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Are You Prepared
for
' 'BEwARE
of 19. 85!" warns
Boardroom Reports
magazine. Why?
More and more the world
economy demands careful atten–
tion.
High interest rates, crushing
Third World debt, high unemploy–
ment levels, slumping core indus–
tries such as automotive and steel, a
U.S. debt topping $1,000 billion,
the chronic farm crisis aggravated
by the ups and downs of the Cold
War thermometer. These are some
of the economic realities.
Then come the realities of wide–
spread drought- in Africa and
elsewhere,- killing frosts, floods,
insect infestations and government
support programs that disrupt the
market place.
On the personal leve! citizens
face mortgage rate headaches, seri–
ous personal debts and the specter
of bankruptcy. Wives find work
more easily than husbands. These
and other harbingers sap the opti–
mism of millions in the Western
world.
What is happening?
ls there a way out for us as indi–
viduals and for the ai ling world
economy?
What are the prospects for long–
term recovery? Will the economic
rally in the United States continue
past the presidential election of
Novembcr 1984?
lt 's time for the plain truth.
Let's review thc present crisis, out-
March 1984
by
K.
Nei l Earle
Jine the prospects for lasting recov–
ery and-most important- consid–
er what we should be doing as indi–
viduals.
Collapse of Family Lite
Today's economic mess has been
decades in the making!
It's no use blaming the ther–
mometers on the wall- the soaring
inflation of the late 1970s, the sky–
high interest rates of 1980-82. In
some ways, these were only symp–
toms.
Major long-term factors were
decisive in getting us here. Few
economists understand the relation–
ship between the collapse of
family
life
and this crisis. The home was
once the cradle of true values, the
factory producing stable,
hard-working personali–
ties wi th a sense of .
,¡
social responsibility.
Lax family and school
discipline fosteri ng the
world-owes-me-a-living at–
titude has undermined the
once-prized work ethic.
In North America–
the post World War 1
locomotive of the world
economy- workers for
about a generation have
produced less per unit
•
while expecting higher wages.
"U.S. unit labor costs have been
growing faster than in any other
major industrialized country except
Britain for the past 10 year s"
(Business Week ,
August 29,
1983).