Program Still Needed to Combat Inflation: Hobart Rowen Economic Impact Anti-Inflatioin Plan
MANAGEMENT OF INFLATION is likely to prove the most difficult of all problems for President Carter to solve in the next year or two. ThatÛªs the considered view at the Brookings Institution, as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.</br></br>1 wrote in this column a few weeks ago of a proposal by Gar Alperovitz, of the Washington-based Exploratory Project for Economic Alternatives, to tackle inflation by concentrating on four areas that hit hardest at most consumersÛÓfood, energy, health and housing.</br></br>For example, the inflation in housing prices "is little short of tragic for young persons. The median price of a home today is about $45,000, and is likely to double to $00,000 by 1905.</br></br>My mail and phone calls indicate that no domestic problem is of more concern to citizens than inflation. I find a great interest in new approaches, although many are convinced that one simple solution to inflation is to reduce government spending drastically.</br></br>Alperovitz and associate Jeff Faux have now published a paper by Leslie Nulty offering an analysis of the causes of the "new" inflation. She makes these points: Û¢	About 80 per cent of American house-holds spend 70 per cent of their budgets on food, energy, health and housingÛÓand no price relief is on the horizon.