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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1962)
8 A THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27. 1962 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON Your Money's WUIUI By SYLVIA PORTER Copyright, Hit Syndicate, Inc. PERIOD OF FRUSTRATING TRANSITION The United States economy i moving through period of transition, dominated by fierce competition, remarkable price stability and slack growth. We moved out of the great boom of post-world Was II hack in the 1950s. Long since filled have been the enormous demands for all sorts of goods pent up during World War II which gave U. S. businessmen the best times and profits of their Uvea, made inflationary price and wage hikes a cinch tinted our entire economy with a feverish glow. We are not yet into the great boom to be created when the post-World War II babies get married. Still ahead is the tremendous up-surge in marriages and formations of new households which will restimulate massive family buying of every type of product durable or non-durable, big-ticket or inexpensive - and every type of service too, and which will once more give our economy an exciting flush. "We are," as C. Canby Balderston, vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, put it the other day in the difficult years between the restocking boom follow ing the war and the maturing of the bumper post-war baby crop. "The experience of the early '80s," as Albert T. Sommcrs, director of economic research at the National Industrial Con. ference Board, put it earlier, "can be described as a gradual but major postwar readjustment, as we would expect such an adjustment to look under conditions of big government' and Sommcrs emphasized that the causes of the "ferociously competitive conditions we see all around us are deeply roolcd. This "transition" cycle explains why we have bun shift ing lines lht mid-1930s from recession into disappointingly, slow recovery, again into recession and than into disap pointingly slow recovery - and why in this fall of 1962 lht lhraat of another recession is very real. This is why our unemployment rate remains persistently high, why we are iailing to use our plant capacity as fully as we should, why there is a squeese on profits, why wage boosts have slowed, why prices are so steady. Of course, over all our economy is running at record highs; if we weren't setting new records In comparison with 11)61, we'd be in a downturn which no one could deny. But despite the peaks, the economy is flashing plain signals of recurring tiredness, continuing transition. Why? Four major reasons why are (1) children; (2) com petition; (3) prices; (4) taxes. To be specific: An increasing chunk of the average family's dollar Is going to services used by families with young children -medical and personal care, education, household operation and repairs, etc. At the same time, prices of these services continue their relentless climb. A smaller percentage is going into the products which provide the largest total of Jobs and paychecks, a larger percentage Into services which cushion the economy but don't spur it particularly. This trend is still strong. Competition among U. S. Industries lor our dollars and between U. S. industries and foreign producers for the home and overseas markets never has been so rough. This compe tition is healthy, but it certainly makes it tougher to earn a profit. The days of easy profits and fat profit margins are gone - and every businessman is well aware of this. While industry's overhead costs, wages, salaries and state and local taxes have kept riling, the whole economic back ground is working against price increaie to cover theie higher coils. The prolit squeese is the xeiult and an era of slim profits hardly encourages builneiimtn to take the big riiks which add sing to an economy. Finally, the lax load which was obscured during the earlier post-war years of boom and inflation has become in creasingly burdensome in this new period. It Is painfully evineni now mat unuer present circumstances taxes are pull ing loo much cash out of our economy and thereby stiff ling recoveries, paving ine way lor recessions. Unless bold moves are made to spur spending by con sumers and by businessmen, the end of this transition period Is, as Sommcrs bluntly warns, "not ycl clearly in sight." Ashland Band Gets East-West Invitation Ashland An official Invi tation to the East-West Shrine game has been received by the Ashland High school band, ac cording to band director, Baoul Maddox. The nationally prominent football event will take place in San Francisco at Kozar aladium, Dec. 29. The game and the accompanying pag eantry is one of the chief means for Shrincrs to raise money for several Crippled Children hospitals. The Ashland band has been asked to play for the time outs during the first and third quarters of the game. The band also would participate with the other bands In the pre-game entrance and the half-time pageant. This is the first time Ashland has re ceived such an invitation. The 73-mcmber band has voted to accept the invitation and to begin raising the funds necessary to finance the trip. t lie Band fines not use lax funds on such trips, Maddox nolrd. 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