Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 2. The Stupidist Trade War In History Edition.

 This will truly be a disaster:

The Dumbest Trade War in History

Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for no good reason.

At least its one thing that will seemingly be impossible for even the most ardent Trumpist to ignore.

 

And those people owe us an explanation, or the owe us an admission of neglect, regarding their support of Donald Trump.

We've discussed Trump here before.  Is he stupid?  Is he addled?  Is he a active Russian asset taking orders?  All three are possible and at this point the last one is starting to look rather hard do ignore.  What better to take out an enemy than to insert, at the country's head your stooge.

Active Russian agent or not, Trump has done more to wreck the country than any public figure since Jefferson Davis.

And it's going to get much, much worse.

As the trade war starts off, Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs.  Economic genius Gov. Abbot of Texas gloated that Canada can't get by without U.S. Cotton, which is the exact same argument the South made during the Civil War when it went into treason. Turns out they grow cotton all over the globe and, moreover, the type of cotton grown in Texas goes into high end shirts, not cheap t-shirts and skivvies, and the like.

On the plus side, the price of American cotton may start to go down due to this stupidity.

Trump threatened to raise the tariffs even more.

Individual Canadians are boycotting the US in every way possible, and they'll never forgive the US for this.  Nor should they.  A country that would elect such an obviously stupid man has an electorate that can't easily be forgiven.  On a higher level, there are serious discussion of cutting off hydroelectric power to the US Northeast, which would be devastating to the region.

Trump, who lies like a rug, says that this is over drugs and illegal immigration.  Next to no illegal drugs come in through Canada, although Canada is a victim of illegal drugs coming into it, as well as illegal firearms.

As for Mexico, it appears Mexico has had enough of Trump and now that between Mexico and Canada the US is in a shit sandwich, it's not backing down either.

Republicans in Congress have become completely spineless and are doing nothing.  Locally, they keep smiling and urging Trump on.

Trump is now also threatening to impose tariffs on the EU, which again makes a person have to wonder, at least a little bit, if Putin is calling in some chits.

It may also be the case that Trump dimwittedly is falling for autarky, the economic theory which tried to have everything produced within the borders of a nation.  Autarky was the economic theory of Nazi Germany, we'd note, which in part lead to it having to conquer or dominate its neighbors. . . .sound familiar?

Autarky is a universally discredited economic theory.  It's never worked, and its not going to work here, if that's the goal.

February 9, 2025

Waffle Hut is imposing a .50 per egg surcharge.

When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One

Donald Trump. 

February 10, 2025

The US has imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports in a desperate effort to bring back the economy of 1957.

It won't work.

Prices will rise.

February 14, 2025

And now, reciprocal tariffs.

Inflation has risen to 3%

A population level boycott of American goods is on in Canada.  Part of that is the cancellation of US vacations, which is already having an impact in the tourist industry.

The government announced a massive purchase of Tesla trucks.  Not like that's a conflict or anything.

February 19, 2025

Trump acknowledged in a interview with Fox yesterday (he sure gives a lot of interviews, and plays a lot of golf) that "inflation is back".  In fact, in his typical meandering style, he repeated it several times, and then noted "I had nothing to do with it".

Funny, if it was a month into the Biden Administration the Trumpies would be screaming that it was Biden's fault.

Inflation is going to get worse.  And whatever its causing it now (bird flu helped, but treating the economy like a toy for tariffs didn't help), it's going to be on Trump's watch.

His loyalist won't see it that way.

February 20, 2025

Wyoming has only two hospitals rated at the five star level according to an article in the Trib, one in Cheyenne and one in Jackson.

The information comes from Medicare.gov, so my anticipation it will be fixed by the Trump administration eliminating the ability to access things like this when it gets around to it.

Casper's hospital once belonged to Natrona County but was privatized.  It was having troubles prior to that, but since then it seems to have increased.  It's rates a 3.

February 26, 2025

In spite of the fact that it increases the debt. . . 

Some Republicans begin to get clear eyed.

They convinced me in there. I'm a 'no.' If the Republican plan passes...we're going to add $328 billion to the deficit this year. We're going to add $295 billion to the deficit the year after that...why would I vote for that?!?

