The American Spectator : That '70s Horror Show

That '70s Horror Show

By Stephen Moore from the March 2009 issue

(Page 2 of 3)

Ford's biggest failing was in misunderstanding how to combat inflation, which was still raging. Ford asked the nation in October 1975 to be "energy savers" and to wear Whip Inflation Now (WIN) buttons to try to slay the inflation beast, as if inflation were a state of mind, rather than a result of monetary policy run amok. On taxes, Ford and Congress refused to cut the high rates of the era, and offered up impotent tax rebates instead. The unemployment rate and inflation rate each hit 7 percent in 1976, and the nation wanted a change.

ENTER JIMMY CARTER — who had run on an appealing anti-Washington, anti-big government, pro-balanced budget campaign for the presidency. Yet once Carter was in the White House it became clear he had no idea how to lead the nation out of its deepening economic troubles. Lacking a core pillar of ideology, Carter proved to be a micromanager and a constant vacillator. In his one term he launched major economic programs— none of which worked and some of which contradicted each other.

For example, in Carter's first year in office he lobbied for a tax rebate to help the middle class and to stimulate the economy. But in the later years of his presidency he attacked tax cuts as unaffordable. He had pledged to "reform the tax code" but never put forward a coherent plan. The supply-side tax revolution was just getting started, but Jimmy and his incompetent treasury secretary Michael Blumenthal did everything they could to block it. The bipartisan Steiger capital gains tax cut of 1978 was denounced by Carter as "a huge tax windfall for millionaires and two bits for the average American." He declared that the Steiger bill was "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." Blumenthal called the supply-side tax cuts "the millionaires' relief act." This was the birth of the left's class warfare rhetoric. The bill passed by such huge veto-proof majorities that Carter begrudgingly signed it into law. One side effect of the stifling inflationary spiral of the 1970s was that Americans were steadily pushed into higher tax brackets. This was called bracket creep: Americans' real incomes weren't rising but the taxman was automatically taking a larger share of a rising before-inflation income, but a falling after-inflation income.

Making matters worse, since the 1964 Kennedy tax cuts, there had been a few tax cuts (the Steiger capital gains cut, for example), but most taxes at the federal, state, and city levels had been relentlessly climbing. The payroll tax for Social Security had been rising due to scheduled rate increases, and so the combination of bracket creep and payroll tax increases meant a shrinking after-tax paycheck. This was explained well by James Gwartney, an economist at Florida State University, who examined the impact of taxes on the middle class in this period:

Between 1965 and 1978 taxes as a share of the taxpayer's adjustable gross income increased from 19.4% to 29.5% of AGI. By 1980 the average tax rate of a typical working couple with two children had risen to 20.9% compared with only 13.7% in 1965. More importantly for incentives, the couple's marginal tax rate jumped from 23.6% in 1965 to 35.13% in 1980. There has been a substantial increase in tax rates since the mid-1960s [through 1980] in the United States. President Carter did nothing to relieve this tax bite and opposed almost all efforts to alleviate it.

ANOTHER HUGE CARTER BLUNDER was his energy policy, even though it was his top domestic policy concern. Carter had declared that ending the energy crisis was for the nation "the moral equivalent of war." This was an era of gasoline lines—a time when motorists would start lining up at 6 a.m. on frigid winter mornings to be first in line to fill up the tank.

Throughout the 1970s, under Nixon, Ford, and Carter, OPEC severely restricted production of oil, contributing to a big spike in the price of heating oil and gasoline. The fall in the value of the dollar—and the loss of its purchasing power—played a key and underappreciated role here as well. By the late 1970s the price of a barrel of oil had more than tripled from $10 to $32 a barrel.

Jimmy Carter was pessimistic about America's ability to pull out of the oil price spike. Thoroughly a Malthusian, he gloomily predicted in 1977 that "we could use up all of the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade."

Political panic during his administration spawned a potpourri of crackpot responses, including gas rationing; wellhead price controls; a "gas guzzler tax" on cars; an odd-even license plate system for rotating the days of the week that Americans could fill-'er-up; a voluntary policy urging stores and public buildings to turn the thermostat to a chilly 65 degrees in winter and a sweaty 80 in summer; a windfall profits tax imposed on producers of domestic oil, so that drillers could not "profit" from the OPEC price spikes; and a $2 billion "investment" in something called the Synthetic Fuels Corporation, an alternative renewable energy boondoggle that had produced not a kilowatt of electricity by the time it was closed down in 1982.

