A lack of History in this forum seems to be the norm.
Originally Posted by WTF
Well, if what you meant to say was that a lack of
knowledge of history is characteristic of this forum, I'll certainly agree with you there!
...Carter put Volker [sic] in at the Fed, without him who knows.
Originally Posted by WTF
Carter was prevailed upon to put Volcker in the Fed chair, with a mandate to crush inflation and restore sound money, but only after spending two-thirds of his term standing idly by while the problem spiralled out of control. Early in his term, he replaced the very bad Arthur Burns with the even worse Bill Miller. The Carter Treasury and the Miller Fed thought they could stimulate exports and growth by means of fiscal policy and ultra-easy money. All that stimulated was a dollar collapse and more inflation. As I recall, the dollar dropped by a third against the D-mark in 1978, and even more than that against the yen.
Then the Carter Treasury responded with a disastrous "dollar rescue package", which was like putting a Band-Aid on an injury that requires surgery. It involved selling some of our gold stock and borrowing from the IMF. Needless to say, all that did was kick the can down the road, setting the stage for a worse crisis.
I think that if he'd made the tough decisions early in his presidency, Carter would have stood a good chance to benefit from the restoration of sound money and economic recovery. But he simply spent 2 1/2 years making things much worse.
If actions are the sign ....then every president in the last forty years has expanded government ...
Originally Posted by WTF
Yeah, but nothing like this!
We're already looking at trillion-dollar deficits for years to come. Adding massive amounts of new pork and entitlement programs doesn't look like a very wise idea now, does it?
Obama is set to ride a decent on [sic], despite Captain Midnight's dire predictions.
Originally Posted by WTF
It's not as simple as that!
All this out-of-control spending is like a huge meal that must be digested. Everyone knows we are looking at very large tax increases, and that the only way you can really pay for all this largesse is by implementing a VAT. That would obviously yank huge amounts of money out of our consumer-dependent economy and stifle prospects for sustainable recovery. Big increases in government spending make the economy worse, not better. The eventual climb-down from ZIRP will also be a painful process for the economy.
Obama is emulating Carter in one respect -- that is, actively undertaking efforts that will do a lot of damage.
Carter was not only one of the worst Presidents, he is the absolute worst ex-President ever. That man needs to learn to sit down and shut up. Nobody give a flying fuck what he thinks anymore. (Not that we cared that much when he was President.)
Originally Posted by pjorourke
Hard to argue with that.
He's also shown time and time again that he's a vile, anti-Semitic bigot.
He should have just restricted himself to his efforts involving Habitat for Humanity, where he actually did some good.