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican, on the Republican continuing budget resolution.

The dollars thrown around as being saved by Musk are largely fictional, if in fact is rampaging buffoonery doesn't end up costing the government money.  Only taxes are going to pull us out of this debt.

the House approved the Trump budget resolution.

The bill calls for $2 trillion in overall spending cuts over the next decade, a triviality, to help pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, thereby being unbalanced to start with.  It increases increases defense and border spending, with the defense spending being paradoxical given Trump's isolationist views.

This extends, it should be noted, the 2017 tax cuts, which helped put us in a budgetary crisis to start with.  The Republicans recently have used the talking point that this is "unsustainable", which it is.

US consumer confidence dropped the greatest amount it has dropped in four years.

February 28, 2025

And the trade war is back on, of course. The tariffs that Trump suspended on our nearest neighbors are back in play.

Why?

Why indeed.

In part, it may be because the GOP budget, complete with the retention of an income tax rate at an absurdly low rate, is going to skyrocket the deficit and Trump sees this as a way of addressing it. Tariffs are a hidden tax on US taxpayers.

It could be a mere distraction for Trump, who likes to distract the public, it seems.

And as for Canada, Trump seems to have genuine bizarre territorial ambition and weirdly believes that beating up on our neighbor will make them love us.

The only sure thing is that this is going to be a disaster.

March 3, 2025

And, here we go.

The Atlanta Fed is projecting that Q1 GDP will be -1.5%.

That's a contraction of the economy.

Last week's projection was +2.3%, four weeks ago it was +3.9%

Now, younger Trumpers, your word of the week is "Stagflation".

A bright side, however.  With all the deportations, you might be able to replace the job you lose with a field hired hand's. . . 

March 4, 2025

Chinese response to tariffs:

For pork it goes to 47% with this additional 10%. 5% higher than all other countries.

15% on chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton.

10% on sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafood, fruits, vegetables, and dairy.

So, American farmers who voted for Trump. . . you're getting what you voted for.

Canada also hit back with tariffs.

The stock market fell for the second day in a row.

Trump doesn't care about any of this stuff.  It won't impact him personally.  Additionally, somebody gave him a Classic Comics edition on tariffs and he really believes they're the cure for American economic ills, which is absurd.

March 6, 2025

And auto industry tariffs were paused after somebody took Donny's Classic Comics on Tariffs away and made him realize he was completely tanking the auto industry, the dumbass.

He's given them 30 days to relocate production inside the US, which won't happen.

The Wharton School of Business must be so proud. . . .

The DOGE pinheads have put the Dick Cheney Federal Office Building in Casper on a list of buildings to be closed. 

The building was constructed in the 1970s and ultimately all of the Federal offices that were jammed into the Federal Courthouse, which wasn't being used as a courthouse, were moved there.  Then the courthouse resumed being used as a courthouse.

Where the workers would go is another question.  I suppose they would just be terminated. 

This is a monumentally stupid move and there's some suspicion that this building was listed just as its named after Dick Cheney, who was an enormous hero in Wyoming up until King Donny and the Dixiecrats came to rule what had once been the Republican Party.  It'll hurt the state.

Both John Barrasso and Harriet Hageman have offices in the building.

Sell real estate, in general, is a bad idea for anyone or anything if it can be avoided.

cont:

Canada didn't bite and is keeping its counter tariffs on.

cont:

Various provincial controlled liquor distribution entities are pulling US alcohol from the shelves.

Alcohol is generally regarded as a saturated market, so even small differences in sales actually make a big difference.  Prohibition demonstrated that once a product is removed, the taste for it disappears and does not revive, moreover.  Prohibition in the US lasted, of course, from 1919 to 1932, but it destroyed rye whiskey market in the US for eighty years, and devastated the quality of American beer.  Canada, already a major producer of beer and whiskey, will simply fill in the gaps locally.  My guess is that Canadian whiskey sales in the US (personally I don't like Canadian whiskey) will increase in protest of King Donny's actions.

