The Meaning of Full Employment
WITHERS, WILLIAM
The Meaning of Full Employment The American Public and Congress Have Refused to Face the Facts By William Withers elder Morgan discovered, toward the and of ' his life. a basic law of American...
...Above all, let u* not mak* legislation out of our wishful thinking...
...Th* trouble with this kind of reaaoning is that half a hone is likely to be a dead horse...
...The Murray bill is a »Up in the right direction, but both it anul the Beveridge report have an inherent dan-gar which ia being ignored...
...7) maintains postwar price controls when inflstioa threatens...
...The Beveridge ptaa which Mr William aaya i* not ¦ plan bat * policy, I* Chiefy valuable for the questions it raise*, the concepts It presents, and the warnings it issue...
...these savings must be offset by an ttarreas* in private or public investments...
...3> esta-lishe* a n*tk>nai planning board represent!m all major economic interests to do the planning...
...K) reduces monopoly and monopolistic price-fixing wherever possible, and (9) encourages labor unions and wag* rate increases wherever possible...
...te submit te Cengr*** aaaUally has r*comm*ndatJ*M for both private and public apending The ex*c*trr* •He** ««sist him in svepartnr the hejdget by ·*-taintag the advice of the federal departments The "national budget theory" of u*a*iupl*ymerit as- -sumes that unemployment arises from th* restriction* upon purchasing power caused by uninvested savings...
...It can only be achieved if the Federal Government (1) standi ready to guarantee adequate purchasing power...
...the Murray bill' providss none...
...Lenin sent a letter which ' instated that th* party, although ? should not make an immediate revelation, should aevertheleaa prepare fee j it...
...We muat face facte about full employment...
...51 establishes a postwar investment bank te coordinat* private and public investment in line with the budget' and to provide supplementary investment funds for both public and private industry...
...A huge and speedy educational program is an immediate and urgent need...
...Total national spending both perbMc aad private a* ust balance total k*r*m* te prevent the aelctoncy si pmchering power which lead* te *n*mp**ym*nt ?· establish a Mthmal - banget the Murray bill retmlrea the Preside...
...These proposals, even if accepted, would not be sufficiently effective to provide full employment Sir William, however, ia too wise to recommend that his report be msde into a bill...
...In other words, full employment require* vigorous economic* planning which will go much further than w*r planning and infinitely further than the so-called planning of ? RA days...
...The majority of American liberal* who accept this type of solution for unemployment do not realise the economic illiteracy of the general public...
...eavi*r and ipmlfng it---iT liTT~" W« emmet depart free* ta***« fresd**** ton far without aueruabiac t* totalitarismam...
...Let us look ahead and chart our course carefully with due attention to American conditions...
...They assume that half a hora* is better than no horse at all...
...ft) provide* comprehensive economic planning...
...How many who pledge themselves to fall employment really define it in thia way ? How many who prefer the expression high employment are really thinking in the** terma...
...The Beveridge report, if written into a bill, would have almost the same degree of weakness...
...Moreover, our reformers go to the people with the argument* of their British cousins...
...Evident throughout his writing is the realization that education must precede enactment...
...Bat in rataM.sk...
...Beveridge'* definition means that not more than three percent of the working force should ever be unemployed...
...We might ae witl face thit fact sooner rather than loin ' Moreover, a* Beveridge '*t*t«* clearly, w* cannot •fehl the iaaoe of economic control...
...Thereupon Stalin and BroWeW boasted that the Naxis would not larU • year...
...Liberals unfortunately are taken in by the desire to compromise and make minor gain...
...1, 1932, that auch * united frosil would be "abandonment of the struggle) for Communism, that salvation of capital ism under the flag of saving the repuH lie .., The kwk of the Communist Partf of Germany remain* as before—to direra the chief blow againat social democracy...
...Such a guarantee is an essential, but it ia not an all-inclusive solution to the employment problem...
...In th* United State* after the war thia would mean the employment of at least 62,000,000 people at 1945 wage* and price...
...k similar plan prepared by Dr...
...Of course, wa are all for fnll or high employment, but *e also *r* th* Committee for Economic Development and the National Association of Manufacturers...
...There I* even freedom of enterprise, which happily Beveridge aubordinatrs t. these other freedom...
...recommend these...
...The resolution stated, in parti The split . . . was an absolute **-ceaaity and the Comintern would insist upon it egain in any similar situation...
...a basic law of American liberal polities ttrithh social Icgielmlion prmeeefee and pcnmpc* American aerial Icgielettien...
...The general public is not yet educated to understand it They are certeinly not ready to back a program baaed upon an economic theory which mystifies them...
...At th* aame time Congress will probably table Senator Murray's bill...
...Beveridge recommends a National Investment Board te control the investment of private and pubtli* capital and a Minister of National Development to plat and control the location of private and public industry...
...The irony of it is that Sir William will probably not receive as favorable attention in England a* he will here...
...It is not made into a f r*t ,.arntial as it kt in the Murray bill According to th* Murray bill, th* government i* required to work out two budgets, one to indicate what public and private agencie* ar* likely u. spend aad nneai during a year, the other to indicate what they, should spend and invest if full employment is to b* achieved If there is a deficit when the first budget is subtracted from the second, th* difference must bt made up in some way...
...Are we ready to accept H? Have we learned the bitter lesson of th* war...
...Eveline Burns for the National Resources Planning Board was" largely ignored...
...government must compensate constantly for the deficiencies of private iii**»tm*wt Not all economists are convinced that thus Keyne*-Hamen approach to unemployment ia sound...
