President Carter has died

[pood]

A president who I think will be remembered rather well is Biden. He did have a number of important legislative accomplishments, arguably the best track record since LBJ. That was certainly not the case for Carter. Carter did have sone notable foreign policy successes, including furthering Nixon’s detente with the Soviets, brokering an Egypt-Israel peace deal, and restoring the Panama Canal to Panama — the last of which the incoming moron wants to reverse, in addition to conquering Greenland and absorbing Canada.

 

[BH]

I was the best president ever. i did such a good job i went in and did what needed to be done and no one knew i was there.

 

[Derec]

Nixon then tried to deal with inflation by imposing wage/price controls, which he did in 1972 to ensure his reelection.

I thought he bugged the DNC office to ensure his reelection. Of course, ironically none of that was necessary because Democrats nominated McGovern.
In any case, price controls are a stupid idea in any case because it disrupts the market equilibration through supply and demand.

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

That was the correct solution, but it needed time to pay dividends and Reagan was eventually the beneficiary. Reagan did well to keep Volker around though.

As the article notes, Carter’s hidebound support for the Shah of Iran as “an island of stability” in the Middle East backfired on him and us.

I think the opposite. While paying lip service to our ally, he was not nearly supportive enough.
His UN ambassador, Andrew Young, even thought Khomeini was a "saint".

Young Praises Islam as ‘Vibrant’ And Calls the Ayatollah ‘a Saint’

Andrew Young, the chief United States delegate to the United Nations, praised Islam yesterday as “a vibrant cultural force in today's world” and said that Ayatollah Ruhobah Khomeini, the Iranian Islamic leader, would eventually be hailed as “a saint.”
Mr. Young, going considerably further in his views than has the Carter Administration, declared that it would be “impossible to have a fundamentalist Islamic state” in Iran because “too much Western idealism has infiltrated that movement.”
[...]
Although he acknowledged that Ayatollah Khomeini had been accused of anti Christian ‘and anti‐Semitic remarks, Mr. Young, who is an ordained minister in the United Church pf Christ, predicted that “Khomeini will be somewhat of a saint when we get over the panic.” While anticipating “a rough year ahead” in United States‐Iranian relations, the United Nations delegate predicted that “in two years, our relations with Iran will be on a pretty even keel.”

This stems from the Christian left's "kumbaya" attitude toward other religions.

Commendably Carter did put human rights to the forefront of his foreign policy, but I guess human rights didn’t apply to our “island of stability.”

What "human rights" are there in Iran now, after the takeover by the "saintly" Ayatollah?

 

[pood]

Nixon then tried to deal with inflation by imposing wage/price controls, which he did in 1972 to ensure his reelection.

I thought he bugged the DNC office to ensure his reelection. Of course, ironically none of that was necessary because Democrats nominated McGovern.

He imposed wage-price controls and bugged the DNC and did all sorts of stupid stuff because he was deathly afraid of not winning re-election. NIxon cared only about Nixon, just like Trump cares only about Trump.

In any case, price controls are a stupid idea in any case because it disrupts the market equilibration through supply and demand.

Agreed.

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

That was the correct solution, but it needed time to pay dividends and Reagan was eventually the beneficiary. Reagan did well to keep Volker around though.

Don’t agree that plunging the U.S. at that time into the deepest recession since the Great Depression was the correct solution.

As the article notes, Carter’s hidebound support for the Shah of Iran as “an island of stability” in the Middle East backfired on him and us.

I think the opposite. While paying lip service to our ally, he was not nearly supportive enough.
His UN ambassador, Andrew Young, even thought Khomeini was a "saint".