March 7, 2025

President Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada that comply with the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA) is great news for the Canadian, Mexican and U.S. distilled spirits industries. Spirits produced in Canada, Mexico and the United States are all covered under USMCA. The USMCA has helped to ensure the continued growth of the U.S. spirits and hospitality industries, promote job growth and drive economic prosperity across the nation. We are hopeful that constructive dialogues continue between the U.S., Canada and Mexico that permanently brings back zero for zero tariffs for spirits trade between our three countries. We want Toasts Not Tariffs.

Chris Swonger, President and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Well, too late.  US alcohol, which amounted to a $1B industry in Canada, is off Canadian shelves and not combing back on.

During Trump's last call with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, Trump became so agitated that he started screaming profanities thus forcing U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to step in and give Canada what they demanded.

This is twice in a week where a cabinet officer suddenly acted independently in front of King Donny.

25th Amendment. . . 

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 1.

Stores limit egg purchases.

 

Yep, that's right. In central Wyoming you are limited to one carton as people are trying to stock up to avoid coming price increases.

Yessir, Trump was really successful on that price lowering thing.

In reality, it's likely bird flu.  But Trump's insane economic policies aren't helping, and he promised to lower egg prices.

Promised.

Promised.

Well that didn't take long. . .

 Trump’s Immigration Threats Are Already Wrecking the Food Industry

Immigrant farm workers are too scared to show up to work.

The past election featured a lot of really dimwitted comments by those who decided to vote for Trump about making the price of food "go down".  

Dimwitted.

The government has very little ability to make the price of anything whatsoever go down.  There are a few options.  For one, if an item is imported and taxed at the border, you can remove the tax.

That's the exact opposite of what the Genius with Really Good Genes proposes to do. That's going to raise prices.

Another is to impact the price of something the government actually controls, such as privatizing an industry or releasing a supply of something held by the government.

Neither of those are options right now.

Trump's really good brain has so far simply proposed to the Saudis that the produce a lot of oil.  The Saudis are likely laughing. 

If they did, that would drop the price of oil, which drops the price of everything else.  It also makes US oil completely unviable economically as its very expensive to drill for. We already know this as a few years ago there was a glut of oil, which dropped its price and stopped US drilling dead in its tracks.

One of the things Trump promised his followers that he would do, which he can do to some limited extent, is deport aliens.  Hopefully they're illegal aliens, but to a lot of his supporters, any alien will do, as long as the alien has brown skin.

Donald Musk and Ted Cruz, born respectively in South Africa and Canada, can stay, which is a real shame.  I'd be okay with deporting both of them.

US agriculture depends heavily on illegal aliens from Mexico.  It has for decades.  It's a situation which never should have been allowed to develop, but it was because both Republicans and Democrats turned a blind eye to it.  Now, the US is dependent on that migrant population.

Trump promises to deport all these people as quickly as possible.  That means administering a massive shock to the farm economy, which means the prices of everything at the grocery store will go up, up, up.  Trump will ignore that.  Consumers won't be able to, and those who knew that this would occur ought to be plastering these on self check out lines:

It won't end there of course.  The economic genius has fallen in love with tariffs, something that fell out of favor as they helped create the Great Depression, bring Hitler into power, and cause World War Two.  

Trump really doesn't seem to be the smartest bulb in the bunch and apparently he skipped lessons in history.  Part of the reason he cited for wanting to change the name of Denali to Mt. McKinley is that McKinley, who was President before income tax was legal, used tariffs to fund the rather small U.S. budget of the time.

What a boofador.

Trump tends to think like, and talk, like a gangster.  As we discuss in an upcoming post, he may have in fact learned a lot of his "art of the deal" by having to deal with the mafia on New York construction projects.  The mafia operates, in fact, a lot like Trump. They make big threats, and then hurt people, until a rival gang knuckles under or regular people give in.

The problem here, of course, is that countries aren't criminal gangs, usually (Russia sort of is), and they don't behave that way. Democratic nations particularly don't.  Trump is getting the middle finger from Canada and Mexico right now, but the besotted American public hasn't noticed.  If Trump imposes the tariffs he threatens to, Canada is threatening to flat out cease exporting into the US.  What Canada has in spades, oil and lumber, it can sell elsewhere.  We can't replace what we get from them.

