1950's Business and the Economy | "Consumer Credit: High But Safe"

Magazine article

By: Newsweek

Date: March 14, 1955

Source: "Consumer Credit: High But Safe." Newsweek, March 14, 1955, 75.

About the Publication: Thomas J. C. Martyn published the first issue of Newsweek in February 1933. In 1961, it was bought by the Washington Post Company. It's circulation is 3.1 million in the United States and over 900,000 internationally.

Introduction

Economists have long pondered the question of scarcity—will human beings ever have enough resources to fulfill basic needs? For most of U.S. history, scarcity economics dominated the thinking of scholars and the day-to-day lives of most Americans. In the 1920s, business leaders began talking about a "New Era" of economic activity based on mass production, mass consumption, and high wages. By the end of that decade, this hint of modern consumer culture was swept away by...