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Looking back, I think Pres. Carter was far better then he if given credit for. I do fully believe, even at the time, he would have been much much better than R

by jmclnx 2y ago

Looking back, I think Pres. Carter was far better then he if given credit for. I do fully believe, even at the time, he would have been much much better than Reagan ever was. Plus we would not be saddled with Trump at this point.

FilosofumRex 2y ago
[flagged]
hylaride 2y ago
Reagan benefited from the hard choices Carter made, including deregulation of the transport industries (especially trucking, but also airlines) that made it expensive and hard for companies to get their goods shipped to market. It was also Carter that appointed Volcker to jack up interest rates to end stagflation (that Carter gets blamed for, but inherited from Nixon). There's a (probably apocryphal) story that Carter asked Volcker if he could end the whole inflationary mess and Volcker said he could, but that it'd likely cost him election. Carter said do it. Carter's deregulations (including many other industries, like allowing home brewing and therefore the entire microbrewery market) have mostly stood the test of time because they were market-oriented. Most of the deregulation that has happened since (especially under Reagan and Clinton) was more "business friendly" and has led to lots of financial crisis (savings and loan, long term capital, 2008 crisis, etc). It didn't help that for all his character and long term thinking, Carter was a terrible public speaker. Even though I admire him, I never feel inspired when I see any video of him speaking as president. He felt unpresidential for the opposite reasons that Trump is - he feels too meek.
- Ylpertnodi 2y ago
  >It was also Carter that appointed Volcker to jack up interest rates to end stagflation (that Carter gets blamed for, but inherited from Nixon). Genuine question: how much credibility should then people give to Trump's "I inherited this mess from Biden..."?
  - poulsbohemian 2y ago
    None - because it wasn't a mess. We had a strong and growing economy and a legit plan to boost American manufacturing. Everything we are experiencing right now is a Trump foot-gun.
  - hylaride 2y ago
    > Genuine question: how much credibility should then people give to Trump's "I inherited this mess from Biden..."? Pretty much none..except maybe the deficit, but republicans don't exactly deserve a pass on that, either. I mean, just listen to Trump talk. Any "good" news is because of him; any "bad" news is because of Biden. He's a grifter. The tragedy is that of all the developed countries, the USA had the most growth and lowest inflation under Biden - if anything his administration did pretty darn well, but they just couldn't communicate it or it wasn't good enough to voters. Because monetary inflation tends to take time to work its way through the economy, the COVID pumping and cheques sent out under Trump could arguably be more to blame than anything Biden did (this is arguable either way at this point, though - it takes a lot of time to sift through and understand all the economic data). Trump has no basic understanding of economics. Unless you want to hoard dollars to sit and do nothing with, you cannot have a trade surplus with every country in the world - and the deficit is only in goods. The USA has service surpluses with most of the world and investment dollars are still coming back into the USA. Trade deficits in durable goods are actually a symptom of wealth.
intermerda 2y ago
[flagged]
- icedchai 2y ago
  I won't disagree. Still, I'd gladly take the Reagan/Bush era Republicans of the 80's over what we see today...
  - karmakurtisaani 2y ago
    Well Bush had his wars with millions in casualties and cost in the trillions, causing a refugee crisis that boosted the far right all over Europe. So, you know, it's a tight race.
    - icedchai 2y ago
      I was referring to Bush H, not W. I agree W was terrible.
      - karmakurtisaani 2y ago
        Ah of course, honestly didn't even remember H existed. That's the kind of R presidency you want (if you have to).
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
jauntywundrkind 2y ago
Carter told America it faced hard problems, and that it has soul searching to do, that it had to keep improving its moral and spiritual (and economic) fiber. Reagan stood up and said, "It's Morning again in America", that all the hard and bad was behind, economically but also spiritually. We didn't have to do anything other for the future, for other people, for social wellbeing: we can just enjoy right now however we want. https://youtu.be/pUMqic2IcWA https://youtu.be/pUMqic2IcWA The American temperament alas resoundingly went with option #2. It'll be interesting to see if Dear Leader today inspires a fanaticism or belief willing to make people sacrifice today. The tariff test will surely shake a lot of people. I'm not sure what or how Carter sold the difficulties faced, and how tough times were necessary, but I sure don't see much but bluster anger and vague gesticulation as we are being steered directly into extreme hardship today. Sorry but like, factory jobs are shit servitude, and the American cost of living forever make us incredibly uncompetitive, and now trying to build the factories is fantastically expensive because of tariffs.

