The Great Depression spread from the US to the rest of the capitalist world, yet it affect

ed the Americans the most. It gave【66】to the fear that such catastrophes would【67】(occur)or even that the American economy would live in a s【68】of permanent depression unless radical changes were m【69】in the economic system. The fear is now gone, partly because that analysis was judged faulty. Changes in institutions and policies that sta【70】the economy also helped to dispel those fears. People's worry per【71】about the possibility of less severe, but still debilitating (使虚弱) , recessions,【72】But the experience of the postwar years has provided two lessons;

First, the only serious recessions in which US unemployment rose to highs of 9 percent and 11 percent re【73】, came after fairly high inflation. Second, even recessions of that depth later on t【74】out to be less painful than had been expected because they were short. This was because the a【75】American worker had substantial assets, and was likely to he in a family with more than one worker.

【76】remains as the chief uncertainty about the stability of the US economy is the possibility of inflation. This depends on whether the temptation of the short-term political advantages of inflationary policy can be resisted. The inflation rate in the United States was about 4.5 percent. The economy is much better ad【77】to such a rate now than it was in 1971, when that rate caused the【78】(position) of price controls. Unemployment in America was r【79】near 5.25 percent. That is somewhat higher than used to be considered full employment, but it is not a serious figure, as haft of the unemployed are out of work for five weeks or less, and the average d【80】of unemployment is about twelve weeks. The problem today is serious in that it most affects black youths, who are not being brought into the work force.

(46)