"The most economically incompetent administration since the Great Depression"

[plumbervol]

It has been since the 30's that the economy has been this bad. The ADMINS of Harding Coolidge and Hoover created the Great Depression. We have had 30 years of Reagan, Bush, BushII with a dose of the Clinton and NAFTA to create this version of the Next Great Depression. They have destroyed the middle class and allowed the infrastructure to crumble around them. Reagan pulled us out of the post Vietnam and NASA recession with the largest federal peace time spending on Defense in the History of Mankind. He oversaw the raising the national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion during his presidency. Reagan reversed  the policy of détente and ordered a massive buildup of the United States Military  He revivied the B-1 bomber program and producing the MX "Peacekeeper" missile and the NATO's deployment of the Pershing II missile in West Germany. Just saying!!!

[Sasquatch]

I wonder why Carter is never mentioned in PV's economic analysis? Just saying.

[plumbervol]

Carter is irrelevant in the discussion. Reagan changed the course with his supply-side economics. The tax cuts are hailed by the Republicans but they seem to forget the debt he ran up....... Or that the top tier tax bracket rates were lowered from 70% to 28%. Conversely, Congress raised some taxes in every year from 1981 to 1987 to continue funding such government programs as the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 despite the fact that TEFRA was the largest peacetime tax increase in American history. Not to mention the Fed dumped unfunded mandates on local and state governments. That federal funding for such things as infrastructure was cut while deficits went sky high paying for those damn tax cuts. In the 80's I was one of those $30-50,000 a year earners who had his tax cut but my bracket creaped up and I paid an increase as my pool increrased my overall tax rate. This creep hit mostly middle class and not the upper tiers.... Who had their rates drop!!

[Sasquatch]

Carter is irrelevant in the discussion.

Can't blame ya for wanting to make Carter irrelevant in ANY discussion. 

[plumbervol]

It is relevant if you want to point out that Carter was prez when the post Vietnam War recession hit. It is also relevant to point out that Reagan's philosphy has been used as a guiding light for 2 post Reagan presidents and folks forget the rest of the story about the defense deficit  spending of that era. The last non deficit budget was under Clinton I believe?

[Jeremy Roenick]

Yeah, I'd classify history making Stagflation, a catastrophic energy crisis, and off-the-charts interest rates as irrelevant.

The fleecing of America predates Carter.  Too bad the sheeple  can't take off the partisan sunglasses long enough to see the truth.

[NCVol]

Yeah, I'd classify history making Stagflation, a catastrophic energy crisis, and off-the-charts interest rates as irrelevant.

The fleecing of America predates Carter.  Too bad the sheeple  can't take off the partisan sunglasses long enough to see the truth.

I have to say a couple of things.  The inflation predated Carter - was inevitable in fact when NIXON took us off the gold standard, and the money supply exploded.  The inflation during the Carter years was simply an extension of the monetary and fiscal conditions that came before him.  The "off the charts" interest rates were purposeful, and were created by Paul Volcker to crush inflation for good.  I have to give Carter the benefit for appointing Volcker and almost surely knowing what was to come soon after Tall Paul took over - massive interest rate hikes and the inevitable deep depression.  It was Reagan who didn't extend Volcker's term, and gave us Al "Easy Money" Greenspan who spent the next couple of decades doing the bidding of Wall Street and leading us blindly into TWO financial bubbles and eventually financial catastrophe.  It's not fair to blame Reagan for all of that, but it's also not fair to blame Carter for the policies of the Fed that both created then crushed inflation.  Certainly Reagan exploded both government spending and the deficits at a FAR higher rate than Carter ever dreamed of doing. 

[Jeremy Roenick]

The manipulation of the money supply by the Central Bank has been an evil forced upon the American people since the Fed's inception.  The economy flags up and flags down at the whim of the Fed.  The manipulation is criminal.

This goes well beyond any single President.  People have been impoverished and crushed by these evil people.  The current crisis is just the grand finale of the Fed before our dollar is destroyed, and along with it many American lives.

[GRAY]

it's good to know that when things suck under a democrat, it's because of the previous republican, but if things suck under a republican it's because of that republican.

[plumbervol]

You are talking a change from the Gold Standard, and all I can tell you is that I was right smack in the middle of it..... I was married with a child in 1977. Vietnam ended and the great discharge was underway. In 73 the troops left and by 75 the discharges were hitting. Last Americans Evacuate as Saigon Falls to the Communists in April of 75. I tried to join the Military in 77 and was put on a waiting list. I had a kid and a wife. I was called in 1980, by this time I had an apprenticship and security clearance and was in Oak Ridge and did not go. The Oil Crisis hit in 73 and again in 79 and Iran was on the front page. Every returning Viet was heading to TVA as the economy was in shambles.... We were lucky here because of the Nuclear Steam plant construction boom was in full force........ Engineers, welders, Nuclear Operators, accountants clerks anybody with a technical background was following the build up.  The foreign cars hit because of the oil crisis and Detroit went into shock. The 3 Mile Island hit in 1979 and the industry shut down!! The Nuclear Weapon Build up kept me employed until the Polish Solidarity Movement shut down the USSR and the fall of the Berlin Wall followed.....
How bad was it!! A friend joined the Air Force as a Sr in HS in December of 74, in June of 75 they offered him $15,000 to not show up. He went anyway and was a NDT (x-ray welds) and was discharged early after 2.5 years with full 4 years pay and went straight to TVA and retired there... That is how the influx of the discharged Vets hit America. Hundreds of thousands of unemployed ex GI's hit in about 4 years.....

[NCVol]

it's good to know that when things suck under a democrat, it's because of the previous republican, but if things suck under a republican it's because of that republican.

If you want to debate based on evidence, be my guest Gray.  I'll admit I'm not holding my breath.

LBJ and to a lesser extent Kennedy took us to war in Vietnam, which resulted in huge deficits.  Nixon inherited the war.  I'm willing to admit the fault of democrats.  If you pay any attention, you'll also know that I frequently, nearly daily, criticize Obama and members of his economic team.  They're crooks and/or incompetents for the most part.  I've pointed out, REPEATEDLY, the failures of Clinton, among them signing the repeal of Glass Steagall and the ushering in of China to the WTO and NAFTA and GATT.  

Who's unwilling to look at evidence beyond raw partisan politics are brain dead conservatives.  And that includes you.  

[Jeremy Roenick]

And yet another Democratic President will take us to war.  This time Obama in Iran.  We will either watch the Israelis go play and sit in moral support or we will strike with them in active participation.  No matter.  We have been in a proxy war with Iran since the 80's.  Just undeclared.

We need more people to wake up and realize that this is not a partisan issue, and that we've been duped by both parties in a lot of respects.