The one policy change that was desperately needed was decontrol of oil and natural gas prices— which Ronald Reagan was calling for on the 1980 presidential campaign trail. But Carter fought the idea and denounced proposed natural gas price decontrols as "immoral and obscene."

The effect of the Carter price control and windfall profits tax policies was that U.S. oil production fell from 11 to 9 million barrels a day from 1971 to 1980 (incredibly even as the retail price at the pump for gasoline more than tripled). Price controls made it unprofitable for domestic producers to increase output through more expensive processes, such as drilling deeper wells, fracturing, steam or water injection, offshore drilling, and so on. The other perverse effect of the price controls and profits taxes was that U.S. imports of foreign oil rose from 4 to 8.5 million barrels of oil a day from 1970 to 1977, as demand for oil rose and domestic production fell. In the final analysis, Carter's policies led to less conservation, less domestic production, more dependence on foreign oil, and higher long-term prices.

IT WASN'T JUST HIGH ENERGY PRICES that flummoxed Jimmy Carter—the rise in all prices became an irresistible force of nature during his presidency. Carter was a convert to the Phillips Curve belief that high inflation had to be tolerated to put people to work. So even with the money supply rising by 11 percent a year in 1977, he and his cadre of economists urged the Federal Reserve Bank to lower interest rates and quicken the pace of the printing presses to push more dollars into the economy. One of his chief economic advisers, Lawrence Klein, said, "We need faster monetary growth," even as inflation raged and monetarist economists argued just the opposite. In 1977 inflation was at an intolerable 7 percent, in 1978 it climbed to 9 percent, in 1979 it hit 12 percent, and in 1980 it shot up further to 14 percent. In 1980 the prime mortgage interest rate hit an astronomical high of 20.5 percent. The home building industry virtually shut down with interest rates that high. America was starting to resemble a Third World country in terms of monetary policy.

Carter had no solution. In 1978 he called the inflation bulge a "temporary aberration." Then in later years when the "temporary" nature of inflation suggested that the president suffered from a detachment from reality, Carter said that inflation wasn't his fault, but more of a moral affliction affecting American society because we had lost our capacity to "sacrifice for the common good." He declared in one speech that it was "a myth that the government can stop inflation." Americans scratched their heads and wondered if the Fed and Congress and the president couldn't stop inflation, then who could?

Carter was also a declinist. He scolded the nation in a TV address in 1979 that Americans now suffered from a crisis "that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our lives and in the loss of unity of purpose for our nation. The erosion of confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and political fabric of America."

Then he continued with his mournful prose that "for the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years." Why? Because the biggest pessimist in America was sitting right there in the Oval Office. This was the "audacity of hopelessness."

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Letter to the Editor

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Pingback| 3.16.09 @ 7:35AM

That ’70s Horror Show | WhoSayWhatWhen links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

That ’70s Horror Show | WhoSayWhatWhen Home About Get In Touch Examples That ’70s Horror Show Posted on March 16, 2009 That ’70s Horror Show When the price controls were lifted, nine months of pent-up inflation exploded like the cork released from a shaken bottle of Dom Perignon. … See all stories on this topic Comments are…

Robert Rosencrans| 3.16.09 @ 8:04AM

Liberals will argue that the Great Society was money well spent. The facts indicate otherwise. After the Kennedy tax cuts, historical poverty rates which were at 22% began to decline, hitting 14% or so in 1967, coinciding with LBJ's implementation of the Great Society. The term was coined in 1965 and by 1967 the programs were under way.

After 42 years and 7 trillion in expenditures, the poverty rates remain just about where they were in 1967, simply dropping to a little over 12%, indicating that the 7 trillion was wasted, and that the government is doing the wrong things to alleviate poverty.

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/histpov/hstpov2.html

Jay Molyneaux| 3.16.09 @ 8:27AM

This lecture ought to be taught in every high school and university in the United States. Not only the economic realities contained herein, but welfare at the terrible cost of the destruction of the African - American family and their now total dependence on government to remain alive at a poverty level. Welfare not only failed to end poverty, it spread it.

