The irresponsible Germans
LETTERS
From Wolfgang Kasper, R. Hoessrich, C. T. Chevallier, H. R., Karin Jonzen, Peter Ryde, W. Forrester, Dr David Stafford-Clark, Martin Ennals, B. J. B. Rose, Leonard Cottrell, Lord Esher and others, Rev J. A. Bramley, RN (Retd).
Sir: Your piece of provocative prose on West German economic policy has found quite a lot of attention in this country and it has spelled, I think, some so far tabooed truths. But your argument was wrong in two respects: First, the slight balance of payments deficit was definitely not the true cause for internal restriction, but the accelerated rise in the cost of living- 3.5 per cent in 1965 and 1966—which revived a deep-rooted fear of inflation in this country. And you should concede any nation the sovereign right to determine their own rate of inflation. An infla- tion of as much as 3 per cent is thought too high by the majority of people in a country where the generation of those who decide has gone through two inflations and has lost its money in two reforms of the Mark.
Second, your reasoning has a gap, which I do not comprehend: Why has the sewn-roe—who cannot be accused of regarding fixed parities as a holy cow—not considered the easiest and most liberal solution of the dilemma: revalue the Ger- man Mark? This would leave us our administered crisis and our stability-mindedness, which makes the Germans so ugly in your eyes, without hinder- ing other countries from following their economic policies. This would also make all your less bene- volent conclusions superfluous.
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