...Unfortunately the Murray bill doe* none of this and the Beveridge plan doe* little of it The Champion of "Unity" ThOSE who fell for the spurious propaganda calling for unity of Socialists and Communists might be reminded that in December, 1922, the Fourth Congress of the Comintern adopted a resolution: approving the split in the Italian Socialist Party engineered by the Communists...
...A* Beveridge haa well said, you cannot legialate full employment To achieve it there must be extensive economic planning by the national government and whole-hearted support by both business and labor...
...If th* way U full employment liae beymtd th* meinten**«« *| total demand and iavolvea iavesrimcet aad labor mahiltty centra), w. *k*U br« te provide thee* centre** or fail in our objective...
...Thus the Report on Social Inemrance and Allied Service» prepared by Sir William Beveridge, a comprehensive plan for postwar «ociai security, haa received wide publicity in this country...
...a » · Beveridge points out that unemployment aiises because of misdirected demand a* well as insufficient demand...
...hag etnnemlr control* under capitalism we run into ¦erfa*** danger...
...The American public listen* to British liberals...
...W* d* not regret the aplif . . ,J because th* y*nng, weak Communist party of Italy haa, nevertheless, saved the honor of the revolntienary class.* Communist honor untarnished, Mussolini seized power...
...Bevciidgi dares to...
...The concept of th* National Rud get Is the cere of the Beveridge plan a* ? is of th* Murray bill...
...labor...
...Labor mobility will be regulated through ? his mean*, not through carrying wartime measure* into peacetim* andenot by curtailing the power* of organize...
...A Rejecting the idea of a united front Of Sodai Democrats ia Germany again»»' the Naiis, th* Comintern declared oa Dec...
...It is becoming fashionable among conservative Americans to support liberalism in other countries...
...Seriali Democracy, had been defeated, to ciesti th*) path toward the Communist revolution...
...So he attacked Lloyd George a* the meet dangerous radical of that day...
...No definition is provided by the Murray bill...
...There la th* freedom of rolle, liv, e«rgrii**ag, th* freedom enehoaa* en*', job, th* fill a'*— (· manage oae's p*t*ansl kacem...
...I am *ure that we do not really want to make a dead horse out of the full employment issue, but the Murray bill unamended would do just that...
...Our relWmcc* hare teka* their cue from London and have' given Ha workmen'* compensation, unemployment insurance, labor exchange*, factory acts, and blue-sky lava, after they were enacted there...
...He believed that if he could hart liberalism in' England he could check it in America...
...The second report of Sir William, setting forth a policy for fuil employment, is more radical than the Murray bill, but it has been leas attacked by the American press...
...The Beveridge and Murray plana are plan* for full employment, Th* outatanding fact about full employment to date is that we refuse to face fact* about it...
...It meane that the other 97 percent must be employed at fair wages and at work which they want and are suited to do...
...Two month* later Hitler marched <·* power...
...Control of investment and th* mobility of labst, whether ft threatens our freedom or not, at least r*T quire mandates and instruments of control...
...The platform of the Liberal Party and of the minority in the labor committee of the National Planning Association take this position...
...which we express loyalty and devotion, not a concrete plan which can serve as the basis of realistic postwar policies...
...There ara important freedoms t* h* protected...
...The Social Security Board, the federal agency responsible for aoeial aecurity, greeted il *''th silence...
...Perhaps we do not far* facts about it because we are inclined to accept without thought the British proposals .concerning It Full employment is rapidly becoming a symbol like the American flag to...
...Long lie fore the Murray bill appeared liberal econo-' mist* were aware that full employment requires us to go further than having the government guarantee adequate total demand...
...that the main enemy...
...The Keynes Hansen approach is not enough...
...Labor and business era not yet really willing to accept it* proposals...
...The concept of full employment also is scarcely understood...
...Th* direction of investment and the mobility of labor affect employment seriously...
...The idea is far from the fact...
...Much that b llberal-iam in ouf country haa been built upon British models, often without adequate attention to peculiar American needs...
...A vaguely defined goal which i$ not taken eerieuely can hardly be achieved...
...establishes a nation*] development program for a period of yeers which will take into account the mobility of labor, price rig* iditiea, and the effects of monopoly upon- employment...
...Nothing ihort of comprehensive economic planning fan guarantee full 'employment...
...If w* have not learned this lesson we may take refuge in the idea rather than the fact of full employment · · · It la well known among conservative* that the beat way to defeat reform i* to pass ineffectual reform laws...
...The conservative Morgan" understood this, but as a practical man he waa not content fu*t to expound theories...
...Now that the British have again gone ahead of ua and pointed out more accurately than we the direction that muat ?»· taken to achieve full employment, we ¦hould not go in that direction blindly...
...He might hav* cited price rigidities, monopoly and many other factors which serve to limit full employment The Murray bill does conaider monopoly, but exaggerates the role of total demand...
...However, the government is not authorised to provide public Investmente to make up the difference until every conceivable effort has baa* made to get private industry to invest The maintenance of free enterprise te thus a prime essential of the Murray bill...
...American economic thought can be vigorous rather than Imitative...
...Morgan may h*v« been right...
...centralis** the fiscal .planning of th* Federal Government needed to achieve the national full employment budget...
...Th* war reveals that since we can employ all people for one purpose—killing—we can surely employ all people for another purpose—keeping them alive and happy...
Vol. 28 • April 1945 • No. 15