That'll spike the price of oil massively. We can't offset the oil deficit that would result in as we're already, in spite of the moronic "drill baby drill" comments people make, drilling at capacity.  That would easily add 1/3d to the price at the pumps, if not 3 times to it.

And the removal of lumber would simply end the construction industry.

Canada is also a major exporter of hydroelectric power into the US.  If Canada starts taxing that, and it can, at a rate to offset tariffs, living in New England will be extremely expensive.

As for Mexico, go to the grocery store and see how many things are "grown in Mexico". With California in trouble due to Trump's immigration policies, and a retaliating Mexico you'll get to eat what can be produced locally.

Um, yum.  Canned corn will still be there.

It'd be tempting to say "people will get what they deserve, but Trump didn't even take 50% of the popular vote.

Let's say that again.  He didn't take even 50% of the popular vote.

He took 49.8%, which is regarded as impressive in American politics, but in reality is not.  50.2 % of the American public voted against him.

Third parties may have put Trump in office.

In some systems, if a person doesn't take over 50% of the vote, there's a runoff election between the top two vote getters until somebody does.  If that had been done, would Trump be President?

Anyhow, with about 50% voting for him, and 50% voting against him, Trump doesn't have a mandate to do squat.  Quite a few of his insiders know that which is why they're rushing to put in their projects while they can, which is really only until the next mid term election when an enraged public turns on the GOP.  It's going to happen.

In the meantime, the 50% of the country that didn't vote for Trump is going to endure rising prices, destroyed retirement accounts, a Federal government that won't help with local disasters, and the increasing slide of the country into a mean, childish, brutish, thugocracy.

Tuesday, December 31, 1974. Americans get to own gold again.

Depression era restrictions on the private ownership of gold in the US were removed.

The prohibition, as well as government price setting of Gold, had come into effect in 1933.

South African Kugerrands and Canadian gold coins immediately became very popular as a hedge against inflation.

France ended its state monopoly on television.

Catfish Hunter signed with the Yankees, becoming baseball's highest paid player at that point.

Last edition:

Monday, December 16, 1974. Safe Drinking Water.

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USDA Forecasts Higher Retail Egg Prices for 2025

 What the crud?

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USDA Forecasts Higher Retail Egg Prices for 2025

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Higher egg prices?  Donald promised to lower prices.  That simply can't be true.  Prices must go down.

Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The Times more or less locally, Part 4. A return to Pre Covid status

US incomes have returned to their 2019 level, adjusted for inflation.

The adjusted rate of inflation was 2.9%.

While people will continue to complain, this is pretty close to being back to the economic status of 2019.

Oil dropped yesterday to $69/bbl.

September 25, 2024

Delta To Pull Out Of Casper Airport, Last Flight Is Dec. 3

Delta To Pull Out Of Casper Airport, Last Flight Is Dec. 3

November 17, 2024

Boeing is commencing layoffs.

November 26, 2024

In a monumentally bad idea, President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he will issue executive orders imposing new tariffs on all imported goods from China, Mexico and Canada. with the rates being 25 percent tariffs would be imposed on Mexican and Canadian merchandise and 10 percent on Chinese goods.  This was tied, oddly, to his immigration goals.

December 2, 2024

President Elect Trump threatened 100% tariffs against Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. 

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia if they act to block the US Dollar ast he global reserve currency.

December 3, 2024

From a Fox News broadcast:

We are told that when Trudeau told President-elect Trump that new tariffs would kill the Canadian economy, Trump joked to him that if Canada can't survive without ripping off the U.S. the tune of one hundred billion dollars a year, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau could become its governor.

Apparently this was said by Trump in jest by our boorish embarrassment of a President Elect. 

December 11, 2024

$24B merger between grocery giants Kroger, Albertsons blocked by federal judge

Continuous arabica coffee futures on the ICE rose 4.1% to $3.44 a pound beating a record set in 1977 even before it is adjusted for inflation.

December 12, 2024

An Ontario message to Donald Trump from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

We need to be ready to fight [on] January the 20th. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin. I don't want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole since we're the largest province. Let's see what happens as we move forward. But we'll use every tool in our toolbox, including cutting them off energy that we're sending down there.

Frankly, a lot of New York will freeze in the dark without Canadian hydroelectric.

