Unemployment and Inflation

One does not have to be an expert economist to know, intuitively, that something is terribly wrong with the thesis presented by Martin and Kathleen Feldstein in their article (Editorial Pages, May 10), “Cut Unemployment Rate and You Risk Inflation.”

I wonder which corporate raider paid them to write this article. We all understand that high unemployment results in less power to labor, therefore lower wages and higher profits.

But more importantly, what about the 6-to-7 million people, plus dependents, who are the real victims of this sort of defeatist thinking displayed by this happy couple?

In the early 1960s, when I was in college, the “threshold rate” for unemployment was 3%. Now it’s 6%, 7%--a few more years, 10%? Or more? With this sort of economic reasoning, can the collapse of capitalism be far behind?

RICHARD ROBINSON

Duarte