The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 OBJECTIVITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 201sociation do to aid the Federal TradeCommission's investigation in thisenergy field? What do you envisage?Mr. Rowley: Well, one thing wedid, ofcollrse, was to turn over whatinfor'mation,economic insights, andlegal, insights we Wad to them, andmade available certain of our membersfor purposes of consultation.From then on, the initiative restswith the Commission. Anything theywant which we can produce we areproducing.Doesn't this exchange tell yousomething about the source of Mr.Meyer's evidence?It is clear from the record thata special interest group has exerted'a powerful and effective influenceon the supposedly impartialactivities, of the Federal'TradeCommission. And it is not surprisingto also note that the previouslymentioned best seller, A merica,Inc., while devoting a great dealof attention to corporate influence,mentions not one word about thevast - wholly unregula:ted - powerof the liberally oriented pressuregroups which constantly seek toinfluence government.Help From the Media?Well, now if not consumer protectiongroups, the legislativebranch or the regulatory agencies- who can we look to to presentthe real facts? The media? I thinknot; omissions as well as errorsprovide a yeasty breeding groundfor compounded error among someof the media representatives whocite unsupported allegations astruths.For example, in a recent issueof The New Republic an articlecontains this serious charge:"High and steady ,profits havelured' the oil companies into thefield and they now control a majorityof the 50 largest coal firms."As for the fact of controlling amajority of the 50 largest coalfirms, it is nothing better than afigure plucked out of the air - totallyfalse.As for the suggestion that "highand steady profits" have attractedoil companies into the coal business,according to informationfrom the National Coal Association,the net income of all coalcompanies that had an income, lessthe deficit of those showing a loss,was $105 million in 1965. In 1966,it was $96 million. In 1969, it was$14 million. Is that a case of "highand steady profits?" No! Steadydecline? Yes!Corporate HurdlesIf I must also exclude the mediaas a source of' unbiased and informedreporting - what is left? Ithink only the industry - suspectas it maybe. But even this sourceis limited, and that is why Icharge that objectivity and ac-