We have to be very careful that if we fail to address ourselves to
these fundamental considerations at the micro-policy level, we do
not fall into the trap of concluding that the only thing that can save
us is controls. American agriculture is well acquainted with con-
trols and the distorted effects of those controls. We cannot half-
control an economy or quarter-control an economy. We have to
totally control the economy. That has not worked in the Soviet
Union. In an economy as complex and as free as ours with the
competing wants we permit among Americans, it is impossible to
construct a set of controls that could more equitably and intelli-
gently allocate resources and distribute income than a well-ordered
marketplace.
In the final analysis, whatever costs may be involved in under-
taking this critical micro-economic policy examination and efforts,
in the long run that cost is much smaller than the cost of permitting
the economy to keep lurching along with built-in and increasing
inflationary biases. This is not the way to provide a measure of
security whether for consumers or wage earners or businesses. It
does not provide a planning horizon that makes any sense at all.
Inflation is a worldwide disease. It is only going to be countered
by worldwide international economic and financial cooperation. In
a world in which we become increasingly aware of the finiteness of
our resources, increasing attention will have to be paid to equating
those demands which can be reasonably satisfied over a long
period of time with the resources to satisfy those demands. The
unlimited economic growth horizon that the world has been pursu-
ing for a long time is fading into oblivion. As a consequence of
increasing raw goods scarcity, the economic costs of growth,
which have clearly been demonstrated thus far to be very high, are
going to be even higher in the future. The world is going to have to
sit down and say, how on earth are we going to grow, and grow in
such a way, that there is something left for posterity both in terms
of real resources and in terms of a quality of life that future genera-
tions can enjoy.
Limited resources raise the question of the developed world’s
responsibility toward the underdeveloped world in terms of re-
source sharing and resource distribution. Also, when the realities
of limited and costly economic growth become apparent, the mat-
ter of income redistribution, which has so long been ignored in this
country, is going to have to be examined in a very serious way.
12