> I was born in 79, so I didn't know about that. Thanks for pointing it out. I
> don't want to be too judgmental, but I can assume that that was a result of
> the same sort of dysfunctional economic choices that democrats commit to
> today, like raising minimum wage too high too fast. Am I close? What was it
> about?

Stagflation is when inflation goes up, unemployment remains (or becomes)
high -- those are the "flation" parts, while the economy slows or stagnates
-- the "stag" part.

Google 'stagflation Jimmy Carter' and an interesting article at
digitalhistory.uh.edu should show up that explains all of this.  It did not
start during his presidency.  The economic policies of the 1960's, the oil
embargos, and the Vietnam War all assisted in leading to Stagflation.   He
is best known for making it worse.

Carter tried to fight unemployment with a lot of spending and expanding the
money supply.  Inflation eventually rose to double-digits.  The Fed stopped
the money supply expansion, and unemployment shot up.  So did interest
rates, to the highest in history.  Good if you had money to invest, I
guess, but not so good for the economy as a whole.

Unemployment continued to rise as a result of Carter's policies, even into
the first two years of Reagan's first term, to the highest it had been since
1940 (the Depression, and before WWII).

One other thing he tried to combat all of this was deregulation, including
of the S&L industry.  Something that oddly gets blamed on the two
Presidents that followed him, but it did not start with them.

> But like I've been saying here, I'm worried about a Democratic president
> destroying many of the good things republicans have initiated recently.
>
> Who will be the less of all evil, for the democrat primary, in your opinion?

Biden is a known quantity and probably not as likely to feel the need to
prove himself by making drastic changes.  At this time, I cannot
necessarily say that for the rest of the field.  It is probably too early
to tell, but there could be other candidates who emerge that would not be
as radical as the ones making the most noise right now.

Mike

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