Quote:
Originally Posted by Outofdodge  Oh come on, you're older than I am. I was just coming of age back then and was still in college (and a republican) during Carter's presidency.
The period covering the run up to the post Vietnam through the Ford and Carter terms and into the first two years of the Reagan presidency were periods of some of the highest inflation this country had ever seen. (Remember Ford's WIN buttons?). What was perverse about that period was the the conventional economic wisdom (Keynes) held that in period of high unemployment there would be low inflation and vice versa. Unfortunately the country had both.
It the Fed Chairman (a Carter appointee who was kept on until 1987 or so by the Reagan camp) that created what the Wall Street Journal this week called "the country's worse recession since the great depression" during the early part of Reagan's term in order to tame inflation. Reagan didn't inherit a recession, and to be fair, he didn't necessarily create it either but it happened on his watch.
(The article was in an analysis of the issues facing the next president and is a pay site but if you (or others) want to read it, send me an email address and I can send you a copy.)
I still have the closing papers on the first house I ever bought in 1982, with a special "below market" rate of 13.52%.  |
We’re really splitting hairs here OoD. There was a brief recession under Carter followed by a larger one under Reagan. Gas prices hit a record high in 1980 (adjusted for inflation) before Reagan took office. That aside, let me cherry pick your post.
Quote:
The period covering the run up to the post Vietnam through the Ford and Carter terms and into the first two years of the Reagan presidency were periods of some of the highest inflation this country had ever seen.
and...
Reagan didn't inherit a recession, and to be fair, he didn't necessarily create it either but it happened on his watch.
|
With that it might have been more correct for me to say that Reagan inherited an ongoing problem with the economy. As you point out “he didn’t necessarily create it” (a recession) but it did get turned around on his watch. I too had a double digit ARM mortgage in the 80’s and was acutely aware of interest rate changes. From the mid 80’s I watched the interest rates fall consistently until about 1992 or 93 when they took a turn back up. Also my pay raises were based on a COLA and I watched those get smaller. With both paychecks and house payments tied to inflation and cost of living you do get a handle on economic indicators up close and personal.
In any event we do agree when it comes to the question
“Wasn't the last recession a Regan generated thing?” the answer is no.