One can only wonder to what heights America might have ascended if that 2 trillion dollars that was spent economically enslaving blacks had been spent on productive undertakings?

james23| 3.16.09 @ 9:03AM

A great tour de misery; must reading for younger voters. I have sent copies to my sons.

PS--big typo on p.2, in this line
"In 2000 the prime mortgage interest rate hit an astronomical high of 20.5 percent. " I think the author meant 1980.

dennisl59| 3.16.09 @ 9:35AM

I was a 26 when Carter was elected. Not only was the economy as bad as described, I thought we were going to have a war with the USSR. Yes, folks, it WAS THAT BAD.

Tim Falk| 3.16.09 @ 10:04AM

Perhaps my memory isn't as good as I've thought. I was 20 years old in 1980 and I remember these bad old days. I also seem to recall that "stagflation" was the combination of inflation and a shrinking GDP. Under Keynesian economics, this was not supposed to happen. Stagflation had a great influence on the acceptance of supply side economics and monetarist policies, my shaky memory tells me.

The author is correct (if my memory is also correct) on the definition of the misery index.

Peter R McGrath| 3.16.09 @ 11:33AM

The puzzling aspect to all of the above is that Statist Liberals like our current POTUS continue to believe that our wonderful Federal Government is capable of spreading other people's money around to solve national problems. Quite to the contrary, the American people have demonstrated, time and again, that they are perfectly capable of achieving self-actualized spiritual and temporal success despite the well intentioned, ham fisted, confiscatory actions of our national government.

Obama-type libs can't appreciate that they are NOT appreciated by the productive class. Those who do appreciate their ministrations are too unengaged, apathetic, or stupid to understand that reliance on "benefits" is robbing them of incentive and ruining their lives and the lives of their (usually single parent) children.

The track record of the Federal government at solving problems like "poverty" or "energy" or "sickness" is laughable. Anyone who believes Obama's promise that pointy-headed bureaucrats at HHS will solve the health-care "crisis" needs to change their meds. The Federal Government is run by people who belong to a BIG union and we all know how unions work: don't screw in the light bulb unless the union contract permits light bulb screwing. Obama is the ultimate Union Boss and Chief of the Ruling Class Liberals.

The problem is that he has never succeeded in our free society and is an admitted failure in the capitalist world. He has never run a business, big, small, or otherwise, or made a payroll. Anyone placing their faith in him will be bitterly disappointed. Those who know better will nod their heads and resist the impulse to say "I don't you so" when it came to electing liberal do-gooders.

Marc Jeric| 3.16.09 @ 11:37AM

Excellent article - should be a required course in all universities. A good reminder of Johnson's War on Poverty; what is the definition of victory in that war? What is our Exit Strategy? Let us all ask Abu Hussein from Kenya to give a cogent explanation for this dark period in US history - the years of Nixon-his VP (I forget his name)-Carter! Also - how was it that Reagan's policy of trickle-down-economics (as if there is any other kind) produced 18 years of incredible prosperity?

daboss| 3.16.09 @ 1:23PM

Bob must be working on his 8x10 color glossy graphs with circles and arrows and writing on the back.

Jeremiah is just avoiding the inconvenient truth. Too bad, am actually interested in their thoughts.

Texas Male| 3.16.09 @ 1:51PM

Peter R McGrath said: "the American people have demonstrated, time and again, that they are perfectly capable of achieving self-actualized spiritual and temporal success despite the well intentioned, ham fisted, confiscatory actions of our national government."

This is most certainly true and has been demonstrated time and again! Left wing ideologists KNOW this to be true but a positive outcome for them does not equal prosperity for those willing to make it happen, but something entirely different.

The left is about power and control over lives and property and keeping populations living paycheck to paycheck (relying on them when things become dire) is how they do it. The far left is not only the enemy of the wealty, but also of those below poverty. The idea is to keep the poor EXACTLY where they are despite their ramblings of an ill defined "social justice". The ceiling is lowered over everyone, rich or poor when liberal/socialist/marxist policies prevail. This sham "stimulus plan" (orwellian wording indeed) is not designed to stimulate as much as cripple the average American. We are ALL headed to the liberal plantation.

I wish someone could answer this question:
How can we fight against what is going on now?
The ballot box (while we still have one) is not going to work as every viable politician today is a socialist it seems.

