Business: Search for Stagflation Remedies

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The employment proposals by Thurow and Feldstein have much the same problem as TIP; they would be hard to administer. There also would be serious difficulties in defining who was qualified to receive the job subsidy and in guarding against fraud. The plans have run into stiff opposition from union leaders, who fear that federal subsidy for young workers would tempt companies to lay off older, more experienced hands in favor of hiring the cheaper young.

The Administration may have sound reason to dismiss these bold but admittedly untested ideas, but so far it has produced no convincing alternatives. The anti-inflation plan of Carter and Co., based mostly on friendly persuasion, is so weak and ineffectual that even White House insiders mock it as "wishboning." That is a category of soft talk inferior even to the old "jawboning," which other Presidents used—with distinctly mixed results —in the crusade to hold down wage and price rises.