On groceries, the item that a lot of Trump voters naively believed Trump could make the price of "go down":

It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard.

Donald Trump.

D'uh. 

There was no earthly way that Trump was ever going to be able to get the price of groceries to go down and a person would have had to have been bereft of economic knowledge to have believed that.  Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in fact bereft of economic knowledge.  As we've noted here before, that would require deflation, and deflation if prolonged, causes a Depression.

Trump back on November 4, 2024: “A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.”

Nope, they won't be.

So, now that he's been elected, this promise joins the one to end the war in Ukraine 24 hours after he's elected.  I.e., it'll be broken.

December 13, 2024

Pope Francis.

Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace

I. Listening to the plea of an endangered humanity

1. At the dawn of this New Year given to us by our heavenly Father, a year of Jubilee in the spirit of hope, I offer heartfelt good wishes of peace to every man and woman. I think especially of those who feel downtrodden, burdened by their past mistakes, oppressed by the judgment of others and incapable of perceiving even a glimmer of hope for their own lives. Upon everyone I invoke hope and peace, for this is a Year of Grace born of the Heart of the Redeemer!

2. Throughout this year, the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee, an event that fills hearts with hope. The “jubilee” recalls an ancient Jewish practice, when, every forty-ninth year, the sound of a ram’s horn (in Hebrew, jobel) would proclaim a year of forgiveness and freedom for the entire people (cf. Lev 25:10). This solemn proclamation was meant to echo throughout the land (cf. Lev 25:9) and to restore God’s justice in every aspect of life: in the use of the land, in the possession of goods and in relationships with others, above all the poor and the dispossessed. The blowing of the horn reminded the entire people, rich and poor alike, that no one comes into this world doomed to oppression: all of us are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father, born to live in freedom, in accordance with the Lord’s will (cf. Lev 25:17, 25, 43, 46, 55).

3. In our day too, the Jubilee is an event that inspires us to seek to establish the liberating justice of God in our world. In place of the ram’s horn, at the start of this Year of Grace we wish to hear the “desperate plea for help” [1] that, like the cry of the blood of Abel (cf. Gen 4:10), rises up from so many parts of our world – a plea that God never fails to hear. We for our part feel bound to cry out and denounce the many situations in which the earth is exploited and our neighbours oppressed. [2] These injustices can appear at times in the form of what Saint John Paul II called “structures of sin”, [3] that arise not only from injustice on the part of some but are also consolidated and maintained by a network of complicity.

4. Each of us must feel in some way responsible for the devastation to which the earth, our common home, has been subjected, beginning with those actions that, albeit only indirectly, fuel the conflicts that presently plague our human family. Systemic challenges, distinct yet interconnected, are thus created and together cause havoc in our world. [4] I think, in particular, of all manner of disparities, the inhuman treatment meted out to migrants, environmental decay, the confusion willfully created by disinformation, the refusal to engage in any form of dialogue and the immense resources spent on the industry of war. All these, taken together, represent a threat to the existence of humanity as a whole. At the beginning of this year, then, we desire to heed the plea of suffering humankind in order to feel called, together and as individuals, to break the bonds of injustice and to proclaim God’s justice. Sporadic acts of philanthropy are not enough. Cultural and structural changes are necessary, so that enduring change may come about. [5]

II. A cultural change: all of us are debtors

5. The celebration of the Jubilee spurs us to make a number of changes in order to confront the present state of injustice and inequality by reminding ourselves that the goods of the earth are meant not for a privileged few, but for everyone. [6] We do well to recall the words of Saint Basil of Caesarea: “Tell me, what things belong to you? Where did you find them to make them part of your life? … Did you not come forth naked from the womb of your mother? Will you not return naked to the ground? Where did your property come from? If you say that it comes to you naturally by luck, you would deny God by not recognizing the Creator and being grateful to the Giver”. [7] Without gratitude, we are unable to recognize God’s gifts. Yet in his infinite mercy the Lord does not abandon sinful humanity, but instead reaffirms his gift of life by the saving forgiveness offered to all through Jesus Christ. That is why, in teaching us the “Our Father”, Jesus told us to pray: “Forgive us our trespasses” ( Mt 6:12).