Young Praises Islam as ‘Vibrant’ And Calls the Ayatollah ‘a Saint’

Andrew Young, the chief United States delegate to the United Nations, praised Islam yesterday as “a vibrant cultural force in today's world” and said that Ayatollah Ruhobah Khomeini, the Iranian Islamic leader, would eventually be hailed as “a saint.”
Mr. Young, going considerably further in his views than has the Carter Administration, declared that it would be “impossible to have a fundamentalist Islamic state” in Iran because “too much Western idealism has infiltrated that movement.”
[...]
Although he acknowledged that Ayatollah Khomeini had been accused of anti Christian ‘and anti‐Semitic remarks, Mr. Young, who is an ordained minister in the United Church pf Christ, predicted that “Khomeini will be somewhat of a saint when we get over the panic.” While anticipating “a rough year ahead” in United States‐Iranian relations, the United Nations delegate predicted that “in two years, our relations with Iran will be on a pretty even keel.”

This stems from the Christian left's "kumbaya" attitude toward other religions.

All of this irrelevant because Carter backed the oppressive Shah to the hilt. Andrew Young was not president. Carter was.

Commendably Carter did put human rights to the forefront of his foreign policy, but I guess human rights didn’t apply to our “island of stability.”

What "human rights" are there in Iran now, after the takeover by the "saintly" Ayatollah?

Had Carter not slobbered over the shah the result in Iran might have been quite different — perhaps a moderate regime? But we’ll never know.

 

[bilby]

I was in disbelief when I first read the news. Jimmy Carter, rest in peace.

The guy was over a century old.

Disbelief seems a touch naïve...

 

[bilby]

The idea that the global phenomenon of stagflation was in the control of the US President is hilarious.

Stagflation was caused by skyrocketing energy prices. When energy is expensive, growth is suppressed and prices soar.

We saw a similar (but less severe) effect when Putin started a war, and gas and oil prices spiked; The lower severity was due to our having fewer eggs in the one basket - both because oil and gas production is no longer so concentrated in the OPEC nations; and because oil and gas are less significant, due to diversification of energy sources and also due to far better efficiency in transportation (even a big 'gas guzzler' today gets far better mileage than anything you could buy in the 1970s).

Ultimately, low energy cost is the big driver of both high growth and low inflation. Jack up the cost of energy - for transportation in particular, but also for manufacturing - and no amount of fucking about with interest rates, money supply, or other economic levers will prevent a fall in growth, spike in inflation, or both.

The US President's influence on 1970s stagflation was only through foreign policy; Domestic policy changes couldn't and didn't do anything, other than distract the public until the global situation improved.

Kissenger giving away Golan, and various diplomatic efforts to drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC, were what finally brought stagflation under control.

Volker chose recession over inflation, but the fact that he had no option but to pick one or the other was entirely due to events over which neither the US Government, nor the Federal Reserve, had any control.

The POTUS may be held responsible for the condition of the US economy; But he doesn't actually have much control over it.

 

[ZiprHead]

He was in hospice care for a long time. He lasted far longer than I expected him to. RIP.

 

[laughing dog]

A good man and a mediocre POTUS. RIP

 

[barbos]

The idea that the global phenomenon of stagflation was in the control of the US President is hilarious.

Stagflation was good for USSR, I even remember the time when there was all kind food in Russia, then it suddenly disappeared. Stupid commies wasted all that oil money on buying food and Africa. Carter is the first president I remember, news talked about him a lot.

 

[KCFlyer]

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

IT's what needed to be done and he did it and took the initial brunt of the start of the recession...but it is what had to be done. Reagan was lucky that his predecessor was the last president to actually put the county first.

 

[SLD]

My first election was 1980. I couldn’t stand Carter. He seemed weak and ineffective. The Iranians took over our embassy. The Russians invaded Afghanistan. Oil prices skyrocketed actually going over $1/gallon. The economy was weak. He just wasn’t a very good inspirational leader.

However, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Reagan. So my first vote was for Anderson.

But if I had to vote for either of them today, I’d vote for Carter. He may have been ineffective in many ways, but Reagan is the cause of our present decline.

 

[thebeave]

My first election was 1980. I couldn’t stand Carter. He seemed weak and ineffective. The Iranians took over our embassy. The Russians invaded Afghanistan. Oil prices skyrocketed actually going over $1/gallon. The economy was weak. He just wasn’t a very good inspirational leader.

However, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Reagan. So my first vote was for Anderson.

