the general price
line should sag too low for politico-econ-
omic comfort, the Treasury will rush in to
prevent any real decline.
rr =
oFFSET-In the field of food for in
stance, cuts in pork will be offset by lamb
and higher beef, although the latter meat
should react synpathetically.
Savings on poultry, eggs and potatoes
will be eaten up in higher charges for most
vegetables and fruits. Canned goods will
be up because of higher wage and trans
portation costs.
oUTPoURING - Don't expect any
great reductions on clothes, household fur
niture, electrical appliances, rents, auto
mobiles, utilities, building materials.
Despite expectations of peak produc-
ton of all these articles in 1850, barring |,
a war, Trunlan-Snyder inflationary poll.
cies, deliberately conceived and executed,
will keep them near their present figures.
There will be plenty of money to pay
for these goods even at inflated prices |
under the Trunlan-Snyder program. For
the Administrations new spending pro-
gram for foreign and domestic items con-
templates the largest outpouring of fed
eral funds in any peace year.