Are You Concerned? E. Blanco

AreYou Concerned? I STARED AGAIN at the bundle of nearly worthless paper money in my pay envelope and I wondered how many days it could carry my family into the dreaded month ahead. Suddenly, in the midst of my despair, a flash of anger seized my mind as I recalled the scholar ly analyses from academicians and economists asserting that the econ omy was basically healthy and vig orous. 1 could still hear their deep reassuring voices on radio and TV explaining that economic science was partly based on faith and mass psychology. And as I struggled to understand how a "science" could be based on faith, or how faith or psychology could help me pay my bills, I felt my anger bursting into rage. For years in the past, some peo ple called "progressive" economists had been preaching the political expediency of "deficit financing," 334 "credit expansion," and the print ing of paper money to "stimulate"

progress, and "create funds" for a myriad of "popular" programs at home and abroad. They also preached that, since economics was based on faith, and currency was merely a symbol, it did· not have to represent any real value. Conse quently, the requirements of hard backing for the currency were le gaIly· abolished, and the remaining reserves spent in payments to shrewd foreign countries that re fused to share our mystical eco nomic beliefs. Coins containing silver were removed from circula tion and replaced by worthless metal tokens of similar appearance. I then recalled how inflation, a word I always associated with in solvent and backward countries, started to grow to alarming pro portions. It seemed as if people, sensing the magnitude of the na tional swindle, were attempting to 1974 ARE YOU CONCERNED? 335 even the score by demanding more and more for their goods and services.

The rise in prices provoked a holy wrath among the "high priests" of the economy. Their mystical incantations soon gave way to outright threats and invec tives, until finally they stirred a public clamor for government con trols in an effort to conceal their massive fraud by shifting the blame onto their victims; Le. la borers and producers. Timely and cleverly contrived national "crises" provided the rationale for pushing government controls. The establishment of initial con trols made further controls neces sary. Arbitrary price ceilings ren dered production unprofitable. Businesses failed, or were nation alized "in the public interest." Un;.. employment increased rapidly. Fuel and other critical goods be came scarce. Transportation was choked. Black markets developed despite heavy penalties. And mean while, international commerce dwindled as tariffs and quotas were imposed to improve the "balance of payments."

From Bad to Worse Familiar events? Perhaps, but that was only the beginning. Infla tion,and the inevitable loss of na tional credit, forced a devaluation of the currency in international markets. And as the currency "floated" and sank deeper and deeper, the witch doctors of the "new economics," the "social sci ences," and the "popular media" raised a cry for even stiffer con trols to crush "profiteering," and called for a "sense of social respon sibility," and a "spirit of sacrifice" to readjust to the "new lifestyles of a changing world." The common citizen, like myself, felt as if caught between the jaws of a gigantic vise. On one side in creasing taxes, inflation, scarcities, and unemployment; and on the other side the· specter of total gov ernment control, advocated as "the only solution" to the disaster by those whose insane policies had caused it. Public ignorance, confusion, and intimidation facilitated the impo sition of an intricate machinery of socialist controls enforced by a vast parasitic bureaucracy en dowed with police powers. "Emer gency laws" were passed, and indi vid ual freedoms disappeared. All bank deposits were nationalized, and a "new currency" was issued.

Electric power was rationed to only a few hours per day. The same was done with the water supply. Ration ing booklets and food lines led to riots and widespread insurrections that were ruthlessly suppressed, and soon afterwards, the once pros perous nation plunged into the 336 THE FREEMAN June abyss of a modern totalitarian tyr anny. The Place: Cuba But, don't get any wrong ideas. I am not describing events in Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. The place was Castro's Cuba in the be ginnings of the socialist revolution that was to push the country back wards more than a century in just a few months. An industrious and progressive people, the Cubans had risen from Spanish colonialism and in the short span of 50 years had become the third richest nation in per cap ita income in the Hemisphere with out forgivable foreign aid pro grams. The Cuban currency was frequently quoted above the Amer ican dollar in world markets, while social and labor legislation were among the most advanced in the world. All that progress, verified by in tern ational records, was wiped out by Castro's messianic socialism in a flash of time. The enterprising Cubans had failed to learn that freedom demands eternal vigilance, and that govern ment regulation of the economy is the surest road to serfdom.

Today, when I look back at the events responsible for the Cuban tragedy, I shudder to see the omi nous similarities with those occur ring in the United States at pres ent. I see the same debauching of the currency through the policies of "new economists" and scheming politicasters striving to "create funds" for partisan and interna tional programs. The same "gallop ing inflation" solely resulting from their fiscal insanity. The same ac cusations of "greed" and "social irresponsibility" leveled against la borers and producers by those who have swindled them. The same sanctimonious academicians pon tificating cures for the "sick soci ety" they have helped to poison. The same legions of parasitic bu reaucrats busily engaged in "fight ing inflation" by taxing and regu la"ting the nation into paralysis. And the same confusion and de spair in the hard-working Ameri can people who see their taxes in creasing, their money devalued, and their jobs dwindling, while in flation soars and essential goods be come scarce under asphyxiating regulations stemming from con trived "crises."

A Contrived Crisis The latest and boldest endeavor of the crisis makers has been to engineer an "energy crisis" in the nation possessing the largest po tential energy resources and the most advanced technology in the world. Public ignorance, and hon est concern for the environment, were abused to the limit by groups of activist charlatans who saturat1974 ARE YOU CONCERNED? 337 ed the country with pseudo-scien tific information and frightening opinions about the ecology, provok ing a flurry of hysterical legisla tion that stagnated fuel exploita tion, refining capacity, and re search. In addition to that, waste ful automotive emission controls, plus the ill-timed enforcement of the use of oil instead of low sulphur coal by power plants, severely in creased the demand· for petroleum products precisely at the time of legislatively obstructed supply. Nu clear energy, if ever mentioned, was equated by quacks to "an atom bomb. in the backyard," and thus, misguided ecologists practically killed the cleanest form of energy available until the advent of solar energy. It is hardly surprising that we now face an "energy crisis"

that not only has dealt a crushing blow to the American economy and to our military preparedness but will empower appointed officials to regulate even further the economic life of the nation. To crown the present irration ality, our free enterprise system has now been conned into arlebili tating collaboration with those whose only purpose is to destroy it, giving rise to the sad spectacle of a powerful but groveling prey in sanely nurturing its implacable foes. Logie and reason have been replaced by "popular" sophisticated fallacies that insult human intelli gence. Yet, few Americans dare ex press their anger lest others con sider them ignorant or malad justed. As a victim of the Cuban trag edy, I don't give a damn about "popular opinions" any more. I found those opinions to be a dis astrous substitute for plain com mon sense. Perhaps I will be at tacked and discredi ted by some of our "citizens above suspicion" for exposing their frauds, but it is high time that innocent Americans stop blaming one another and focus their indignation on those who through their sophistic manipula tion of economic, social, and diplo matic falsehoods have precipitated our present plight. ~ * * * * * The author is a former Professor of Engineer ing at the University of Villanova in Havana, Cuba, and Director of Solar Energy Research for the Cuban Government. In exile in the U. S. since 1960 he has been Assistant Profes sor of Mechanical Engineering at M.I. T.; As sociate Professor of Engineering Design at Tufts University; and Adj. Associate Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Since 1969 he has been in private practice as consultant for the textile industry.