( 230 ) 



Heat in a Frozen Economy 



Under a regimented economy, the government fixes prices, 

 freezes profits, and controls wages. In effect, this rations in- 

 come. 



Income was formerly rationed by the price system, and 

 men were rewarded in proportion to their contribution. This 

 measure of equity placed responsibility for each one's eco- 

 nomic position upon himself; if income was low, it usually 

 was not necessary to look far to find the cause. 



When the government assumed the task of rationing in- 

 come, it took upon itself the burden of establishing and 

 maintaining equity. Two difficulties arose : first, the govern- 

 ment could not ration income as equitably as could the price 

 system ; and second, responsibility was shifted from the indi- 

 vidual to the government, so that one who was at a disad- 

 vantage could blame the government rather than look to his 

 own shortcomings. 



Consequently the government was blamed for two sets of 

 shortcomings, its own, of which there were enough, and those 

 of the civilians who formerly accepted the economic fate 

 dealt out by themselves and the price system. The result is 

 an orgy of pressure politics and appeasement. Laborers strike 

 or threaten to strike and are granted hidden increases in 

 wages. Farmers are appeased with support prices. Industry 

 and distributors are given hidden subsidies. The increases 

 are not equitable within the groups or among the groups, 

 and man is arrayed against man, and class against class. 



According to a labor magazine, 1 Prentiss Brown was a 

 "coddler of big business." Farmers thought that Mr. Brown 

 was a "coddler of labor." The authors do not think that 

 Brown was a coddler of either big business or labor ; it is their 



1 Shishkin, B.: "Inflation Crisis," American Federationist, Volume 50, 

 Number 4 (April 1943), page 3. 



