The conference that is recorded in this volume derived its initial impetus and choice of subject from the Jubilee of the Swedish Riksbank which was being celebrated in 1975. AJ part of that celebration, the International Economic Association was invited to organise a conference on the very topical subject of inflation-a subject of great concern to the banking community in all countries-and the Riksbankens Jubileumsfund bore the largest share of its expenses. We are greatly indebted to Mr Kristen Rickman, Governor of the Sviriges Riksbank, for his interest and support in all the work of the con-ference.
John Peters and his committee had a few basic goals. One was that local, state, and federal governments needed to provide money to construct facilities, support medical research and education, and care for the poor. And they wanted experts to call the shots. Over time, Peters and the committee got what they wanted for the most part: Hill-Burton money for building the hospitals, the rise of the National Institutes of Health, Medicare, Medicaid, a Veterans Administration system, and new and expanded medical schools. The experts calling the shots included David Kessler at the Food and Drug Administration and Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. In the halcyon days of American health system reform, back in 1993, Yale's Paul Beeson wrote about the Committee of 430 Physicians and its goals in the Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha. Beeson was optimistic and he quoted from my 1991 JAMA health system reform editorial as a sharp contrast to what Fishbein had written - although coincidentally, we both quote Lincoln. My editorial began, "'with malice toward none, with charity for all.' so spoke Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address recognizing that he had no political consensus regarding either the constitutionality of states seceding or the morality of slavery being abolished. Nonetheless, he knew what was right and was able, through persuasive, often inspiring rhetoric, to conclude a bloody and decisive Civil War and constitute the foundation for this great republic. Yet access to basic medical care for all of our inhabitants is still not a reality in this country. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is a long-standing, systematic, institutionalized racial discrimination. An aura of inevitablitiy is upon us. It is not acceptable morally, ethically, or economically for so many of our people to be medically uninsured or seriously underinsured. We can solve this problem. We have the knowledge and the resources, the skills, the time, and the moral prescience. We need only clear-cut objectives and proper ...
