Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
This objective cannot be attained by government alone. Indeed, the greater
part of the task must be performed by individual efforts under our system
of free enterprise. We can keep our present prosperity, and increase it,
only if free enterprise and free government work together to that end.
We cannot afford to float along ceaselessly on a postwar boom until it
collapses. It is not enough merely to prepare to weather a recession if it
comes. Instead, government and business must work together constantly to
achieve more and more jobs and more and more production--which mean more
and more prosperity for all the people.
The business cycle is man-made; and men of good will, working together, can
smooth it out.
So far as business is concerned, it should plan for steady, vigorous
expansion--seeking always to increase its output, lower its prices, and
avoid the vices of monopoly and restriction. So long as business does this,
it will be contributing to continued prosperity, and it will have the help
and encouragement of the Government.
The Employment Act of 1946 pledges the Government to use all its resources
to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. This means
that the Government is firmly committed to protect business and the people
against the dangers of recession and against the evils of inflation. This
means that the Government must adapt its plans and policies to meet
changing circumstances.
At the present time, our prosperity is threatened by inflationary pressures
at a number of critical points in our economy. And the Government must be
in a position to take effective action at these danger spots. To that end,
I recommend that the Congress enact legislation for the following
purposes:
First, to continue the power to control consumer credit and enlarge the
power to control bank credit.
Second, to grant authority to regulate speculation on the commodity
exchanges.
Third, to continue export control authority and to provide adequate
machinery for its enforcement.
Fourth, to continue the priorities and allocation authority in the field of
transportation.
Fifth, to authorize priorities and allocations for key materials in short
supply.
Sixth, to extend and strengthen rent control.
Seventh, to provide standby authority to impose price ceilings for scarce
commodities which basically affect essential industrial production or the
cost of living, and to limit unjustified wage adjustments which would force
a break in an established price ceiling.
Eighth, to authorize an immediate study of the adequacy of production
facilities for materials in critically short supply, such as steel; and, if
found necessary, to authorize Government loans for the expansion of
production facilities to relieve such shortages, and to authorize the
construction of such facilities directly, if action by private industry
fails to meet our needs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account