1959 BUSINESS ANALYSIS ’
Most Americans fared well in the first
half of 1959—despite all the threats to
their peace and prosperity at home and a
brcad.
They have mere money than six months
ago, are spending more, going into •' debt
more, working longer hmurs at a record
number of jobs.
At midyear the cost of living is ris
ing at only a moderate,if insidious,rate.
Total personal incomes ,have risen ste
adily and now are at a record high. They
are being boosted along by higher wage
scales, overtime pay, bigger dividend
checks, and higher returns on services
rendered.
■ Job opportunities have increased more
than seasonally. And the stubborn total
• cfv.unemployment began to melt as Spring
g brought mere outdoor work.Industrial out
put nas climbed to new peaks.
Money'supplies have tightened and in
terest rates are rising. But only recent
. ly. has, the. individual began to feel any
pineh. Up* till now the chief complainers
^av.e been the Federal, State and local
governments seeking to raise cash and
’• ’ corporations who are charged more when
they borrow.
So far Americans have been able to find
enough mortgage financing to start an in
creasing number of homes.
The citizensy is taking on a record
amount of installment debt. It has added
to its mortgage obligations and personal
loans, but still has managed to save al
most as much money as a year ago.
For the first time in several yearsno
totorists have greeted spring with a bur
st of auto buying—much of-it on the cuff
and attracted by the bull market with its
promise of capital gains, more Americans
than ever have become shareholders—eith
er as investors for the long run or as
traders for the quick profit.
There have been alarms. But most cit
izens have taken them quietly. These in
cluded the Berlin crisis which could have
but didn't upset everything. The threat
of a steel strike—still unresolved at
midyear and the hullabaloo about the ap
proach of another round of inflation,
which may cr may net materialize*
' There is talk—disturbing to many—
about the weakening of the dollar, or
the flight from it, based on . $ .slow
but steady loss of gold reserves,which
is linked with the drop in our-/ ex
ports*
But one worry-at the start of the
year has proved real enough at midyear
taxes. The .Federal bite has changed
little. But states and cities sought,
and found, new taxes, or.,hiked old
rates, or raisqd;.assessments.
Earlier hopes for some tax relief
have faded, with the U*S* treasury ru
nning a deficit as it closed its fis
cal year July 1, .and with other gover- A
nment authorities looking forall kinds "
of ways to finance growth and supply
services to their citizens.
The biggest thing of all in the
first half of 1959 has been the up
surge in public confidence* Recession
born cageyness melted with the snow '
drifts. Reassured by the speed of the
recovery, Americans are buying goods
and mortnaoe future incomes at a great
rate, ana in gaa rax living ltd up,
(i art 1 of a two part series.)
congressional"
DEVELOPMENTS
FARM-—The house passed a compromise ^
bill providing $3,971,362,000 for the
farm price support program and other
agriculture department activities. It
contained an amendment putting the
first ceiling in history on support
benefits. The limit would be $50,000,
but this Would apply only to single
crops declared by the agriculture de
partment to be in surplus. The senate
has yet to act on the bill.
MnTIOItaL DEBT—The government wound up
the 1959 fiscal year with the biggest
peacetime budget deficit in history.
It totaled nearly 13 billion dollars
and put Uncle Sam about 2B5 billion _
dollars in debt,
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