"Dave" wrote
Not too surprising. They didn't have to live through that disaster first
hand.

Carter didn't create the financial disaster he inherited. When JFK took office
"Sound as a Dollar" was a maxim. Then we overextended ourselves to finance the
Vietnam war, the space program, and LBJ's welfare state, not to mention the Cold
War, without raising taxes to fund these new 'programs'. So, confidence in the
dollar collapsed and Nixon had to take us off the silver standard. The only
thing that saved the dollar was that 'Big Oil' agreed to accept only dollars for
oil.

The government was desperate for money and had only three ways to get it: tax
it, create it or borrow it. They chose to create it, causing inflation, and
borrow it internally, causing high interest rates. Meanwhile 'Big Oil' got to
enjoy a 'shortage' that skyrocketed profits without any investigation.

That's the mess Jimmy Otter inherited and could do little about. Reagan "fixed"
it by going overseas and mortgaging America to borrow $trillions and throw a
party. Bush follows in his footsteps. He even has his own war.