A7 - Sunday News, February 7, 1982 ES mailbox ee High interest rate backers distort the truth Dear Editor: With at least a million Canadians umemployed and even more manhours lost through reduced work weeks, MaecEachen still callously tells us we have to tough it out to fight inflation, as this is the only way to reduce unemployment in the Jong run. High interest rates, so he says, will in the long run lead to growth and in- vestment. Intentional or not, this argument distorts the truth; a look at the housing sector can demonstrate that fact. It is true that in the short run high interest rates cause house prices to fall because as rates rise, fewer people can afford housing so demand falls and prices fall. However builders then are faced not only with falling prices, but also with in- creased costs because they too have to pay higher in- terest when borrowing money to build. As a result, builders stop building in spite of a shortage of housing. Since houses are not being constructed, the shortage gets worse and in Parents, teachers demand too much Dear Editor: I am writing to urge the West Vancouver School Board to exercise economic restraint in setting the 1982 schools budget. I, among many others, including members of the teaching profession, question whether escalating budgets will result in in- creasingly valuable educational opportunity. I am seriously disturbed at the conduct and fabric of the public meeting Tuesday evening in Pauline Johnson School, in which the gathering was alarmingly dominated and outnumbered by teachers and parent teacher groups demanding and insisting on services and costs taxpayers generally are finding increasingly difficult, if not impossible to finance. I believe to forego economic restraint during the worst recession in Canadian history is ultimately self-defeating. There is no doubt in my mind that the time is not far off when fewer and fewer families will find it possible to call West Vancouver their home. With fewer and fewer children occupying our already dwindling classrooms, I foresee an ever-increaseing number of teachers joining the swelling ranks of the unemployed. Surely this is to none of our advantage. Dorothy Metcalfe Taxpayer and parent West Vancouver the long run, inflation worsens because too many people are chasing too few houses. In fundamental! terms, the best way to stop inflation in housing is to build more houses. And this could have been done profitably if it were not for the high i rates. Instead MacEachen’s way is to leave that sector idle and bankrupt for a few years. Therefore when he does let the economy turn around, we will have so much catching up to do that we will be fully employed. Which scenario is better, to be building all along and living with some inflation or to be left idle for a few years to lower inflation, only to face inflation again when demands grow on a short supply? The growth and prosperity that MacEachen claims will come after will be illusory because in fun- damental terms, we will simply be struggling to get ‘back to our position before the depression. MacEachen, un- fortunately, has been in- fluenced by right-wing _ Criticized Reagan's economists whose ideas lost their repute fifty years ago. He should instead take the advice of Dr. James Tobin, a leading economist and the 1981 Nobel prize winner in economics. Tobin recently high interest rate policy by stating that the government's tight monetary policy “was totally off course” in that the “monetary targets just do not provide enough moncy to finance a fully prosperous economy.”’ Instead MacEachen has chosen to return to the past, depression and aB, with all of its attendant waste and social costs. Paul Hundal North Vancouver POLYMAR Kitchens & Bathrooms taminated kitchen cabinets - 100 colors - oak cabinets - every stain. NEW HOMES COMPLETE RENOVATIONS 156 W. 3rd St. North Vancouver 986-3111 987-5012. 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