Book Review: Curing Chronic Inflation

• Author: Lance T. LeLoup
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591297903200218
• Published date: 01 June 1979
• Date: 01 June 1979
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Book

Reviews and Notes

229

“without spelling out of all the details,” and since “the air

of

inevitability..

.

al-

ready surrounded the operation.”

Taking measure of these words not spelled

out

and this vaporous “air of

inevitability”

is

made considerably easier by the omission

of

review

of

recently

(1975-78) declassified, government documents and reports from 1960-61 on this

topic. Had Blanchard perused declassified National Security Council and presi-

dential documents available

prior

to his reconstruction

of

yet another “inadvertant”

or “deceived” President Kennedy, the story would necessarily change. That evi-

dence would reveal, first: that the policy debate prior to the invasion was vigoroils

and was centered principsIIy

on

the virtues of

a

more

ouert

invasion

-US.

air

cover plan authored by the CIA and favored by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (“Opera-

tion Trinidad”) compared to the Kennedy approved covert invasion plan (“Op-

eration Zapata,” also authored by the CIA) that did ultimately take place. (See

“The Taylor Report: Memo

#1]

Narrative of the Anti-Castro Cuban Operation

Zapata,” June 13, 1961, National Security Files-Cuba, National Archives-Kennedy

Library [classification: TOP SECRET; declassified

:

May

9,

19771) Second, high-

est

level Kennedy administration policy-makers rather than being oblivious, were

quite aware of the various options from November 18,

1960,

onward. Moreover,

after November

4,

1960,

a

conventional amphibious assault (led by ex-dictator

Batista supporters), rather than popular action/pro-democratic guerrilla tactics,

was planned. This latter point militates against Blanchard’s overall contention that,

in trying to

do

“good” deeds, Americin humanitarian zeal more or less accidentaIIy

undermines policy.

Brevity prevents further criticism of the historical accuracy of the other cases

presented. For those who are comforted believing more than electoral sloganeering

is

involved in campaigns seeking human rights or making the world safe

for

democracy or ensuring evolution

of

political democracy, Blanchard will

make

interesting reading. For those who assume leaders possess rational choice and that

this also attends their selection

of

timing and of instruments to employ in defense

of their view of the American national interest, Blanchard’s interpretation

will

re-

main unapprehensible.

GORDEN

L.

BOWEN

Oregon State University

Curing

Chronic Inflation.

Edited by

ARTHUR

M.

OKUN

and

GEORGE

L.

PERRY.

(\‘lashington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1978.

Pp.

287. $11.95;

$4.95.)

IVhat

can be done about the persistent high levels of inflation that continue

to plague the United States?

As

public opinion surveys reveal that inflation

is

viewed as the number

one

problem facing

the

country, and as the fight against

inflation drains resources from social needs and other priorities, it is apparent that

inflation

is

a

political problem as well

as

an economic problem.

Curing Chronic

Inflation

examines anti-inflation policies other than traditional monetary and fiscal

approaches. As such, it is worthy of the attention of political scientists and others

with

a

serious interest in this policy dilemma.

The primary focus of the volume

is

on

tax-based incomes policy (TIP)

-

actions designed to restrain the growth of salaries and wages without creating

ex-

cessive reductions in aggregate demand. Traditionally, incomes policy

has

been

implemented through guidelines or controls. Tax based incomes policies create

rewards

or

penalties through the

tax

system to restrain wage increases. A Brookings

conference in the Spring of 1978 explored the need for, the variants of, and the

drawbacks to TIP. The proceedings of this conference, including papers, critiques,

and panel discussion, are published in

Curing

CIironic

Inflation.

The first

of

the five major articles, written

by

George

L.

Perry, may be the most

interesting despite the fact that

it

is

a

diagnosis

of

inflation rather than the prescrip-

tion

of

a

cure. Perry’s findings support what many have suspected; inflation has

become its

own

cause. The impact of inflationary inertia is evenpreater today than

in the past because of the continued high levels of wage and pnce increases of the