After scoffing at ron Paul while he was running, I would vote for him in a heart beat now. He was definitely a voice in the wilderness.

Pingback| 3.16.09 @ 2:20PM

New Paltz Journal » Blog Archive » Some economic history links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…no-repeat top;} */ New Paltz Journal Malone Vandam on Politics and Culture « “New Paltz senior to run for school board” Some economic history Stephen Moore on the 1970s: The 1970s was to be the era of economic strangulation by regulation. In constant 2000 dollars, spending by federal regulatory agencies rocketed from $5.2 billion to $10.2 billion during Nixon’s…

Howard| 3.16.09 @ 4:05PM

1980 was the year I became a Conservative. Shortly after Jimmy's Desert One fiasco I went on a vacation to Martinique. I noticed this poor island had more new cars than the US seemed to have. On my first day there a German national pointed his finger at me wagging it. He said "you Americans are weak and stupid". I rembember telling him that Carter was toast, and that a new administration will be arriving to fix things. Lo and behold Reagan did many good things. Now I'm afraid we may have to relearn these lessons, as new stagflationists are in power. These folks think their Ivy League educations will allow them to sucercede the market. And the band plays on!

Trackback| 3.16.09 @ 7:16PM

That '70s Horror Show, on perverse, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!

Michael Tomlinson| 3.16.09 @ 7:45PM

To quote a narcissistic ego-maniac “Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.” Don't discount Arthus Laffer's prediction of the upcoming Obama depression. Obama is going to make Jimmy Carter and FDR , who destroyed prosperity in the US during their administrations, actually look like they knew what they were doing. He's also going to make JFK and John Murtha look ethical and Alger Hiss look patriotic. As long as Americans give Democrats a free ride life is only going to get worse in the Obamanation.

Pingback| 3.16.09 @ 9:01PM

The American Spectator : bThat/b #39;70s Horror Show » GOSSIPGET.COM links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…last few years under the Bush administration followed by the coming economic populism of Barack Obama will lead the U.S. back into a 1930s-style Great Depression. b…/b Source: The American Spectator : bThat/b #39;70s Horror Show written by \\ tags: That Leave a Reply Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website i3Theme 1.7 is designed by N.Design Studio, customized by MangoOrange™,

Phil| 3.16.09 @ 9:21PM

I attended college in the late 70's. You couldn't even get a job at grocery store as a grocery sacker. In 1980, I obtained my first car loan; the interest was 18%. And yet all the pundits now call Carter one of the most intellectual presidents we had. My God, we are repeating history and none of these elected cowards has the guts to say "the Emperor has no clothes".

Angel| 3.16.09 @ 10:29PM

The economy stunk, but worst of all was having to look at Carter's smarmy toothy grin. Malaise!!!Still gives me nightmares.

Pingback| 3.17.09 @ 9:28AM

That ’70s show « The Tiger in DC links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…The Tiger in DC The DC job-hunt by a late twenties sort, the social scene, and politics. About the author Posted by: The Tiger | March 17, 2009 That ’70s show That’s Steve Moore’s prediction. Well, we’ll see. Better the 1970s than the 1930s. Posted in The economy, USA! USA! USA! « Milestone Leave a response Click here to cancel reply. Name * Email * Website Your…

Pingback| 3.17.09 @ 9:49AM

Tuesday afternoon . . . | And Still I Persist links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…on Cook. Speaking of which . . . shall we start a pool on when the Obama Approval Index goes negative for the first time? I’m willing to be it’s before April 1st. A return of “ that 70s horror show “, economically speaking? I remember it well, since I graduated from college in 1978 and almost immediately faced double-digit inflation, followed by double-digit interest rates, followed…

yo| 3.17.09 @ 10:17AM

great article
I had been thinking more in line with the argument that the libs were heading us into another great dep.
After reading this, i've reconsidered and I think that mr moore is right that it is likely to take us to stagflation. the main reason is that monetary policy will be more like the seventies now.

Tom E| 3.17.09 @ 10:24AM

In the Bush years middle class income declined, just like in the Carter years. Any ideological system taken to excess ends up destroying the economy.

