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January 1945 Radio-Craft
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Craft,
published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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"The more things change,
the more they remain the same." That old saw has held true throughout the ages,
but there seems to be cycles within cycles that causes, to mix in a metaphor,
the pendulum to swing back and forth in greater and lesser peak amplitudes,
and over long periods of time a bias sets in that causes a perceivable change
from the symmetric tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock, to
tick----tock-tick----tock-tick----tock-tick. Without
an outside-of-the-system input, the bias grows. If you have a "real" gravity-driven
pendulum clock, you probably know what I mean. Bringing the system back
to symmetry requires adjusting the clockworks movement or "righting" the physical
orientation by rotating the clock on the wall or shimming up one side on the
shelf until the preferred tick-tock-tick-tock is restored. Economic cycles are
much the same, as alluded to in this World War II, War Bonds promotion.
There are long periods of overall ups and overall downs, and in-between there
are lesser rises and falls. Eventually, those who learn to control the cycles
tend to insert a bias into the works that favors the ticks or tocks and disfavor
the tocks or ticks, respectively. Typically, those favored are the relatively
few influential super wealthy, while the rest are left to divide what is benevolently
provided by the top tier. Fighting over the spoils sets citizen against citizen,
most of whom just want to be left alone to live a peaceful, productive life.
War or revolt is often required to bring the system back into symmetry. We seem
to be at or very near one of those periods now.
War Bond Ad
 The
Dough You Blow - Will Bring U.S. Woe!
1918
What a boom we were handed by World War No.1! Money came easily - went easily.
Everybody was splurging on everything - from silk underwear to diamond sunbursts.
Prices went skying. Sugar eventually bit 28¢ a pound!
1921
Bye-bye, boom. Factories closed; men laid off. Prices and wages sinking fast.
Wish we'd banked some of that dough we'd blown a few years back! With jobs scarce,
that money would have come in mighty handy, then.
1929
Prosperity. Stocks up fifty points in a week. Again everybody was buying
everything - yachts, jewelry, stocks, real estate, regardless of cost. Depression?
Phooey ... we thought we'd found a way to lick depression.
1932
Or had we? Bread lines, apple venders. WPA. "Brother, can you spare a
dime?" [lyrics] No jobs. Prices dropping, Wages dropping. Everything dropping - except
the mortgage on the house. "What goes up must come down."
1944
We're splurging again. Americans have been earning more money. But even today
there are fewer goods to spend it on - so naturally prices rise. We must keep
them in check. Don't let it all happen again!
4 Things To Do to keep prices down and help avoid another depression
1. Buy only what you really need.
2. When you buy, pay no more than the ceiling prices. Pay your ration points
in full.
3. Keep your own prices down. Don't take advantage of war conditions to ask
for more - for your labor, your services, or the goods you sell.
4. Save. Buy and hold all the War Bonds you can afford - to help pay for
the war and insure your future. Keep up your insurance.
Every War Bond You Buy Will Help Us Keep Prices Down
A United States War message prepared by the War Advertising Council; approved
by the Office of War Information; and contributed by this magazine in cooperation
with the Magazine Publishers of America.
Posted March 2, 2021
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