At the heart of most arguments about the growth of the U.S. economy is a basic assumption by many economists that the U.S. must speed up just to keep pace with the giant strides of the past. Last week in a calm, carefully documented report, James W. Knowles, longtime (ten years) staff economist for the Joint Congressional Economic Committee, reported that the assumption is away off base. The U.S. economy gained only an average 2.9% annually in gross national product in the half century between 1909 and 1959, after taking into account inflationary price rises that average 2⅓% a year (TIME,...
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