As we enter the new year, we must surmount one major problem which affects all our goals. That is the problem of inflation.
Already inflation in this country is undermining the living standards of millions of families. Food costs too much. Housing has reached fantastic price levels. Schools and hospitals are in financial distress. Inflation threatens to bring on disagreement and strife between labor and management.
Worst of all, inflation holds the threat of another depression, just as we had a depression after the unstable boom following the First World War.
When I announced last October that the Congress was being called into session, I described the price increases which had taken place since June 1946. Wholesale prices had increased 40 percent; retail prices had increased 23 percent.
Since October prices have continued to rise. Wholesale prices have gone up at an annual rate of 18 percent. Retail prices have gone up at an annual rate of 10 percent.
The events which have occurred since I presented my 10-point anti-inflation program to the Congress in November have made it even clearer that all 10 points are essential.
High prices must not be our means of rationing.
We must deal effectively and at once with the high cost of living.
We must stop the spiral of inflation.
I trust that within the shortest possible time the Congress will make available to the Government the weapons that are so desperately needed in the fight against inflation.