JimBeam| 3.17.09 @ 10:43AM

Bush = Nixon/Ford
Obama = Carter

The problem isn't just "statist liberals." Statist conservatives are just as bad. The problem is one that is shared by both parties, that is that government knows best when it comes to the economy. Whether it is our current President with his Harvard J.D. or our former President with his Harvard MBA, the elites think they know what is best for America, but the truth is that they tend to do more harm than good far more often than not.

Government has a very specific role and a very specific job in society. Government's role in the economy should be to do what is necessary for the common good, but that the market cannot adequately provide, such as public roads, public schools, public safety, the military, and public health. (In every other industrialized nation, health care is considered a public expense.) I would also include certain forms of "social insurance" from FDIC to some form of Social Security as an appropriate role for government.

It is when government exceeds its natural role and starts dictating arbitrary economic policies like "homeownership is good" (promoted by BOTH parties) or "you should make certain choices in your personal life" or "you can only fly to Texas and neighboring states from Dallas's Love Field." that it gets into trouble. Now we have the absurdity of the "bailout nation" where the government decides who survives on the government teat (AIG, Bear Stearns) and who dies (Lehman Bros.). We will all pay the price in dramatically reduced economic productivity in the next few years and will suffer a dramatically reduced standard of living as a result.

MT| 3.17.09 @ 11:27AM

Obama's even more incompetent than Carter--which is unbelievable. At least Carter could blurt out a sentence or two without the teleprompter. Morons.

Paul in Colorado| 3.17.09 @ 1:47PM

In "1984" Orwell makes the left's agenda clear. Poor people are mostly interested in day-to-day survival and have little time for lofty thoughts about human rights. Poor people are easily controlled.

MT| 3.17.09 @ 1:52PM

Idiots are easily controlled. Unfortunately, thanks to our liberal Publik Skool Systim, there are millions of idiots in our country.

T. Jefferson| 3.17.09 @ 4:29PM

I remember Carter too.

Incredibly, you should get a Pulitzer for simply stating the obvious and telling the truth. Where are all the other honest journalists over 30 years old? Oh, you're it?

Thomas Taylor| 3.17.09 @ 5:31PM

Not mentioned, but also utterly destroyed during the 70's was the US Armed Forces. Obama has already proposed a 10% across the board cut in Defense spending. I suspect by the time Obama's time in office is over, the entire country will be on it's knees.

valwayne| 3.17.09 @ 5:46PM

Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs went on to spend $2 trillion over the next 2 and 1/2 decades. Jimmy Obama proposes to spend twice that with almost $2 trillion in debt alone in his first year! And since he broke his promise to oppose earmarks/pork billions and billions of it will be lost to pure corruption. Where's a John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan when you need them.....why do we end up with the Jimmy Carters and Jimmy Obama's?

Yuval| 3.17.09 @ 6:42PM

What you guys don't get is that Obama seems to have learned at least one lesson from Carter. It is simply this; the pesky ballot box will knock you out if you cause the American people too much pain. You therefore have moves from the administration to control the US Census (which determines how the electoral college works and which state gets how many seats in the House), and has inserted provisions into the frankenbudget to send tax dollars to ACORN. At least Carter was principled enough to not try to actively meddle with the actual election system in the country. Believe me, Obama was too obvious with the Census and had to let that idea go, but the administration will try again as it watches it's popularity ratings drop.

KJ| 3.17.09 @ 8:03PM

What nonsense and drivel.
First, deregulation of trucking, airlines, rail and other industries actually began under Carter - opposite of the "reregulation" you allude to in the lede.
Second, windfall taxes on oil companies is not what led to decreased production. Decreases occurred because we were running out of "easy oil" in the U.S. and hadn't yet mastered - at a reasonable cost - ways in which to abstract oil from shales, etc. Meanwhile, oil in the Middle East was easy to extract, cheap to refine and exempt from most import tariffs - hence the shift abroad.
Third, the truth is that all significant measures of economic growth under Carter - GDP, jobs, revenue - were positive. Furthermore, most inflation was offset by steady increases in personal incomes during that era. Meanwhile, Reagan's immoral policies supressed personal income (leading to less savings and more household debt), while real wealth controlled by the nation's top 1 percent grew from 9 percent in 1980 to nearly 23 percent today. And let's not overlook the Reaganomic policies and deregulation schemes as continued under Bush 1, Clinton and Bush II...and the final end result: our current meltdown.

