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Re: EJ Twitter thread on yield curve inversion
Of course I'm wasting my time and breath, so forgive this indulgence. Only I'm old enough to have lived through the Carter idiocy and have to doubt the wisdom of any proposal that looks to his tax policy as an example of what to do. Most of what I recall during the Carter Administration was a never ending stream of tax increases. The country saw increases in almost every tax, (to include, but not limited to) Income, Gas, Capital Gains, and Business taxes. I almost forgot the big one, the Windfall Profits Tax on energy companies.
The result was double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, and triple digit gas prices, followed by shortages, rationing, and scuffles at gas station queues. Automobile prices increased 72%. New house prices went up 67%. In 1979 alone, gasoline prices increased 60%. The inflation rate went from 6.8% in 1977, to 7.6% in 1978, to 11.5% in 1979, to 12.4% in 1980. National productivity declined sharply. The unemployment rate soared. And interest rates soared. By the time Carter left office, the prime rate was 21.5%. Alas, the one thing that did not follow prices up with inflation, interest, and taxes was wages.
Inflation is our friend!
Carter gave us the Misery Index, so the Federal Government could tell us just how bad life was in America. It took Reagan's tax cuts to finally turn things around. The economy turned up, despite a particularly nasty recession in the wake of Carter's disastrous economic policies and the adjustments necessary to correct them, and then revenue to the Government increased. Only it was the Democratic controlled Congress who spent the surpluses and then complained about the deficits they caused, as if somehow the GOP was to blame for Carter's huge Democrat majorities in the House and Senate and their insatiable desire to spend.
And what did Carter do by way of a mid-course correction when it was clear to everyone that the wheels had come off? Well, he went on TV on July 15, 1979 and read Chris Matthews' “Malaise Speech,” that's what. His great idea was to chastise the American people for their “crisis of confidence,” a crisis his policies created. Hell, even Walter Friggin' Mondale knew that was a loser. Oh, and then he played with the thermostats, put on a cardigan, and shut off the lights on the national Xmas tree, for ufck's sake. In the meantime, he gave away the Panama Canal and created the Gollum that would one day become Al Qaeda by funding Afghan tribesmen against the Sovs and forever committing us to the Mideast by his Carter Doctrine. And when the Iranians seized the embassy in retaliation for his hosting of the hated Shah, instead of sending in the B-52s, he sits on his hands for nearly a year. And when he finally acts it ends in utter disaster, with burning hulks of helicopters, airplanes, and dead American soldiers in the desert serving as a monument to his administration's incompetence.
Jimmy Carter Memorial Battlefield
We've had some dumbshites in the big house since then - Bush Junior being the worst of the bunch in terms of foreign policy, at least. But in terms of well-rounded, through and through incompetence, Jimmy Carter takes first place. It blows my mind to think anyone could look to those days and think, "you know, let's try that again."
Of course I'm wasting my time and breath, so forgive this indulgence. Only I'm old enough to have lived through the Carter idiocy and have to doubt the wisdom of any proposal that looks to his tax policy as an example of what to do. Most of what I recall during the Carter Administration was a never ending stream of tax increases. The country saw increases in almost every tax, (to include, but not limited to) Income, Gas, Capital Gains, and Business taxes. I almost forgot the big one, the Windfall Profits Tax on energy companies.
The result was double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, and triple digit gas prices, followed by shortages, rationing, and scuffles at gas station queues. Automobile prices increased 72%. New house prices went up 67%. In 1979 alone, gasoline prices increased 60%. The inflation rate went from 6.8% in 1977, to 7.6% in 1978, to 11.5% in 1979, to 12.4% in 1980. National productivity declined sharply. The unemployment rate soared. And interest rates soared. By the time Carter left office, the prime rate was 21.5%. Alas, the one thing that did not follow prices up with inflation, interest, and taxes was wages.
Inflation is our friend!
Carter gave us the Misery Index, so the Federal Government could tell us just how bad life was in America. It took Reagan's tax cuts to finally turn things around. The economy turned up, despite a particularly nasty recession in the wake of Carter's disastrous economic policies and the adjustments necessary to correct them, and then revenue to the Government increased. Only it was the Democratic controlled Congress who spent the surpluses and then complained about the deficits they caused, as if somehow the GOP was to blame for Carter's huge Democrat majorities in the House and Senate and their insatiable desire to spend.
And what did Carter do by way of a mid-course correction when it was clear to everyone that the wheels had come off? Well, he went on TV on July 15, 1979 and read Chris Matthews' “Malaise Speech,” that's what. His great idea was to chastise the American people for their “crisis of confidence,” a crisis his policies created. Hell, even Walter Friggin' Mondale knew that was a loser. Oh, and then he played with the thermostats, put on a cardigan, and shut off the lights on the national Xmas tree, for ufck's sake. In the meantime, he gave away the Panama Canal and created the Gollum that would one day become Al Qaeda by funding Afghan tribesmen against the Sovs and forever committing us to the Mideast by his Carter Doctrine. And when the Iranians seized the embassy in retaliation for his hosting of the hated Shah, instead of sending in the B-52s, he sits on his hands for nearly a year. And when he finally acts it ends in utter disaster, with burning hulks of helicopters, airplanes, and dead American soldiers in the desert serving as a monument to his administration's incompetence.
Jimmy Carter Memorial Battlefield
We've had some dumbshites in the big house since then - Bush Junior being the worst of the bunch in terms of foreign policy, at least. But in terms of well-rounded, through and through incompetence, Jimmy Carter takes first place. It blows my mind to think anyone could look to those days and think, "you know, let's try that again."
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