Basic Factors Point to More Inflation
InflationÛÓthatÛªs the new mood. The steel strike, the drought, and Government pronouncements are conspiring to produce it.</br></br>Iron Age magazine says the scramble for steel will be like a three-ring circus, with everyone trying to get into the act. Not only that, but the 21-cent-an-hour wage package is an inspiration, a target, for the labor unions, such as the electrical workers and the coal miners.</br></br>Finally, Price Administrator Ellis Arnall has suggested to President Truman that a special session of Congress be called to halt inflationary price advances. Neither his control powers nor his budget are sufficient to stem the incoming tide. Thus, Arnall puts householders on notice that higher prices are on the way..	I</br></br>All the fundamentalsÛÓthe basic business factorsÛÓpoint to | inflation. Standard & PoorÛªs Corp. expects a ÛÏnew boom through | early 1953.Û Fortune magazine feels that the steel strike has i created shortages which ÛÏthreaten substantial advances in heavy-' goods prices.Û	|</br></br>Of far greater significance, the Federal Reserve Board is i sitting tight on bank credit. You can judge that from the : Government bond market. ItÛªs so weak that the Treasury I has. just had to offer one-year paper at a 2 percent rate. Two ! years ago, one-year paper was quoted around 1 1/4 percent. j