General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNow they're trying to say Reagan Inherited a bigger mess than Obama.
My response?
No he didn't.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/23/1085578/-Sorry-President-Obama-Ronald-Reagan-Inherited-a-Much-Worse-Mess-Than-You-Did
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Tommy_Carcetti
(43,174 posts)....oh yeah. Dead
Eight years dead, to be exact. And 24 years removed from the White House.
Idiots are living in the past.
kentuck
(111,079 posts)They were driven by Paul Volcker, in an attempt to cool down inflation. He continued the high interest rates for the first couple of years of Reagan's first term. Much of the inflation was due to the oil shock from OPEC and the first gas lines. It was serious but it was better to have money that was inflated than to not have any money at all. That was the difference in the situations.
Gman
(24,780 posts)again. I wouldn't quibble about the size of the problems as much as emphasize Reagan worked with the other side.
Trajan
(19,089 posts)What about Ford's WIN effort ? .... Interest rates were a problem WAY before Carter took office .... Yet Republicans always forget that part, and blame Carter for the economic 'malaise' of the 70's .....
Don't forget to remind those lame GOP supporters in your feed ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage-Price_Control
Wage Price Freeze
In the early 1970s, inflation had been much higher than in previous decades, getting above 6% briefly in 1970 and persisting above 4% in 1971. U.S. President Richard Nixon imposed price controls on August 15, 1971.[3] This was a move widely applauded by the public[3] and some number of (but by no means all) economists, especially Keynesian.[11] The 90-day freeze was unprecedented in peacetime, but such drastic measures were thought necessary. Also motivating the controls, on the same date that the controls were imposed, 15 August 1971, Nixon also suspended the convertibility of the dollar into gold, which was the beginning of the end of the Bretton Woods system of international currency management established after World War II.[3] It was quite well known at the time that this would likely lead to an immediate inflationary impulse (essentially because the subsequent depreciation of the dollar would boost the demand for exports and increase the cost of imports). The controls aimed to stop that impulse. The fact that the election of 1972 was on the horizon likely contributed to both Nixon's application of controls and his ending of the convertibility of the dollar.[3]
The 90-day freeze became nearly 1,000 days of measures known as Phases One, Two, Three, and Four,[12] ending in 1973. In these phases, the controls were applied almost entirely to the biggest corporations and labor unions, which were seen as having price-setting power.[11] However, 93% of requested price increases were granted and seen as necessary to meet costs.[11] With such monopoly power, some economists saw controls as possibly working effectively (though they are usually skeptical on the issue of controls). Because controls of this sort can calm inflationary expectations, this was seen as a serious blow against stagflation.
Indeed, the first wave of controls were successful at curbing inflation temporarily while the administration used expansionary fiscal and monetary policies.[13][14] However, the long-term effects proved to be destabilizing. Left unsuppressed after the initial price controls were relaxed, the overly expansionary policies proceeded to exacerbate inflationary pressures.[15][16] Meat also began disappearing from grocery store shelves and Americans protested wage controls that didn't allow wages to keep up with inflation.[3]
Since that time, the U.S. government has not imposed maximum prices on consumer items or labor (although the cap on oil and natural gas prices persisted for years after 1973).[3] During times of high inflation, controls have been called for; in 1980 during unprecedented inflation, BusinessWeek editorialized in favor of semi-permanent wage and price controls.[17]
Gerald Fords' WIN (Whip Inflation Now)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_Inflation_Now
Whip Inflation Now (WIN) was an attempt to spur a grassroots movement to combat inflation, by encouraging personal savings and disciplined spending habits in combination with public measures, urged by U.S. President Gerald Ford. People who supported the mandatory and voluntary measures were encouraged to wear "WIN" buttons[1], perhaps in hope of evoking in peacetime the kind of solidarity and voluntarism symbolized by the V-campaign during World War II.
The campaign began in earnest with the establishment by the 93rd Congress, of the National Commission on Inflation, which Ford closed with an address to the American people, asking them to send him a list of ten inflation-reducing ideas.[2] Ten days later, Ford declared inflation "public enemy number one" before Congress on October 8, 1974, in a speech entitled "Whip Inflation Now", announcing a series of proposals for public and private steps intended to directly affect supply and demand, in order to bring inflation under control. "WIN" buttons immediately became objects of ridicule; skeptics wore the buttons upside down, explaining that "NIM" stood for "No Immediate Miracles," or "Nonstop Inflation Merry-go-round," or "Need Immediate Money."
In his book The Age of Turbulence, Alan Greenspan as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors recalled thinking "This is unbelievably stupid" when Whip Inflation Now was first presented to the White House. According to historian Yanek Mieczkowski, the public campaign was never meant to be the centerpiece of the anti-inflation program.[3]
