War Advertising Council statement from September of 1943...
IF YOU'RE MAKING MORE MONEY
THIS YEAR American are going to make - minus taxes- 125 billion dollars. But this year, due to the war, we are going to have only 80 billion dollars' worth of goods to spend this on. That leaves 45 billion dollars' worth of money burning in our jeans. If each of us should take his share of this 45 billion dollars (which averages approximately $330 per person) and hustle out to buy all he could with it-what would happen is what happens at an auction where every farmer there wants a horse that's up for sale. We would bid the prices of things up and up and up. Instead of paying $30 for a suit we're going pay $45. Instead of $5 for a pair of shoes we're going to pay $8. This bidding for scarce goods is going to raise prices faster than wages. Wages just won't keep up. So what will people do?	WATCH OUT! Click on image for a larger view
U.S. workers will ask for more money. Since labor is scarce, a lot of them will get it. Then farmers and business men who feel the pinch are going to ask more money for their goods. And prices will go still higher. And the majority of us will be in the same old spot again-only worse. This is what is known as inflation. Our government is doing a lot of thing to keep prices down...rationing the scarcest goods, putting ceiling prices on things, stabilizing wages, increasing taxes. But the government can't do the whole job. So let's see what we can do about it. If, instead of running out with our extra dough, and trying to bid on everything in sight, we buy only what we absolutely need, we will come out all right. If, for instance, we put this money into(1) Taxes: (2) War Bonds; (3) Paying off old debts; (4) Life Insurance; and (5) The Bank, we don't bid up the prices of goods at all. And if besides doing this we (6) refuse to pay more than ceiling prices; and (7) ask no more for what we have to sell- no more in wages, no more for goods-prices stay where they are now. And we pile up a bank account. We have our family protected in case we die. We have War Bonds that'll make the down payment on a new house after the war, or help us retire some day. And we don't have taxes after the war that practically strangle us to death. Maybe, doing this sounds as if it isn't fun. But being shot at up at the front isn't fun, either. You have a duty to those soldiers as well as to yourself. You can't let the money that's burning a hole in your pocket start setting the country on fire. This advertisement, prepared by the War Advertising Council, is contributed by this magazine in co-operation with the Magazine Publishers of America.