The Second Coming of Jimmy Carter

I just can't shake the feeling that we are headed for a repeat of the Carter era. All the candidates on both sides are prone to inventing stupid government spending policies to solve problems that government can only make worse by addressing. Romney less that the others but he is not immune. Just recall his speeches in Michigan about how he would revive the domestic auto industry there. What, is he going to dissolve the unions and bring in Toyota? I don't have to go over the rest of the dim wits. With all their bluster there is no difference between the Democrats. Socialism will be the order of the day. McCain might not like pork spending but his swallowing global warming hook line and sinker will make up for any savings he might get Congress to cough up if any.

For those of you too young to remember, the Carter era was ushered in with much fanfare and expectation. After the whole Nixon Watergate nonsense it seemed a grinning, good old boy, born again Christian from Georgia would bring the change we all wanted in Washington. President Ford was nothing to brag about. His "Whip Inflation Now" effort produced nothing. Inflation stayed right at 4% a year.

Carter brought change all right. He jacked the social security taxes while covering them with a modest income tax break that was coupled with the now familiar income tax credit which gives tax returns to people who didn't pay taxes. He fought pork barrel spending but added two cabinet level agencies, the Dept. of Education and the EPA. When the economy slipped into recession he faced an energy crisis which he addressed with rationing and conservation. The result was lines at gas stations and escalating prices. All this followed by the Iranian hostage crisis which he tackled with...diplomacy. It only lasted a year and a half, or more accurately, to the day after he left office. The inflation rate was 15% while unemployment was 8%. Take any of the candidates and some or all of this will be a reality again. Seems Americans need to remind themselves every generation that Government is at best a necessary evil and at worst an intolerable one.










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