Slippages & Shortfalls

Too much of 1952's production was in peacetime goods which the U.S. could afford to do without. The U.S. got 4,300,-ooo new autos, although only 3,000,000 had been scheduled for production. But out of 12,000 military aircraft called for, only 9,000 were completed. Sample bottleneck: for lack of a small electronic part, engines could not be delivered to North American Aviation and powerless Sabre jets had to be lined up in long rows outside the plant. War production fell so far behind schedule that the schedules themselves were cut during the year so as to lower the peak of the arms program and stretch it out well into 1956. Even so, production lagged 5-10% behind the reduced schedules. The chief responsibility for this rests almost wholly on the Truman Administration, which wanted visible civilian prosperity and no civilian hardships to bolster its campaign slogan: "You never had it so good."

The production of civilian goods far exceeded estimates. Builders, who had thought materials restrictions would limit them to 600,000 new houses, actually turned out 1.100,000 to complete their second biggest year on record (top: ,.400,000 in 1950). Instead of an expected 3,000,000 refrigerators, 3,400,000 were produced; instead of 2,000,000 washing machines, 3,000,000; instead of 4,000,000 TV sets, 5,000,000.

Whatever the lack of arms production, the prosperity was there and almost every civilian shared in it. Personal income after taxes soared to a record $235 billion, a gain of $9 billion in a year. Manufacturing wages hit a new high of $71 a week. The higher wages, plus higher costs all around, knocked industry's profits down nearly $2 billion, to an estimated $17 billion after taxes (6% under 1951). Stockholders got a better break. With much of industry's expansion already paid for out of past profits, dividends edged up from $9 billion to $9.3 billion.

While the record income set off the biggest retail spending in U.S. history ($215 billion v. $208 billion a year before), consumers also managed to salt away more savings in 1952 ($18.5 billion, $1.5 billion rise over '51). Never had the U.S. had so many jobs (62 million) and so little peacetime unemployment (1,700,000). Its prosperity was extravagantly symbolized by a Texan's wisecracking solution for Dallas' traffic problem: "Rule all Cadillacs off the street during rush hours." Answered a reader of the Dallas News: "If you did that, how would we working people get home?"

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