Rising prices

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32430, 17 October 1970, Page 16

Rising prices

Sir, —In criticising my letter on rising prices “She’s Right” is all wrong. The statement that Labour was “bundled out” (not a neutral expression, by the way) after only three years of office is only true up to a point. And that point is to the effect that Labour took over after years of National misrule and drastic action had to be taken. In any case, the present National Government has put up the price of cigarettes and beer more than once in its present years of office, and petrol will soon go up again. Methinks this satisfied pensioner is not as neutral as he makes out. If he is, he must be the odd man out.— Yours, etc., ARTHUR L. WALKER. October 16, 1970.

Sir, —That capitalism which keeps prices down by free competition seems to be dead. Competition remains, but only internationally, between great economic empires and complex interestgroupings in the military, government, and industry. Our Government takes the line of least resistance to world trends. The wastage of war in South-East Asia, for instance, means higher profits for some, and higher prices for the many. Every tin of canned fruit denies an armaments industry hungry for metal. Foreign money pouring in has inflated workexpectations and spending power with little relation to long-term needs and rational planning. Surely, if the Swedes can see beyond sectional interests to the logic of their precarious national situation in an economically back-stabbing world, so can we. Strong, centralised bargaining on a properly researched, factual basis can curb nationally suicidal inflation.—Yours, etc.,

B. P. LILBURN. October 16, 1970.