Liberal Forum

golfboy » 10 Mar 2014 11:59 am » wrote:Carter was handed a roaring economy and drove it into the ground:
1977 4.6% $2,086.0
1978 5.6% $2,356.6
1979 3.2% $2,632.1
1980 -0.2% $2,862.5

Cannonpointer » 10 Mar 2014 11:30 am » wrote:
Let's have a peek at the raw numbers, shall we?

Year Growth GDP
1977 4.6% $2,086.0
1978 5.6% $2,356.6
1979 3.2% $2,632.1
1980 -0.2% $2,862.5


Now, then. Carter's first year was 77 - but the economy he inherited and grew from ended in 1976 - just as Reagan's economy is measured against what he was handed - the year 1980.

So, Gerald Ford caught a home-bound flight on these numbers:

Year Growth GDP
1976 5.4% $1,877.6


That means Carter grew the economy from what he inherited - 1,877,600,000 - to what he left Reagan to work with: 2,862,500,000. If I can verify that I'm carrying the right aughts, I cipher that Carter grew America's economy to 152% of what it was when he took it over. That's half again, in four years which included the energy crisis, Three Mile Island and the financial reckoning precipitated by abandoning Bretton Woods. It was Nixon's decision to convert to Fiat currency, but it fell to Carter to negotiate the nation through the resulting choppy waters.

Of course, you have already been shown that Forbes places Carter immediately behind Reagan on the list of economically effective presidents - and Reagan ranks pretty high, behind only one republican - fourth place Eisenhower. Win, Place and Show are all held by democrats, if we can trust Forbes. Personally, I hold Carter in higher esteem because he shrunk government and lowered our debt to GDP ratio during tough economic times (he had to follow far less effective republicans), whereas Reagan is famous for doubling the national debt and exploding our debt to GDP ratio.

And then, of course, I know you're aware that Carter beat the bejeezus out of Reagan on jobs, and never sent WMDs to Al Qaida, Iran or Saddam for use on civilian populations. Just stuff I prefer in a president, is all. That, and Reagan the first president to tax social security benefits, and amnestied illegals, and got 300 Marines murdered then cut and ran to focus on creating Al Qaida and giving Saddam WMDs and the greenlight to use them exterminating Kurds in the U.S. sanctioned Halabja Chemical Attack.



Also, your head has poop on it, because you are a poopy head.