page 6
tuesday, march 18, 1U80
daily nebraskan
Emm: Corporations overwhelm free enterprise
By Skip Volkmann
America no longer has a free enterprise
system, according to Bert Evans, professor
of economics at UNL. Evans said Friday
that the free enterprise system created by
19th century industrialists was replaced
after'World War II by a corporate system
in which there is little competition.
Speaking in the Glass Onion's
Chautauqua, which is billed as "an old
time series of popular talks intended to
edify and entertain," Evans said American
business "has gone f rom people who know
how to make things to people who know
how to make money.
"The corporate system now controls
everything. It may sound a little
far-fetched, but corporation power to
coerce (to control people's buying habits
and lifestyles) is more than people suspect.
We don't notice it because we're living
well even with inflation."
Evans said his economic views aren't
common, especially in Washington, D.C.,
but he thinks a knowledge of the effects
of the corporate system is necessary to
control inflation.
Little understanding
He said none of the presidential candi
dates understands the corporate economic
system well enough.
Evans said he favors federal price con
trols for energy, steel, transportation, che
mical industry, and other areas that have
a major influence on inflation, he said.
To support his views, Evans recounted
the rise of the corporate system in America
since WWII, f lis brand of economic theory,
called institutionalism, looks at the
economy as an evolving social process,
and it identifies World War II as the driv
ing force that stimulated corporate evolu
tion. "Before World War II we (the public)
figured we couldn't have good roads and
schools because the high priests of industry
didn't want us to have them," he said.
"The institutional framework of the time
held back technological advancement,"
in order to make more money.
"It was World War II that pressed the
whole of American society to change the
rules of the game," he said. To meet, the
demands of the war, America was forced
to change its political and economic frame
work. TTtat instituional framework could
' no longer hold back technological advance
ment. Economic boom
The resulting boom in the economy
spawned the highly productive corporate
system, and government controls at the
end of the war allowed corporations to
eliminate small competitors, he said.
This resulted in the modern oligopolies,
which Evans calls "shared monopolies."
, "But the shared monopolies realized
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they couldn't use all their productive abili
ty because If they produced a good
product that would last, they would be
out of business. Mat resulted was plan
ned obsolescence, our throw-away society
and environmental degradation. The auto
mobile is a good example, he said.
But the corporate system realized plan
ned obsolescence wasn't enough, Evans
said. The goal of the industrial system for
the last 200 years has been to grow every
year and that wouldn't happen if industry
was just replacing obsolete products. So
the corporate system began looking for
ways to raise prices without increasing
sales.
Making excuses
"If you can't sell more, you make ex
cuses to make it more expensive. In the
60s, the auto industry used Ralph Nader,
pollution control devices and new models
as excuses to raise prices.
"It's not that the people running the
corporations arc bad people. This is just
a normal business procedure. In the busi
ness college, we teach how to make up ex
cuses. We call it marketing," lie said.
"But I argue that in the 70s price
raising started between the corporations,
each corporation increasing its prices to
match the others' increase so no one would
be left out. This is the main cause of in
flation. We can't change inflation until
we understand this and have government
(price) controls," he said.
When asked what is to be done, he
answered that people must be educated
about the economy.
"Any damn fool can see" economics
no longer applies to the American
economy, he said.
Paraphrasing economist Arthur
Koestler, Evans said, "When the masses
fall behind in their ability to understand
the process of the economy, the commun
ity and people fall behind in their ability
to control their own destiny."
Academic institutions should be teach
ing students about the current economy,
he said, but the changes are happening so
fast that the academic institutions have,
fallen far behind in their teaching.
Yw cme Ibuny
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