but a group of young american economists had a better idea as richard gilbert recalls. group which i led proposed to finance the war through borrowing -- in itself not different from the keynesian proposal -- but with a direct control of prices and wages to prevent the kind of inflation that had always been associated with war in the past and to bring to full employment, as rapidly as possible the enormous energies of the american public once harnessed to the effort. as an airplane worker, i ask all of you to help to support our armed forces by buying more war bonds and stamps. as our boys would say, "you buy 'em, we'll fly 'em." this is a working man's country, and i'm doing my part to keep it that way. buy more bonds today. schoumacher: fresh from a decade of hunger and deprivation, the american people cheerfully loaned dollars by the billions to their government. as the war intensified the economy boomed. 15 million americans went to war. 66 million more went to work. for the first time in 10 years americans had money to spend but little to spend it on. not only were