A call for focusing on productivity: It directly affects inflation, cost of living, job stability - and the quality of life

In a little noticed sentence in the 1978 Economic Report of the President of the United States, the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors states that the slowdown in productivity growth in the United States is "one of the most significant economic problems of recent years." The slowdown affects almost every major issue facing U.S. citizens - the U.S. trade balance, the expansion of inflation, the number of jobs available, the very quality of life. And yet, this phenomenon has attracted insufficient attention among the nation's policy makers.