Milford chronicle., 1952-11-14
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER H. 1852
JUST HOW WELL OFF ARE WE?

JOOl I1OW w ILL OFF EINE WI
By comparison with past times, how do
we, as a people and as individuals, stand fl
nancially?
That's a very pertinent question these
days, and it has been given all kinds of an
swers. Certain facts are obvious to all.
There's a great deal more currency making
the rounds than in any other era in our
history, and a great deal more of it finds
its way into the average pay envelope and
salary check. At the same time, the buying
power of each dollar has, roughly speaking,
been cut in half. and taxes of all kinds, paced
: by Federal income levies, have gone up and
up. Such elements as savings and debts also
enter into the picture-as does the financial
position of people WHO are living on pen
SiOns, savings, investments, and other fixed
incomes.
The question has also played it's role in
the presidential campaign Democratic
spOkesmen have placed heavy emphasis on
the "YOu never had it so good" theme. Pros
peTity, they have said by inference, is in the
nature of a Democratic patent.
A very different view of our financial
situation was recently given by Herbert j.
Miller, executive director of the Tax FOun-
datiOn and former research director of the
Hoover commission. NeWSWeek reported his
findings under the apt title, Never had it
so bad" Mr.. Miller's statistics and interpre-
tatiOns show that the buying power of prac-
tically all individuals and families is shrink
ing, and in many cases very materially 50
that in other words, there are some very
large and menacing flies in tOday's brand Of
prosperity
Mr.. Miller finds, for example, that gov
eminent figures covering per capita incomes
fail to take into consideration the enormous
increases in taXes-and it is obvious that
the money we must pay in taxes can't be
spent for anything else. He also finds that
the net worth Of the average American fam
lily "a figure which is arrived at by adding
up the assets and then subtracting the debts)
has dropped 1875 per cent since 1889. And,
in terms of 1889 dollars, individuals are 81
per cent deeper in debt now than then.
Mr.. Millers most interesting comparisons
show how much our incomes must have in
creased since 1899 if we are tc have main
tanned or improved our purchasing power.
This yardstick is based on a married couple
with two children, and takes into account
the tax burden and the rise in the price
level. If you earned So, 900 in 1889, you must
earn $4,000 this year to keep even and almost
$4,000 if you are to increase your purchasing
power If you earned $4,000 then, you must
now earn S11,641 and $13,664 respectively.
If your 1899 take was $15,O0O tOday's equiv
alent is S44,384, and $56,291 is needed to
show purchasing power gain. And when very
high income levels are reached, the difference
becomes amazingly large. For instance, the
family with a 1889 income of 100000 now
has to earn better than $1,000,00O to hold
its own, and almost $1,252,000 to produce
an improvement. In the upper brackets, of
course, the main reason for this is taxes, as
it is to lesser extent in lower brackets.
Mr.. Miller makes many other cOmpari-
sons and poses. many questiOns-all OF which
are related to the big, overriding question of
whether we are as honestly prosperous as
many people think we are-due to the fatte1
pay envelOpes-and many politicians tell us
we are. He asks, for instance "May not
'better-Offness' based on imitation be a delu-
siOn?" 1t is apparent that he believes the
answer to be an unqualified Yes!
5000
THE "BIG GOVERNMENT" CONCEPT
A great deal of interest and approval has
followed the suggestion made by Charles E
Wilson, former Defense MObilizer, that tax
exempt government-OWned power projects
be sold to private industry, and that individ
uals be allowed to buy stock in them-rea
public ownership.
At present, Mr. Wilson pointed out, these
facilities "are operating under the big gov
eminent concept, which has never in history
proved itself an intelligent and efficient opera
tor of any business" Private ownership anC
operation of the enterprises, he added, wOulC
decrease the national debt by $4,000, 100000
save $500,000,000 a year in interest pay,
ments, and bring in new taxes of $1,000,000y
600 annually.
Quite naturally, the socialists in and ou
Of government have jumped on Mr. Wilson's
idea with both feet. The old arguments tina
only the government is capable of meeting