Download Ford Solution to Inflation

“Good old Jerry”
 Ford was
considered…
 Unimaginative
 Hardworking
 Ordinary
 Untouched by scandal
 Inept
 Open
 Certainly not brilliant
 Uninspiring
The Yom Kippur War
OPEC
Energy Crisis
 Raised energy costs,
slowed economic
productivity
 Created inflation
 Heating prices
 Factories powered
 Electricity prices
 Shipping costs
 Petrochemicals used for
paint, plastics,
fertilizers, etc.
 Gasoline
Stagflation
 Term to describe the twin evils of stagnant job growth
and surging inflation.
 1974: 12% inflation (ideal is 1-2%, current is 3.8%)
 Unemployment: 8.5% (9.1% today)
Ford’s Solution
to Inflation
 WIN (Whip Inflation
Now)
 Encouraged voluntary
citizen action to curb
inflation


Vegetable gardens, turn
down their thermostats
and carpool to cut down
on energy use/restrain
prices.
Ineffective, made a
mockery as poorly planned
gimmick
Ford Economic Actions: The First
Flip Flopper?
 First supported a modest tax increase to help stop
inflation
 Reversed his position, supported a tax cut to combat
slow productivity
 Signed Democratic spending bill, stimulated economy
 Results: By 1976 unemployment down to 7%, inflation
down to 4.8%, GDP growing
Carter Elected
 Seen as a Washington
outsider
 Sought to lead with
honesty and candor, by
example, with a higher
moral sense
 He promised he would
never lie to the
American people.
“A Pack of Ravenous Wolves”
 Congress which found the new president hard to deal
with, Congress shot down Carter’s consumerprotection bill and labor reform package.
 Carter responded by vetoing a public works packages
 A pattern of mutual distrust and contempt had been set
between Carter and Congress
Reliance on Foreign Oil
 U.S. oil imports had shot up 65 percent annually since
1973.
 In 1976 the nation was consuming one-quarter of all
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) production. The U.S. remained wasteful in
energy use,
 Consumption per capita 2.3 times the average for
nations in the European Economic Community and 2.6
times Japan's.
Carter’s Energy Reforms, 1978
 The president got Congress to pass the Emergency Natural
Gas Act, which would authorize the national government
to allocate interstate natural gas.
 Department of Energy to regulate existing energy suppliers
and fund research on new sources of energy, particularly
sustainable (wind and solar power) and ecologically sound
sources.
 Energy Security Act created the U.S. Synthetic Fuels
Corporation, which would provide $20 billion in joint
ventures with private industry.
 The deregulation of oil and natural gas prices that resulted
would lead to a vast increase in the supply of energy in the
1980s, and consequently a lowering of prices.
Energy Reforms, 1980
 Automobile mileage standards improved
 By April 1980, he had gotten much of his second
energy package through, including a Crude Oil
Windfall Profits Tax (with revenues designated for the
general Treasury but not for specific energy projects),
Received Little Credit
 Energy program was complex, created public
confusion
 Public understood reality with energy prices and taxes
going up
 Carter worsened his image problem by giving the socalled "malaise" (French for illness) speech, in which
he described a lack of confidence in America's purpose
and its future.
 Blamed the crisis of America's spirit on the American
people themselves.
Carter’s Energy Success
 Consumption of foreign oil down, from 48 % in 1976 to 40





percent in 1980,
Reduction of 1.8 million barrels a day.
Left office there were high inventories of oil and a surplus
of natural gas, D
Delivered by a more efficient/rational distribution system.
Between 1980 and 1985, domestic production would up by 1
million barrels a day,
Imports of crude oil and petroleum products declined from
8.2 to 4.5 million barrels a day.
All in the Family
 Program Disclaimer
 The program you are about to see is All in the Family. It seeks to
throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and
concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in
a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.
 All in the Family was notorious for featuring language and authentic
epithets previously absent from American television, such as "fag"
and "fairy" for homosexual, "yid" and "hebe" and "that tribe" for
Jews, "spic" for Hispanics, "mick" for Irish, "dago" and "wop" for
Italians, "polak" for Polish, "chink" for Chinese, "Jap" for Japanese,
"gook" for southeast Asian, and "spade", "spook", "jig", and "jungle
bunnies" for blacks. In a few instances, "goddammit" was uttered. In
the episode