33. Campbell, supra n. 3, Ch. 5; Social Indicators III, supra n. 9, Ch. 6. 34. Survey by Michigan Institute for Social Research, 1978. 35. Quinn, Robert and Graham Staines, The 1977 Quality of Employment Survey (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, 1979). 36. Campbell, supra n. 3, Ch. 4. 37. Curtin, Richard, "Facing Adversity With a Smile," Public Opinion (April/May 1980), pp. 17-19. 38. Surveys by Gallup Organization, 1937-1980. 39. Survey by Louis Harris and Associates, 1978. 40. Louis Harris, personal communication, 1980. 41. Ibid. 42. Campbell, supra n. 3, Ch. 10. 43. Survey by Louis Harris and Associates, 1978. 44. Survey by Louis Harris and Associates, 1980. 45. Social Indicators III, supra n. 9, Ch. 10. Chapter 4 QUALITY OF LIFE IN A Slower SOCIETY Lowering expectations is an extremely hard thing to accept. We're very rich people here and everyone has grown up with the idea that you can always expect more. Now we've got to go back a few steps. The mental change required is very painful. -Spokesman for the Swedish Employers' Association, commenting on a strike settle- ne basic choice facing this nation in the 1980s rate is most desirable, and what will be required to attain it. As a national issue, concern for accelerating economic growth has gone in and out of fashion over the past few decades. In 1960, when the last national goals commission convened, it was a real preoccupation and a prominent issue in the Presidential campaign. The question then was whether America was falling behind Russia not only in the arms race but also in the growth race. Today, faced with declining productivity growth rates, the nation has turned its attention once again to the matter of economic growth. But it is a very different kind of debate from what it was 20 years ago. Then, rapid economic growth was an unquestioned and overarching goal, and one that could realistically be accomplished. In recent years, questions have been raised about the nation's commitment to rapid growth and about the ability of advanced industrial economies to sustain such growth. Our colleagues who prepared the Panel report on the American economy have underlined the importance of making firm decisions about national growth objectives. We agree with them that it is essential to discuss not only optimal growth rates, but also the question of what kind of economic growth we want. Although economic analysis provides the backdrop for this chapter, our main concern 47 is to examine quality-of-life implications of the alternatives we face. Rapid economic growth, like any other national goal, has a price tag. Our purpose is to contribute to the debate about growth objectives by examining some of those costs and identifying some of the obstacles to returning to a situation of rapid growth. Economic growth has been fundamental to the American experience. More conspicuously than in other industrial nations, growth has been our secular religion. Whatever else the "American Dream" has meant, one of its basic themes has been material progress, the assumption that a progressively higher standard of living could be gained for a growing population. The foundation for our economic system was laid by previous generations who prepared its infrastructure by finding energy sources, building transportation and communication routes, and accumulating capital in the form of plants and equipment. With that foundation in place, Americans began to enjoy a high level of consumption and a standard of living that was the envy of the industrial world in the postwar era, when the nation experienced an unprecedented period of rapid and sustained growth. A combination of circumstances-including cheap energy, a low inflation rate, significant scientific and technological advances, and a favorable international situation-contributed to those high growth rates. Rapid growth has also served as a political solvent. If everyone could have more, the divisive issue of reallocating resources could be avoided. The means for financing social welfare expenditures such as the Great Society programs came not from reform of the tax structure but from economic growth. President Kennedy once remarked that "a rising tide lifts all the boats"; that adage expressed an assumption so basic it is only rarely articulated: Economic progress has been regarded as unambiguously good by people of various political persuasions because it has led to improved conditions for the majority of Americans. There have been psychological as well as material dividends. Rapid economic progress provided tangible symbols of success for many Americans such as the suburban home, the new car, access to higher education, and a retirement virtually free of economic concern. Whereas previous generations of Americans had aspirations for success in the future-perhaps not until the next generationwhile they made sacrifices in the present, the phenomenon of postwar affluence gave rise to a new set of attitudes. Prosperity was accompanied by a sense that it was no longer necessary to defer certain pleasures, that one could A Legacy of 48 |