Washington-U. S. A.:

...advances in public welfare...

...The Administration's economic judgment, however, is more open to scrutiny...

...Anderson boldly forecast "resurgence and resumption of growth during the year...

...The American economy is in good shape...

...economic expansion halted in 1957, while the Soviet economy, according to Moscow figures, grew 10 per cent...

...and price inflation...

...In general, the mood of Congress is one of acute concern...

...Brundage confidently said he "anticipated a substantial recovery before summer" from the continued sag in employment...

...These judgments are found in the President's massive budget message, Secretary of the Treasury Robert B. Anderson's press conference, White House news secretary Jim Hagerty's remarks on the Gaither Report, and statements by Vice President Richard Nixon and House Minority Leader Joe Martin...

...This worry has silenced many Congressional critics of Administration economic policy, lest they be accused of destroying confidence at a critical moment...

...Its medicine consists of loosening of credit restrictions by the Federal Reserve, lowering stock margin requirements, adding $2 billion to the budget, and creating an atmosphere of confidence...

...The Washington press corps has no absolute way to evaluate the Administration's military judgment...

...Such loyal Republican Senators as Edward Thye of Minnesota, Karl Mundt of South Dakota, Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin and Irving Ives of New York pace the halls with worried looks and say Benson must go...

...A moderate step-up in missile research, and some reshuffling of Pentagon bureaucracy, will suffice...

...A balance between the Federal Government's income and spending is more important to national security than enriching the public school system...

...He said: "A more realistic account of the duration of the slump is the painful and long-drawn-out process of downward revision of over-capitalized properties and other adjustments necessary to correct the excesses of the speculative real estate boom...

...basic research in a variety of scientific fields including weather control and space...

...the great growth in installment credit (which did not exist in the Twenties) ; the bunching of expenditures for capital goods, cars, commercial building and plant expansion...

...public housing...

...The chief difference between Capitol Hill and the White House at this time is that Congress is more willing to use the cross-bow and musket than the Administration...

...It has apparently rejected the idea of any massive public works program for school construction or river development...

...Like many others, they are somewhat puzzled by the way both deflation and inflation are occurring at the same time...

...One area where investigation continues to show a flaw in the economy is administered prices...

...But there is no evidence at this time that the Administration plans any action to invigorate small business, farm income or depressed areas...

...The Administration's thinking is that the economy has no dangerously weak spots, and that the current recession is largely psychological—a temporary loss in confidence by business and industry...

...This economist poses a question that troubles even the rarefied air in the stately old Treasury Department: "The crucial question with respect to the debt burden [of companies and individuals] is, of course, the impact on borrowers and lenders when a business downturn occurs and there is a sizable drop in employment and income...

...Neither Congress nor the stock market has responded with any enthusiasm to this prescription...

...As a case in point, Achinstein looked at the housing boom and slump, which he blamed in part on the upward soaring of housing prices...

...chairman of the Banking Committee, and Senator Paul Douglas (D.-Ill...

...Both are now keenly watching the economic picture, but saying little for the record...

...In a paper read before the American Economic Association on December 30, Achinstein foresaw a "turning point in the optimistic phase of the psychological climate that has accompanied two decades of more or less continuous business expansion...

...Thus far, the Committee's hearings have tended to show that prices have been raised without any considered thought of the effect on the overall economy...

...Leon Keyserling, former chairman of President Truman's Council of Economic Advisers, believes the U.S...

...Two such critics, Senator William Fulbright (D.-Ark...

...If, on the other hand, the recession is of long duration, more basic treatment will be prescribed...

...Several reasons for his pessimism are "reckless financing methods...

...The Budget Director's estimate of the time for the upswing is more optimistic than those heard elsewhere...

...economy should expand at an annual growth rate of 4 to 7 per cent...

...Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson's cut in dairy price supports has stirred what may be the greatest revolt since President Roosevelt's "court-packing" plan...

...and propping up sagging farm income...

...At the same time, Congressmen from manufacturing areas complain that the Federal budget is too small to really prime the industrial pump...

...It can only balance the Administration's professed confidence against the alarm of witnesses who have appeared before the Senate Preparedness Committee...

...At this point, Congress has no remedies...

...One economist highly regarded on Capitol Hill takes a much gloomier view than the Administration...

...First of all, it wants to find out what is really happening to the economy...

...Most economists here figure a low point in March, with factory rehirings beginning in the late summer...

...In fact, 1958 will be a year of growth and prosperity...

...He is a man usually rated as cautious in his judgments...

...Financial institutions, which are at the center of the prolonged struggle for capitalization—what with defaulted mortgages, the taking over of foreclosed properties—have no incentive to supply funds for new construction that is in direct competition with the large number of existing dwellings [new housing starts] have meanwhile been dropping to depression levels...

...It is based on the assumption that the problems we have to deal with are deep seated, and, with all our efforts, we have yet to learn how to deal adequately with them...

...If, for example, the recession is to be short-lived, a huge pump-priming operation would only stimulate higher prices...

...Secretary Anderson, to back up his cheering prediction, gave these factors: increased Government spending, shrinkage of business inventories, signs of "growing confidence,'' a readjustment of stock and bond yields, a spurt in housing, population growth, good department store sales in December as an omen of strong consumer spending, a boost in local government expenses, and the use of flexible Federal economic controls...

...Both Secretary Anderson and Budget Director Percival F. Brundage, a worshiper at the shrine of the balanced budget, are optimistic about 1958...

...Other investigations by this committee will take on heavy consumer goods, dairy products, bread, and farm machinery...

...He is Asher Achinstein, chief economist of the Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress...

...The question comes down to whom you believe, since basic facts have been withheld from public view...

...The Senate Anti-Trust Committee's report on steel prices is due any day now...

...That is, steel prices were raised to protect investors without really worrying too much about the effect on the cost of automobiles, appliances, canned food, etc...

...conserving natural resources and developing new sources of water...

...They are: The United States holds a comforting lead over the Soviet in destructive power, and no "crash" program to rebuild and reshape our defenses is needed...

...have been so attacked in the past...

...We are likely to experience a contraction that is steeper than either of the two that have occurred since World War II, or of longer duration, or both...

...U.S...

...An administered price, to oversimplify it, is a price on a basic commodity (steel, oil) which is arbitrarily set by a powerful economic combine, consisting of the handful of dominant corporations in the field...

...Its investigation of automobile prices will comence at the end of the month...

...In marked contrast to the ferment of economic reform in Congress during the Twenties and early Thirties, the 85th Congress is treading cautiously and will look to conventional weapons to fight the strange combination of unemployment and inflation...