by jmclnx 2y ago

FilosofumRex 2y ago

[flagged]

hylaride 2y ago

Reagan benefited from the hard choices Carter made, including deregulation of the transport industries (especially trucking, but also airlines) that made it expensive and hard for companies to get their goods shipped to market. It was also Carter that appointed Volcker to jack up interest rates to end stagflation (that Carter gets blamed for, but inherited from Nixon). There's a (probably apocryphal) story that Carter asked Volcker if he could end the whole inflationary mess and Volcker said he could, but that it'd likely cost him election. Carter said do it. Carter's deregulations (including many other industries, like allowing home brewing and therefore the entire microbrewery market) have mostly stood the test of time because they were market-oriented. Most of the deregulation that has happened since (especially under Reagan and Clinton) was more "business friendly" and has led to lots of financial crisis (savings and loan, long term capital, 2008 crisis, etc). It didn't help that for all his character and long term thinking, Carter was a terrible public speaker. Even though I admire him, I never feel inspired when I see any video of him speaking as president. He felt unpresidential for the opposite reasons that Trump is - he feels too meek.

Ylpertnodi 2y ago
>It was also Carter that appointed Volcker to jack up interest rates to end stagflation (that Carter gets blamed for, but inherited from Nixon). Genuine question: how much credibility should then people give to Trump's "I inherited this mess from Biden..."?
- poulsbohemian 2y ago
  None - because it wasn't a mess. We had a strong and growing economy and a legit plan to boost American manufacturing. Everything we are experiencing right now is a Trump foot-gun.
- hylaride 2y ago
  > Genuine question: how much credibility should then people give to Trump's "I inherited this mess from Biden..."? Pretty much none..except maybe the deficit, but republicans don't exactly deserve a pass on that, either. I mean, just listen to Trump talk. Any "good" news is because of him; any "bad" news is because of Biden. He's a grifter. The tragedy is that of all the developed countries, the USA had the most growth and lowest inflation under Biden - if anything his administration did pretty darn well, but they just couldn't communicate it or it wasn't good enough to voters. Because monetary inflation tends to take time to work its way through the economy, the COVID pumping and cheques sent out under Trump could arguably be more to blame than anything Biden did (this is arguable either way at this point, though - it takes a lot of time to sift through and understand all the economic data). Trump has no basic understanding of economics. Unless you want to hoard dollars to sit and do nothing with, you cannot have a trade surplus with every country in the world - and the deficit is only in goods. The USA has service surpluses with most of the world and investment dollars are still coming back into the USA. Trade deficits in durable goods are actually a symptom of wealth.

intermerda 2y ago

[flagged]

icedchai 2y ago
I won't disagree. Still, I'd gladly take the Reagan/Bush era Republicans of the 80's over what we see today...
- karmakurtisaani 2y ago
  Well Bush had his wars with millions in casualties and cost in the trillions, causing a refugee crisis that boosted the far right all over Europe. So, you know, it's a tight race.
  - icedchai 2y ago
    I was referring to Bush H, not W. I agree W was terrible.
    - karmakurtisaani 2y ago
      Ah of course, honestly didn't even remember H existed. That's the kind of R presidency you want (if you have to).
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

jauntywundrkind 2y ago

Carter told America it faced hard problems, and that it has soul searching to do, that it had to keep improving its moral and spiritual (and economic) fiber. Reagan stood up and said, "It's Morning again in America", that all the hard and bad was behind, economically but also spiritually. We didn't have to do anything other for the future, for other people, for social wellbeing: we can just enjoy right now however we want. https://youtu.be/pUMqic2IcWA https://youtu.be/pUMqic2IcWA The American temperament alas resoundingly went with option #2. It'll be interesting to see if Dear Leader today inspires a fanaticism or belief willing to make people sacrifice today. The tariff test will surely shake a lot of people. I'm not sure what or how Carter sold the difficulties faced, and how tough times were necessary, but I sure don't see much but bluster anger and vague gesticulation as we are being steered directly into extreme hardship today. Sorry but like, factory jobs are shit servitude, and the American cost of living forever make us incredibly uncompetitive, and now trying to build the factories is fantastically expensive because of tariffs.