6. Once we lose sight of our relationship to the Father, we begin to cherish the illusion that our relationships with others can be governed by a logic of exploitation and oppression, where might makes right. [8] Like the elites at the time of Jesus, who profited from the suffering of the poor, so today, in our interconnected global village, [9] the international system, unless it is inspired by a spirit of solidarity and interdependence, gives rise to injustices, aggravated by corruption, which leave the poorer countries trapped. A mentality that exploits the indebted can serve as a shorthand description of the present “debt crisis” that weighs upon a number of countries, above all in the global South.

7. I have repeatedly stated that foreign debt has become a means of control whereby certain governments and private financial institutions of the richer countries unscrupulously and indiscriminately exploit the human and natural resources of poorer countries, simply to satisfy the demands of their own markets. [10] In addition, different peoples, already burdened by international debt, find themselves also forced to bear the burden of the “ecological debt” incurred by the more developed countries. [11] Foreign debt and ecological debt are two sides of the same coin, namely the mindset of exploitation that has culminated in the debt crisis. [12] In the spirit of this Jubilee Year, I urge the international community to work towards forgiving foreign debt in recognition of the ecological debt existing between the North and the South of this world. This is an appeal for solidarity, but above all for justice. [13]

8. The cultural and structural change needed to surmount this crisis will come about when we finally recognize that we are all sons and daughters of the one Father, that we are all in his debt but also that we need one another, in a spirit of shared and diversified responsibility. We will be able to “rediscover once for all that we need one another” and are indebted one to another. [14]

III. A journey of hope: three proposals

9. If we take to heart these much-needed changes, the Jubilee Year of Grace can serve to set each of us on a renewed journey of hope, born of the experience of God’s unlimited mercy. [15]

God owes nothing to anyone, yet he constantly bestows his grace and mercy upon all. As Isaac of Nineveh, a seventh-century Father of the Eastern Church, put it in one of his prayers: “Your love, Lord, is greater than my trespasses. The waves of the sea are nothing with respect to the multitude of my sins, but placed on a scale and weighed against your love, they vanish like a speck of dust”. [16] God does not weigh up the evils we commit; rather, he is immensely “rich in mercy, for the great love with which he loved us” ( Eph 2:4). Yet he also hears the plea of the poor and the cry of the earth. We would do well simply to stop for a moment, at the beginning of this year, to think of the mercy with which he constantly forgives our sins and forgives our every debt, so that our hearts may overflow with hope and peace.

10. In teaching us to pray the “Our Father”, Jesus begins by asking the Father to forgive our trespasses, but passes immediately to the challenging words: “as we forgive those who trespass against us” (cf. Mt 6:12). In order to forgive others their trespasses and to offer them hope, we need for our own lives to be filled with that same hope, the fruit of our experience of God’s mercy. Hope overflows in generosity; it is free of calculation, makes no hidden demands, is unconcerned with gain, but aims at one thing alone: to raise up those who have fallen, to heal hearts that are broken and to set us free from every kind of bondage.

11. Consequently, at the beginning of this Year of Grace, I would like to offer three proposals capable of restoring dignity to the lives of entire peoples and enabling them to set them out anew on the journey of hope. In this way, the debt crisis can be overcome and all of us can once more realize that we are debtors whose debts have been forgiven.

First, I renew the appeal launched by Saint John Paul II on the occasion of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 to consider “reducing substantially, if not cancelling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations”. [17] In recognition of their ecological debt, the more prosperous countries ought to feel called to do everything possible to forgive the debts of those countries that are in no condition to repay the amount they owe. Naturally, lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness, a new financial framework must be devised, leading to the creation of a global financial Charter based on solidarity and harmony between peoples.

I also ask for a firm commitment to respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person can cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to a future of prosperity and happiness for themselves and for their children. Without hope for the future, it becomes hard for the young to look forward to bringing new lives into the world. Here I would like once more to propose a concrete gesture that can help foster the culture of life, namely the elimination of the death penalty in all nations. This penalty not only compromises the inviolability of life but eliminates every human hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation. [18]

In addition, following in the footsteps of Saint Paul VI and Benedict XVI, [19] I do not hesitate to make yet another appeal, for the sake of future generations. In this time marked by wars, let us use at least a fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments to establish a global Fund to eradicate hunger and facilitate in the poorer countries educational activities aimed at promoting sustainable development and combating climate change. [20] We need to work at eliminating every pretext that encourages young people to regard their future as hopeless or dominated by the thirst to avenge the blood of their dear ones. The future is a gift meant to enable us to go beyond past failures and to pave new paths of peace.

