A page one story reported that at a meeting in the city the previous week labor union leaders, after listening to economists, dismissed orthodox arguments that wage increases had to be linked to productivity increases. The article stated that "progressive" business leaders supported wage increases when they were linked to productivity gains but believed that current union demands for wage increases in excess of production gains would lead only to higher prices which would bring on ruinous inflation that would cause economic collapse. Many of these same business leaders believed that they had an unrestricted right to raise prices even if this would bring on inflation.
Union leaders, however, felt wages should keep track with cost of living which had risen significantly during the war. The union leaders dismissal of orthodox market theory in part reflected the influence of Marxist economics on the labor movement at this time. However, it was in large part the success of unions in demanding a bigger slice of the pie for their members after the war that led to the economic prosperity of the Fifties and Sixties when blue collar workers became able for the first time to afford the trappings of the middle class life such as home ownership and college for their kids.