Taking a somewhat broader view of economic history, the historical limitations of the free market economy become visible. It lived and served brilliantly for a few generations. But it could emerge in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries only because it had been planned for; that is, private activities were guided and developed by public initiative until they reached a state of relative economic equilibrium in a relatively stable political and social structure and could then go on without such leadership under the anonymous guidance of the cost-price structure. At that time, the public authorities, which had made the emancipation of business possible, frequently resisted it. It had not been their conscious aim. Now the position seems to be reversed.
Clearly, whether communism or any other form of association shall prevail or not, is mainly a matter for the will to believe of the individuals whose individualities compose the ultimate data of human life. Their living faith that this or that "ism" will bring them each more abundant life, liberty, and happiness, their readiness to bet their lives and possessions on this faith, are the only force which the ism has. But such a faith is of individuals for individuals, a weapon in their struggle to realize their individualities. And this, no matter what name you give it, makes of its totalitarianism a concealed individualism.
Rent controls have been advocated and enacted as a partial, negative, and temporary stopgap for the misery of housing shortages and rent inflation. The avowed purpose has been to curb the advance of rents until housing supply is more in line with demand. Sharp criticisms, however, have been raised on the grounds that the policy is misguided, and that the results are in many ways detrimental to the interests of the middle and low income groups. Several prominent writers have specifically declared that rent controls accelerate the shift of houses from tenancy to ownership status, discourage the production of housing, and result in an inefficient use of housing resources and an uneconomical use of space.
A European customs union that would sweep away all barriers is an inspiring ideal, but it is not practical politics. Confusing fancy names for regional unions have been constructed--Benelux, Fritalux, Finebel, Scandibel--but only Benelux has made some slow progress. France and Italy soon reached an impasse. England took no part in these discussions because her agreement with the members of the Commonwealth make it impossible to become a member of a European customs union. The European governments know that a customs union can be established only if they form a political unit, which they are neither willing nor able to create. Their real attitude toward economic union manifested itself when they avoided discussion of a European free trade area, offered to them as an alternative in the Marshall plan.
From the moment the Labor government achieved both office and power in 1945, every instrument of propaganda has been used to influence public opinion against it, with a persistence that has caused many of its supporters to doubt their wisdom. Unfortunately, the vast amount of political propaganda and criticism designed for home consumption is transmitted to other countries by press and radio and is there wrongly interpreted, except by students of foreign politics. It is easy to present a dreary picture of the loss of freedom in England simply by cataloging the changes that have occurred without and reference to the underlying influences that have brought them about. To draw attention to some of these influences, and not to discourse on party politics, is the purpose of this article.
The object of this study is to consider some of the results of government support of industry in the United States, not only for the industry supported but for the economy as a whole. Such support, in the sense in which it will be defined in this paper, has been given only rarely in the history of this country, but where it has existed the results have varied widely. In one instance, the government supported to maturity a key infant industry which in time became a vital force in the development of certain major industries. In another case, government support unwittingly furthered the decline of a large segment of our economy, while being impotent to bring prosperity to the very industry supported. In still another case, government help has been in the nature of 'spot' aid, calculated primarily not to further the welfare of any particular industry, but rather to plug holes that might open the way to serious damage to the economy as a whole..."
Every contemporary student of problems of language from the philosophical, psychological, or even linguistic angle has in one way or another become familiar with Professor Kurt Goldstein’s life work relating to the study of defective language observed in connection with lesions of the brain cortex. The following pages are inspired by Professor Goldstein’s recent book, in which he offers a comprehensive summary of his manifold outstanding contributions to this field.
Review of book by Harvey S. Perloff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1949. 435 pp.
Review of book by Albert Lepawsky. Report No. 4 of the National Planning Association Committee of the South. Kingsport, Tenn.: National Planning Association. 1949. 193 pp.