IV. The goal of peace

12. Those who take up these proposals and set out on the journey of hope will surely glimpse the dawn of the greatly desired goal of peace. The Psalmist promises us that “steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss” ( Ps 85:10). When I divest myself of the weapon of credit and restore the path of hope to one of my brothers or sisters, I contribute to the restoration of God’s justice on this earth and, with that person, I advance towards the goal of peace. As Saint John XXIII observed, true peace can be born only from a heart “disarmed” of anxiety and the fear of war. [21]

13. May 2025 be a year in which peace flourishes! A true and lasting peace that goes beyond quibbling over the details of agreements and human compromises. [22] May we seek the true peace that is granted by God to hearts disarmed: hearts not set on calculating what is mine and what is yours; hearts that turn selfishness into readiness to reach out to others; hearts that see themselves as indebted to God and thus prepared to forgive the debts that oppress others; hearts that replace anxiety about the future with the hope that every individual can be a resource for the building of a better world.

14. Disarming hearts is a job for everyone, great and small, rich and poor alike. At times, something quite simple will do, such as “a smile, a small gesture of friendship, a kind look, a ready ear, a good deed”. [23] With such gestures, we progress towards the goal of peace. We will arrive all the more quickly if, in the course of journeying alongside our brothers and sisters, we discover that we have changed from the time we first set out. Peace does not only come with the end of wars but with the dawn of a new world, a world in which we realize that we are different, closer and more fraternal than we ever thought possible.

15. Lord, grant us your peace! This is my prayer to God as I now offer my cordial good wishes for the New Year to the Heads of State and Government, to the leaders of International Organizations, to the leaders of the various religions and to every person of good will.

Forgive us our trespasses, Lord,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In this cycle of forgiveness, grant us your peace,

the peace that you alone can give

to those who let themselves be disarmed in heart,

to those who choose in hope to forgive the debts of their brothers and sisters,

to those who are unafraid to confess their debt to you,

and to those who do not close their ears to the cry of the poor.

From the Vatican, 8 December 2024

December 17, 2024

Canada's Finance Minister resigned.

This of course gave the chance for our bratty twelve year old president elect to make another one of his snotty tweets.

The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau. Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!

Where this conduct comes from, and why its tolerated is another question.

December 18, 2024

Elon Musk is campaigning against the bill that would provide stop gap funding until the next Congress convenes.

December 19, 2024

The Fed is cutting interests rates.

December 20, 2024

After tanking one continuing budget resolution, following his super wealthy "DOGE" appointees, Trump supported a second, which tanked last night.

And here we enter interesting territory.  In spite of widespread public belief to the contrary, Trump was set to inherit a strong economy.  Now he's tanking it.

EMERGENCY VIDEO! SHUTDOWN??

December 21, 2024

A CR passed but House Republicans defied a Trump request to raise the debt ceiling.

Why would Trump want to raise the debt ceiling if he intends to be true to the spirit of his campaign?

And now Trump is threatening the EU with tariffs if they don't up oil and gas imports, which are already at capacity.

Related threads:

September 10, 2024. Pearls Before Swine.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part 3. The Decarbonizing the West and Electronic eartags Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2024, Agriculture, Alcohol, Canada, Cattle, Climate Change, Coal, Computers, Disease, Economics, Health, Internet, Labor unrest, Railroads, technology, Unions, Wyoming's boom and bust economy

Blog Mirror: Government Spending Didn’t Cause Inflation

 

Government Spending Didn’t Cause Inflation

Inflation. A needed primer.

Seeing as I see so many posts, some from people running for office on this, a reminder.

Inflation going down just means the rate of inflation, goes down.  Prices still rise, just more slowly.

