Lyndon Johnson thought he could knock the Communists out of Vietnam with one massive push. That plan failed and LBJ was stuck with a giant war. He didn’t want to raise taxes so he printed money. Nixon ran as a pro-peace/anti-inflation candidate, then doubled down on both of LBJ’s worst policies.
In the middle of all this, the Arabs tripled the price of oil, which really skyrocketed inflation.
Carter managed to slow inflation by hiring a guy named Paul Volker, but Jimmy was kicked out before his policy began to kick in.
Reagan kept Volker, but Ronnie cut taxes without cutting spending. He gave the rich a big boost, plus he let the S&L banks give out loans to anyone who could walk in the door. When the banks failed, the taxpayer had to bail them out.
In 1968, middle class was still defined as one income supporting a family of four. In those days $1 million was considered a vast fortune.
By the time Bush Sr. left, ‘middle class’ was two jobs to support a US home, and $1 million was what a rich guy paid for a party.
Here’s what happened.
Lyndon Johnson thought he could knock the Communists out of Vietnam with one massive push. That plan failed and LBJ was stuck with a giant war. He didn’t want to raise taxes so he printed money. Nixon ran as a pro-peace/anti-inflation candidate, then doubled down on both of LBJ’s worst policies.
In the middle of all this, the Arabs tripled the price of oil, which really skyrocketed inflation.
Carter managed to slow inflation by hiring a guy named Paul Volker, but Jimmy was kicked out before his policy began to kick in.
Reagan kept Volker, but Ronnie cut taxes without cutting spending. He gave the rich a big boost, plus he let the S&L banks give out loans to anyone who could walk in the door. When the banks failed, the taxpayer had to bail them out.
In 1968, middle class was still defined as one income supporting a family of four. In those days $1 million was considered a vast fortune.
By the time Bush Sr. left, ‘middle class’ was two jobs to support a US home, and $1 million was what a rich guy paid for a party.