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From the national educational radio network here is a Business Review ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ROSS Wilhelm of the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration presents his views in the commons of business and economic activity. It seems almost unpatriotic to call the United States government a swindler and called savings bonds a Jep. We all like to think the government is the defender of the people and especially the little fellow. But the simple fact is that swindle in Jet best describe exactly what the federal government is doing. The federal government has been engaging in practices over the past 30 years in the sale of savings bonds that would if anyone else were to do these things especially a businessman result in a jail sentence. The thing about savings bonds that makes them a cheat is that on the one side the officials of the Treasury Department pushing the savings the bonds are pushed as being safe and secure and excellent investments and yet on the other side these very same Treasury officials know full well that they have and will recommend inflationary measures as a means of solving social
problems. This is misrepresentation of the worst sort. Because the very officials who recommend the bonds to the public is a good investment by those same officials who recommend the inflationary policies to the president and Congress and inflationary inflation make savings bonds the worst sort of investment. But the bad practice is the federal government and selling savings bonds do not stop with the false claims and promises in their advertising. A large number of people are forced to buy savings bonds even though they may not want to and even though they know they're the worst possible investment every year 60 top business executives backed up by about 400000 other canvassers and campaign leaders put on a drive to sell savings bonds through payroll deduction plans and industry. If a company is doing a large volume of business with the government its employees will be forced practically as a condition for employment to sign up for savings bonds on the payroll deduction plan at Lockheed for example 99 percent of the employees participate in a savings bond payroll deduction
plan because their arms will be twisted if they do not. And further the employees of the firms whose top executives head up. The industrial payroll savings plans are also subjected to exactly the same kind of pressure to buy the certain to lose investments. The pressure to buy savings bonds does not stop with the business suppliers the government the employee plays of the federal government itself also are coerced into buying savings bonds. In addition thousands of business firms especially banks are forced to provide the free services of over 200000 people each year to help sell or redeem these bonds. This is scandalous. If private persons were to do such things to sell securities they'd be sent to jail simply because the federal government does it is not an excuse and any other organization we're doing this would be called a shakedown racket. There's a need for the provisions of our security laws to be extended to the behavior of the federal government itself. We demand that business firms go to extraordinary efforts to make sure the public is protected and properly informed about
any securities offered for sale. The federal government should be required to do the same thing. In addition there's a need to immediately counteract the propaganda of the federal government in selling savings bonds at the present time there are over 500 people employed in the Treasury Department savings non-division churning out the advertisements and propaganda on these buns. The government should immediately disband this position in this division and stop this propaganda. In addition the radio and television stations across the United States donate over sixty two million dollars of free time to run commercials on savings bonds. These stations should either stop running the commercials on those savings bonds or they should provide equal time so the other side of the story can be told. Savings bonds are a sure to lose investment because of the inflation caused by the government at the present the main buyers of savings bonds are those persons who don't know anything about finance and thus can't protect themselves against inflation. The second major group of buyers of savings bonds are
employees of the government and the government suppliers who are forced to buy. It's time the savings bond this was cleaned up and the government sell either cost of living bonds or the equivalent and that they stopped running a boiler shop to sell securities that was Associate Professor Ross Wilhelm of the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration. With his views and comments on business and economic activity Business Review is recorded by the University of Michigan Broadcasting Service. This is the national educational radio network.
Series
Business review
Episode
Savings bonds
Producing Organization
University of Michigan
National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-n8730d12
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Description
Episode Description
In program number 405, Ross Wilhelm criticizes the current system that the American government uses to sell savings bonds.
Series Description
This series, hosted by Ross Wilhelm, focuses on current news stories that relate to business and economic activity.
Broadcast Date
1969-03-24
Topics
Business
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:04:59
Embed Code
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Credits
Producing Organization: University of Michigan
Producing Organization: National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Speaker: Wilhelm, Ross, 1920-1983
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 61-35c-405 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:04:48
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Citations
Chicago: “Business review; Savings bonds,” 1969-03-24, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-n8730d12.
MLA: “Business review; Savings bonds.” 1969-03-24. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-n8730d12>.
APA: Business review; Savings bonds. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-n8730d12