But if I had to vote for either of them today, I’d vote for Carter. He may have been ineffective in many ways, but Reagan is the cause of our present decline.

Yep. Even the rabbits living in the swamps got word that Jimmy was weak and vulnerable. The one thing I did like in his administration was all the "free money" I was getting on my money market account back in the late '70's. Sixteen percent interest (and even more IIRC)! Woo hoo!

I voted for Anderson as well. He was kind of the favorite amongst the college crowd here in California. I mention him today, and a lot of people are like, "Who?". I remember a lot fear mongering going on about Reagan, and how he would start a nuclear war with the USSR. A bit of a fizzle there. Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

[pood]

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

IT's what needed to be done and he did it and took the initial brunt of the start of the recession...but it is what had to be done. Reagan was lucky that his predecessor was the last president to actually put the county first.

The recession per se did not start until after Reagan took office. His reckless fiscal policies no doubt exacerbated it. I don’t think throwing a huge number of people out of work — the early 80s recession was the steepest since the Great Depression — was the way to wring inflation out of the economy. We had inflation the last few years because of Covid dislocations, but Biden didn’t pursue policies to throw a lot of people out of work to ease it. And inflation has cone down while the economy and job growth continues apace, but the stupid American public, with its average sixth-grade education, saw fit to reward Biden by restoring the maniacal moron he defeated back into office.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

IT's what needed to be done and he did it and took the initial brunt of the start of the recession...but it is what had to be done. Reagan was lucky that his predecessor was the last president to actually put the county first.

The recession per se did not start until after Reagan took office. His reckless fiscal policies no doubt exacerbated it. I don’t think throwing a huge number of people out of work — the early 80s recession was the steepest since the Great Depression — was the way to wring inflation out of the economy. We had inflation the last few years because of Covid dislocations, but Biden didn’t pursue policies to throw a lot of people out of work to ease it. And inflation has cone down while the economy and job growth continues apace, but the stupid American public, with its average sixth-grade education, saw fit to reward Biden by restoring the maniacal moron he defeated back into office.

Agree. Wall Street was up also under Biden. I wonder if we’re going to see a repeat of the 1983 recession under Trump.

 

[pood]

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

IT's what needed to be done and he did it and took the initial brunt of the start of the recession...but it is what had to be done. Reagan was lucky that his predecessor was the last president to actually put the county first.

The recession per se did not start until after Reagan took office. His reckless fiscal policies no doubt exacerbated it. I don’t think throwing a huge number of people out of work — the early 80s recession was the steepest since the Great Depression — was the way to wring inflation out of the economy. We had inflation the last few years because of Covid dislocations, but Biden didn’t pursue policies to throw a lot of people out of work to ease it. And inflation has cone down while the economy and job growth continues apace, but the stupid American public, with its average sixth-grade education, saw fit to reward Biden by restoring the maniacal moron he defeated back into office.

Agree. Wall Street was up also under Biden. I wonder if we’re going to see a repeat of the 1983 recession under Trump.

If Trump gets his way on tariffs we will probably seen a return of high inflation and sluggish growth, i.e., the stagflation that plagued the 70s. The people who will be hurt most by this are the gomers who voted him. I recently saw an online headline to the effect of, “MAGA supporters terrified Trump will cut their benefits.” I didn’t even read the article, I just laughed at these simpletons.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If Trump gets his way on tariffs we will probably seen a return of high inflation and sluggish growth, i.e., the stagflation that plagued the 70s. The people who will be hurt most by this are the gomers who voted him. I recently saw an online headline to the effect of, “MAGA supporters terrified Trump will cut their benefits.” I didn’t even read the article, I just laughed at these simpletons.

I feel for the latest generation of which the market isn't "up" for them. Housing is though. This is a bad time to be starting out. And I'm getting old enough that market drops aren't as cute anymore.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

IT's what needed to be done and he did it and took the initial brunt of the start of the recession...but it is what had to be done. Reagan was lucky that his predecessor was the last president to actually put the county first.

