Hearings Before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United
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THE 1967 ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT HEARINGS BEFORE) THE JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES NINETIETH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 20, 21, AND 23, 1967 P A R T 4 Printed for the use of the Joint Economic Committee U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75-314 WASHINGTON : 1967 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office W ashington, D .C . 20402 - P rice 70 cents Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE [Created pursuant to sec. 5(a) of Public Law 304, 79th Cong.]' WILLIAM PROXMIRE, Wisconsin, Chairman WEIGHT PATMAN, Texas, Vice Chairman SENATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JOHN SPARKMAN, Alabama RICHARD BOLLING, Missouri J. W. FULBRIGHT, Arkansas HALE BOGGS, Louisiana HERMAN E. TALMADGE, Georgia HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin STUART SYMINGTON, Missouri MARTHA W. GRIFFITHS, Michigan ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Connecticut WILLIAM S. MOORHEAD, Pennsylvania JACOB K. JAVITS, New York THOMAS B. CURTIS, Missouri JACK MILLER, Iowa WILLIAM B. WIDNALL, New Jersey LEN B. JORDAN, Idaho DONALD RUMSFELD, Illinois CHARLES H. PERCY, Illinois W. E. BROCK 3 d , Tennessee J o h n R . S t a r k , Executive Director J a m e s W . K n o w l e s , Director of Research E c o n o m i s t s W i l l i a m H . M o o r e (Bb o r g b R . I d e n J o h n B . H e n d e r s o n D a n i e l J . E d w a r d s D o n a l d A. W e b s t e r (Minority) II Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CONTENTS STATEMENTS February 20, 1967 Reuther, Walter P., president, Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO, and United Automobile Workers (UAW), accompanied by Nat Wein berg, director of special projects department, United, Automobile Workers____________ ________________________________________________ 717 Hagedorn* George G., vicc president and ohief economist, National Asso ciation of Manufacturers (NAM)___________________________________ 792 Roosa, Robert V., general partner, Brown Bros., Harriman & Co--------- 830 Kindleberger, Charles P., Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology______________________________________________ 833 February 21f 1967 Wallich, Henry C., Department of Economics, Yale University________ 875 Colm, Gerhard, chief economist, National Planning Association________ 883 Lekachman, Robert, professor of economics, State University of New York at Stony Brook________________________________________________ 895 February 23, 1967 Auerbach, Carl A., professor of law, University of Minnesota__________ 928 Backman, Jules, professor of economics, New York University__________ 957 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND SUBMISSIONS Reuther, Walter P.: Article from Wall Street Journal, February 7, 1967, re gasoline price rise_____________________________________________________________ 722 Article from Wall Street Journal, February 8, 1967, re asphalt price raise____________________________________________________________ 723 Data comparing changes in income, requested by Representative Widnall_________________________________________________________ 730 Information relating to UAW profit sharing plan, requested by Repre sentative Reuss_________________________________________________ 732 Outline of provisions of bill to require hearings on administered price increases in order to make private economic decisions more re sponsive to public need, requested by Senator Miller____________ 738 Excerpt from “Technology and the American Economy,” report of the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Eco nomic Progress, February 1966, requested by Representative Rumsfeld________________ ______________________________________ 743 Excerpt from BLS publication “Labor Development Abroad,” requested by Representative Rumsfeld___________________________ 745 Questions and answers: Senator Miller to Mr. Reuther________________________________ 752 Senator Proxmire to Mr. Reuther______________________________ 753 Representative Widnall to Mr. Reuther________________________ 755 Prepared statement________________________________________________ 756 in Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND SUBMISSIONS— Continued Jteuther, Walter P.— Continued Charts: Page Unit labor costs in manufacturing since 1948___________________ 721 Employee compensation lagged far behind nonlabor income_____ 724 U.S. unemployment still high compared with other countries____ 729 General Motors hourly rated worker and General Motors stock holder_______________________________________________________ 734 Ford hourly rated worker and Ford stockholder________________ 735 Hagedorn, George C.: Prepared statement________________________________________________ 792 Study: Report on the Federal budget for 1968______________________ 808 Roosa, Robert V .: Prepared statement________________________________________________ 832 Comment on Aschinger article submitted by Senator Symington____ 862 Responses to questions by Representative Brock____________________ 870 Symington, Senator Stuart: Article: The Building of an International Money Machine, by F. E. Aschinger________________________________________________________ 859 Kindleberger, Charles P.: Comment on Aschinger article submitted by Senator Symington.___ 863 Responses to questions by Representative Brock____________________ 870 Colm, Gerhard: Prepared statement________________________________________________ 887 Letter responding, to question by Senator Javits____________________ 913 LeKachman, Robert: Prepare statement__________________________________________________ 898 Wallich, Henry C.: Response to Senator Javits' question on tax rate change discretionary power___________________________________________________________ 912 Auerbach, Carl A.: Prepared statement________________________________________________ 933 Backman, Jules: Prepared statement________________________________________________ 966 Percy, Senator Charles H.: Statement by Dr. Paul W. McCracken, excerpted from Joint Economic Committee hearings, February 23, 1966---------------------------------------- 948 Proxmire, Senator William: Letter from Seymour Harris, chairman of the Department of Eco nomics of the University of California at San Diego----------------------- 1002 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis THE 1967 ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1967 C o n gress of t h e U n it e d S t a t e s , J o in t E c o n o m ic C o m m it t e e , Washington, D.6. The joint committee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 1202, New Senate Office Building, Hon. William Proxmire (chairman of the joint committee) presiding. Present: Senators Proxmire, Symington, Jordan, Miller, and Percy; and Representatives Reuss, Moorhead, Rumsfeld, and Brock. Also present: John R. Stark, executive director; James W. Knowles, director of research; and Donald A. Webster, minority economist. Chairman P r o x m ir e . The committee will come to order. A t this time of the year the committee faces an extremely difficult problem. For the period of about a month we have had to examine the entire range of economic issues. W e have had many witnesses, and the next very brief period we have nine witnesses before us, so I am going to ask members of the committee this morning to limit their questioning to 5 minutes. We can take whatever turns time permits. I am going to ask our witnesses to limit their statements to 20 min utes. We hope we can cover more ground by doing this. Our witness this morning is a very distinguished, eloquent, able spokesman for the labor movement. W e are very proud and happy to have Mr. Walter Reuther appear before us. Mr. Reuther has a detailed statement, and without objection that statement will be printed in the record as if read. Mr. Reuther, go right ahead. TESTIMONY OF WALTER P. REUTHER, PRESIDENT OF THE INDUS TRIAL UNION DEPARTMENT, AFL-CIO, AND OF THE UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS (UAW); ACCOMPANIED BY NAT WEIN BERG, DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS DEPARTMENT, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS Mr. R e u t h e r . Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You have been more than generous. Members of the committee, I want first to express my very sincere appreciation for the opportunity of appearing before your committee and being given the chance to discuss the general state of the American economy. I appear this morning in a dual capacity, first as the president of the United Automobile Workers Union, representing roughly one and a half million members, and also as president of the Industrial Union 717 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 718 THE 1967 ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT .^Department of the A FL-C IO , representing roughly 7 million mem bers. With respect to broad economic policy questions I will be speaking for both organizations, but with respect to more specific collective bargaining questions I will be speaking only for the UAW. As one American I share the view that the American economy is freedom’s greatest material asset. I believe that how effectively we mobilize its economic potential, how responsibly and rationally we allocate resources to meet our private and public needs, and how equi tably we share the increasing abundance that the tools of science and technology give us, are the keys to the improvement of the quality of our society at home and will determine our success in meeting our responsibilities whenever freedom is challenged