At War45-05-1596The Road To Serfdom

Words at war. Tonight it's one of the most controversial problems of our times. Here's one opinion. I think government planning is the only solution to our economic problems. I think the government ought to plan for everybody to have a job.

Free enterprise may have been all right once, but what we need now is central planning. And the government should plan our economic welfare in peace, just as it plans for victory in war. The time has come for the government to set up a planned economy.

economy. But here's another opinion, a warning bell to stop, look and listen. I think that government planning as a substitute for free enterprise is a step in the direction that Italy and Germany followed. I think that it would destroy our liberties, our freedom, and our civilization. Instead of being the highway to happiness, it is the road to certain.

Tonight the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the Council on Books and War Time brings you a radio impression of one of the most talked about books in America. It's a direct challenge to much that is being thought and spoken these days.

It's one answer to the question, shall we have a planned economy directed by the government or shall we have free enterprise based on competition? Some of you may like it, some of you may not.

And in keeping with the spirit of this Words at War series, here is one of the most provocative and widely discussed books of the day. We present The Road to Serpton by Friedrich A. Hayek.

I'm Friedrich Hayek, a professor of economics who has written a book. I was born in Austria and lived in Vienna until 1931. Since then I've spent my time in the United States and in England, and am now a British citizen.