The recession per se did not start until after Reagan took office. His reckless fiscal policies no doubt exacerbated it. I don’t think throwing a huge number of people out of work — the early 80s recession was the steepest since the Great Depression — was the way to wring inflation out of the economy. We had inflation the last few years because of Covid dislocations, but Biden didn’t pursue policies to throw a lot of people out of work to ease it. And inflation has cone down while the economy and job growth continues apace, but the stupid American public, with its average sixth-grade education, saw fit to reward Biden by restoring the maniacal moron he defeated back into office.

The problem he was addressing wasn't merely inflation, but inflation that had gotten baked into expectations. Biden was dealing with inflation due to Covid and everyone expected the Fed to bring things back to normal as they could, there was no expectation of continuing inflation.

 

[KCFlyer]

Carter’s solution was to appoint Volcker, whose policies eventually drove the nation into a deep recession that occurred during Reagan’s first term in office. Fortunately for Regan, the economy began to recover in time for him to win re-election.

IT's what needed to be done and he did it and took the initial brunt of the start of the recession...but it is what had to be done. Reagan was lucky that his predecessor was the last president to actually put the county first.

The recession per se did not start until after Reagan took office. His reckless fiscal policies no doubt exacerbated it. I don’t think throwing a huge number of people out of work — the early 80s recession was the steepest since the Great Depression — was the way to wring inflation out of the economy. We had inflation the last few years because of Covid dislocations, but Biden didn’t pursue policies to throw a lot of people out of work to ease it. And inflation has cone down while the economy and job growth continues apace, but the stupid American public, with its average sixth-grade education, saw fit to reward Biden by restoring the maniacal moron he defeated back into office.

Agree. Wall Street was up also under Biden. I wonder if we’re going to see a repeat of the 1983 recession under Trump.

If Trump gets his way on tariffs we will probably seen a return of high inflation and sluggish growth, i.e., the stagflation that plagued the 70s. The people who will be hurt most by this are the gomers who voted him. I recently saw an online headline to the effect of, “MAGA supporters terrified Trump will cut their benefits.” I didn’t even read the article, I just laughed at these simpletons.

The best thing the Democrats can do is sit back and let the voters get what they voted for. Not what they thought they voted for. Trump seized on "Bidenflation" and promised to get prices down really fast. This is what they voted for. After he won, this "not a politician" shifted from "campaign mode" to a transition to governing and said "well....it won't be easy and it mght not happen". Then he is all about tariffs, and admitted after he won that "yes, they might increase prices". So those folks expecting lower prices and more affordablt goods will get.....higher prices. So many Trump supporters seem to feel that they will be satisfied with deporting illegals and that inflation isn't as high as it was (but is still there) will make them feel better. I think they will not be too happy with what they got.

 

[SLD]

My first election was 1980. I couldn’t stand Carter. He seemed weak and ineffective. The Iranians took over our embassy. The Russians invaded Afghanistan. Oil prices skyrocketed actually going over $1/gallon. The economy was weak. He just wasn’t a very good inspirational leader.

However, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Reagan. So my first vote was for Anderson.

But if I had to vote for either of them today, I’d vote for Carter. He may have been ineffective in many ways, but Reagan is the cause of our present decline.

Yep. Even the rabbits living in the swamps got word that Jimmy was weak and vulnerable. The one thing I did like in his administration was all the "free money" I was getting on my money market account back in the late '70's. Sixteen percent interest (and even more IIRC)! Woo hoo!

I voted for Anderson as well. He was kind of the favorite amongst the college crowd here in California. I mention him today, and a lot of people are like, "Who?". I remember a lot fear mongering going on about Reagan, and how he would start a nuclear war with the USSR. A bit of a fizzle there. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Yeah, the whole nuclear freeze, nuclear war scaremongering was a distraction. We were never close to being nuked. Nuclear weapons have probably kept the peace for the last few decades.

 

[bilby]

We were never close to being nuked.

Yeah, nah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

Survival is not proof of safety. It's not even evidence for safety.

Deterrence seems to have worked so far, but it certainly led to situations where the US was very close indeed to being nuked.