Anti-Inflation Program: Voluntary Wage And Price Guidelines (Jimmy Carter)

PBS ^ | 10/24/1978 | Jimmy Carter

[Moonman62]

Jimmy Carter should have ended his speeches with "God bless America." He needed all the help he could get and so did America with him as president. We see that he isn't all wrong, there are some good ideas, but there are also some very bad ones, not the least of which is tax cuts are inflationary. He appeared to want to cover all bases, thus many called him wishy washy. He never seemed to believe in America or Americans, nor IMO his own ability to govern.

[Mr. Mojo]

Wait a minute, didn't Carter practically invent inflation?

[DoughtyOne]

He didn't invent it, but he tilled the ground, planted it, watered it, nurtured it and harvesting a bumper crop.

Can you believe this walking vegetable still rears his ugly mug and tries to imply that he knows anything at all about what's good for this nation?

Jimma, your brother was obiviously the gifted one in the family.

[sinanju]

Strange indeed. He seemed to be all over the place and talking out of both sides of his mouth. He doesn't believe in wage and price controls and then he asks for companies and unions to voluntarily self-impose them, in return for targeted tax cuts and regulatory relief. Bizarre.

History does give him credit for airline deregulation and PARTIAL credit for oil price deregulation.

[Kirkwood]

Solution turned out to be simple: Dump Jimmy Carter; elect Ronald Reagan.

[sinanju]

He also rambled on way too long and repeated himself multiple times. Anyone listening would have started out interested but would have turned to the Bob Newhart show before he was halfway through.

[Moonman62]

History does give him credit for airline deregulation and PARTIAL credit for oil price deregulation

Since he was all over the place he was bound to be right on something.

Toward the end he says if you just give this enough time, it will work, implying that it's going to look and feel like a failure right out of the gate. Then he implies that if it does fail, it will be the fault of the American people, a common thread in his speeches.

[Red6]

I think he invented something coined "stagflation". The ONLY time in history we had inflation AND a stagnate economy all at the same time.

Red6

[lmr]

No Sh*t. Thanks.

[Moonman62]

He also rambled on way too long and repeated himself multiple times.

If I hadn't been shaking my head back and forth, I think I would have passed out reading through it.

Anyone listening would have started out interested but would have turned to the Bob Newhart show before he was halfway through.

Who was the patient with the toupee on that show? He had all the excitement of a Carter speech.

[FreeKeys]

As for medical care, where costs have gone up much faster than the general inflation rate, the most important step we can take is to pass a strong bill to control hospital costs. This year the Senate passed one. Next year I will try again, and I believe the whole Congress will act to hold down hospital costs -- if your own members of Congress hear from you.

-- from http://FreedomKeys.com/medicare.htm

"It is fascinating to watch politicians come up with 'solutions' to problems that are a direct result of their previous solutions. In many cases, the most efficient thing to do would be to repeal their previous solution and stop being so gung-ho for creating new solutions in the future. But, politically, that is the last thing they will do." -- Thomas Sowell

[hinckley buzzard]

God, I remember those days. Dreary. It seemed the whole economy was going out of control, and this annoying little hemorrhoid in the White House was telling us we'd just have to learn to live with it--
"austerity" he called for--in America, during peacetime!
Having no clue, he tried the kitchen sink approach, and the misery index just got worse.

Fortunately the Fed tightened up money and Reagan brought leadership to the land. The inflation rate began to drop within months of his inauguration and has never really looked back.

[smoothsailing]

Jimmy Carter should have stayed in the Navy.

I was in the Army, so I suppose I could be a bit biased.

Carter was in the Navy, Kerry was in the Navy, Kennedy was in the Navy.

What is it with liberals and squids?

If liberals wanted to be tough, they should have been Marines.

Instead, they are just a bunch of wimps.

Flame on, if you wish, consider this.

It is the Army and Marines who do MOST of the dirty work.

[Moonman62]

Thought you might want to read this per our previous conversation.

[Moonman62]

Fortunately the Fed tightened up money and Reagan brought leadership to the land. The inflation rate began to drop within months of his inauguration and has never really looked back.

Carter went to on to implement credit controls which were disastrous. Volcker tightened money with Reagan's approval, and it caused a big recession, but I think it did more to restore confidence in the dollar than anything else. The biggest weapon that can be used against inflation is economic growth, and that depends on investment and innovation, which prospered under Reagan.

[Moonman62]

Of all our weapons against inflation, competition is the most powerful. Without real competition, prices and wages go up, even when demand is going down. We must therefore work to allow more competition wherever possible so that powerful groups -- government, business, labor -- must think twice before abusing their economic power. We will redouble our efforts to put competition back into the American free enterprise system.

Another reason for inflation is the slow-down in productivity growth. More efficient production is essential if we are to control inflation, make American goods more competitive in world markets, add new jobs, and increase the real incomes of our people.

Carter almost had it right. However, when you pit existing corporations against each other the first thing they'll cut is their R&D budget, salaries, and investment, none of each help economic growth or fight inflation. You might get lower prices, but you can't build and economy around it.

The good type of competition comes from startups with new ideas.

[hinckley buzzard]

"Carter went to on to implement credit controls which were disastrous"

That's right! I bought a house right about when he was giving this speech, October 1978, with a 10.5% mortgage. If that sounds egregious to our younger freepers, by a year later the prime rate was like 17 or 18% and I felt like I had a bargain.

As for real estate, as the saying went, "you couldn't move it with a bulldozer."

[ccmay]

If we meet these standards, the real buying power of your paycheck will rise.

If I had some pixie dust, I would ride a moonbeam.

How pathetic. What an out-of-touch, over-his-head dingaling this man was.

-ccm

[Moonman62]

From the speech:

I do not have all the answers. Nobody does. Perhaps there is no complete and adequate answer.

Jimmy really knew how to get people confident in his programs.

[Moonman62]

The government has been spending too great a portion of what our nation produces. During my campaign I promised to cut the government's share of our total national spending from 23 percent, which it was then, to 21 percent in fiscal year 1981. We now plan to meet that goal one year earlier.

Jimmy got some things right. I wouldn't call him an idiot. The problem was he did deficit reduction at the expense of tax cuts and economic growth. Not a good thing.