THE ECONOMY: Bright & Dark

• Share

Good Cheer. From smart Paul Gray Hoffman, president of Studebaker Corp. and chairman of the Committee for Economic Development, came reassuring words. He doubted that "the best advertised recession in the history of the world" would materialize. If it did, Hoffman predicted, it would not be of great depth or duration.

Building Bust? The U.S. building boom, generally predicted for 1947, threatened to become a bust. President Truman's economic advisers reported that a housing recession was already under way. One Administration economist estimated that about 750,000 housing units would be started this year, compared with 1,000,000 in 1946. His explanation: the construction industries and construction labor are pricing themselves out of the market.

Old Fashioned Loan. Norway was the first European country to attempt to float a big private loan in the U.S. through regular banking channels. It filed a registration statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission for a $10,000,000 issue of ten-year 3.5% sinking-fund bonds to increase its dollar exchange reserves.