The inability to confront persistent inflation was caused by the unwillingness to stay within a budget. Inflation is not an act of God, or of unbridled nature. It is caused by printing more money to cover budget shortfalls.
Is it necessary to remind anyone that these are the years of Democratic-controlled congress, and Democratic controlled fiscal policy?
Inflation essentially came to an end with the arrival of Reagan, and Paul Volker, and eventually Alan Greenspan. Prior to this time, if you needed rock-solid currency, you resorted to Swiss francs, or German marks. Since Reagan, its the dollar all the way.
The bursting bubbles are not accidents or the work of a few larceny-prone executives.
Yes, it is. With the help of bought-and-paid-for presidents and congressmen, and media that are owned by the worst offenders.
They are the consequence of everything the conservative ascendancy sought to achieve--the savagery and injustice of unregulated markets, the blind willfulness of unaccountable corporations.
"The conservative ascendancy"? All of the financial scandals the author is discussing took place under Clinton, and involve payoffs to Clintonists and Democrats.
Inflation went wild after Nixon (at the behest of his liberal advisors) took us off the last remnants of the gold standard.
And we do know what these bubbles result from: the failure of the Federal Reserve to maintain a constant value of the dollar.