Jim| 3.17.09 @ 8:10PM

Here's what I remember about the 1970s: my father, a diligent, hard working guy, losing job after job as U.S. industries contracted. When did things finally stabilize for him? A few years into the Reagan presidency -- and things got spectacularly better through the Clinton years. With apologies to Barry Goldwater -- and a bit of advice to Democrats -- moderation in the pursuit of economic growth is no vice. We get it. You want to make "progressive" changes. But please, don't throw out the baby with the bath water. The 1970s absolutely stunk.

Draconis| 3.17.09 @ 8:14PM

" ... LBJ unleashed the Great Society welfare state "to end poverty in America." These programs would go on not just to spend more than $2 trillion over the next two and a half decades ... "

Take another look at your math. George Will has the cost of the War on Poverty at $6.6 trillion over a thirty-year period.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201260.html

When I first heard that figure, I spent a couple of hours reviewing the annual budgets from 1965 to 1995, and yes, we spent $6.6 trillion to wage war on poverty, the poverty rate was essentially unchanged as a result of all that time and money, and the $6.6 trillion went straight to the bottom line of the national debt, averaging $220 billion per year. $6.6 trillion is $22,000 for every man, woman, and child alive today.

The Democrats complain that President Reagan raised the national debt, but the increase in the national debt during the Reagan years was almost exactly the amount mandated by LBJ's War on Poverty during the Reagan years.

Pingback| 3.17.09 @ 8:24PM

Fresh Bilge » FB Randoms links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…are still dissing Laura Bush. “Get a grip on your fears!” says Ken Fisher. Then he picks some stocks. Twilight of the autocrats: China and Russia may be destabilized. Then what? That 70’s horror show: Must we suffer the reruns? Posted at 8:12 PM | | No Comments Leave a comment » No comments yet. RSS feed for comments on this post. Leave a comment Name (required) Mail (will not be…

TheEnforcer| 3.17.09 @ 8:43PM

Wow!

I thought you were describing Obama's first 50 days.

deja vu

Alex| 3.17.09 @ 10:22PM

"And then Ronald Reagan saved the world."

Would that be the concluding line of Stephen Moore's fairytale?

So what's Moore's policy? Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts? Deregulation, deregulation, deregulation? It's not as if those policies have led to the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression or anything, right?

Oh wait...

Tom O'Brien| 3.17.09 @ 11:59PM

"It's not as if those policies have led to the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression or anything, right?
WRONG ALEX - Show us how you think "tax cuts and deregulation" led to this crisis. It was state policies of cheap money bubble and giving mortgages to those who couldn't pay them back.

sub| 3.18.09 @ 5:59AM

Nice work Alex. Your response to a factual macro-economic history is to spew Bush Derangement Syndrome nonsense. The next poster is correct, cheap money and social engineering via mortgage lending are at the root of this crisis. You likely believe in big government because you don't pay any of the taxes that fund it. Isn't that easy for you?......

S.L. Toddard| 3.18.09 @ 12:59PM

It's amazing to me that liberals have the nerve to rag on repub presidents with Obuffoon in the white house. This guy is such an incompetent moron he puts our national security at risk. What a loser.

Gazinya| 4.5.09 @ 10:47AM

I well remember that time. I graduated from H.S. in 1965. I voted for Carter because I wanted change. There was a huge democrat majority in both houses and I thought having a democrat president would be swell. I am so sorry.

I remember how suprised I was when I learned that the once strong, resiliant, though poor, black family had been decimated by the welfare of the democrats. If there was a man in the house then no welfare. The more children a single mother had the more money the democrats gave her. The democrats became the absentee daddy to the whole generation of broken families.

I remember in the early 1970's needing any kind of a raise to make ends meet. I was making $756.00/month and thought I was in pig heaven until my first pay check showed up and I dreaded making my $114.00/month house payment. When we did get a pay raise of 2 or 3%, which was every other year, we would be in a higher tax bracket and that would take the raise and then some. The 70's for those who were not yet born or too young to know was a living hell for the family.

So we have LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush I, Clinton, BushII and now The Obama. Reagan was a too short stop at the pool of sanity.

Pingback| 4.10.09 @ 12:45PM

Listener Calls to The Survival Podcast 4-10-09 | The Survival Podcast links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

Listener Calls to The Survival Podcast 4-10-09 | The Survival

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The American Spectator

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