The U.S. Government targets inflation to be at about 2%.  It's 2.4% right now, which is basically a return to the pre Covid rate of inflation.  It goes up a little and down a little.

Personally, I don't like it that the government targets inflation for a perpetual slight rate.  I think the ideal rate is 0%.  Economist dispute that, but I'm not an economist, except in the amature, and distributist, sense.

Some people, such as Jimmy Akin, blame the government for inflation itself, and to some extent that's warranted.  But the recent inflationary cycle reflects world events, a war in Europe's grain belt between to oil producing entities being a big part of that.  Ironically, recent drops in the rate of inflation have been partially caused by Iran being a menace.

Anyhow, politicians who keep suggesting that "prices will go down" if they are elected are either lying or economically ignorant.

Prices can go down, of course, and for a variety of reasons. Technological advances cause the price of some things to go down, although they cause the price of some durables to go up.  Political actions can impact the price of things, but it tends to only occur very moderately over a prolonged period of time, or due to something dramatic, like deregulation of a very heavily regulated industry, or like busting up a big monopoly.

When prices really go down, that's deflation.  Not a decrease in inflation.  Once again, a decrease of inflation means that prices still rise, just not as much over a given period of time.  Deflation means they actually drop.

Deflation is pretty rare in a healthy economy and when it occurs in a healthy economy, it tends to only be for a month or so.  A general prolonged deflation only occurs in a depression. 

Depressions cause deflations.  People are out of work, so they don't have money, so they don't buy things, so prices drop.

And there you have it.

Tuesday, October 8, 1974. WIN

President Ford launched his "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN) campaign. 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, distinguished guests, my very dear friends: 

In his first inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, and I quote: The people of the United States have not failed .... They want direct, vigorous action, and they have asked for discipline and direction under our leadership. 

Today, though our economic difficulties do not approach the emergency of 1933, the message from the American people is exactly the same. I trust that you are getting the very same message that I am receiving: Our constituents want leadership, our constituents want action. 

All of us have heard much talk on this very floor about Congress recovering its rightful share of national leadership. I now intend to offer you that chance. 

The 73d Congress responded to FDR's appeal in five days. I am deeply grateful for the cooperation of the 93d Congress and the Conference on Inflation, which ended ten days ago. 

Mr. Speaker, many—but not all—of your recommendations on behalf of your party's caucus are reflected in some of my proposals here today. The distinguished majority leader of the Senate offered a nine-point program. I seriously studied all of them and adopted some of his suggestions. 

I might add, I have also listened very hard to many of our former colleagues in both bodies and of both the majority and the minority, and have been both persuaded and dissuaded. But in the end, I had to make the decision, I had to decide, as each of you do when the roll call is called. 

I will not take your time today with the discussion of the origins of inflation and its bad effect on the United States, but I do know where we want to be in 1976—on the 200th birthday of a United States of America that has not lost its way, nor its will, nor its sense of national purpose. 

During the meetings on inflation, I listened carefully to many valuable suggestions. Since the summit, I have evaluated literally hundreds of ideas, day and night. 

My conclusions are very simply stated. There is only one point on which all advisers have agreed: We must whip inflation right now. 

None of the remedies proposed, great or small, compulsory or voluntary, stands a chance unless they are combined in a considered package, in a concerted effort, in a grand design.

I have reviewed the past and the present efforts of our Federal Government to help the economy. They are simply not good enough, nor sufficiently broad, nor do they pack the punch that will turn America's economy on. 

A stable American economy cannot be sustained if the world's economy is in chaos. International cooperation is absolutely essential and vital. But while we seek agreements with other nations, let us put our own economic house in order. Today, I have identified 10 areas for our joint action, the executive and the legislative branches of our Government.

Number one: food. America is the world's champion producer of food. Food prices and petroleum prices in the United States are primary inflationary factors. America today partially depends on foreign sources for petroleum, but we can grow more than enough food for ourselves. 

To halt higher food prices, we must produce more food, and I call upon every farmer to produce to full capacity. And I say to you and to the farmers, they have done a magnificent job in the past, and we should be eternally grateful. 

This Government, however, will do all in its power to assure him—that farmer—he can sell his entire yield at reasonable prices. Accordingly, I ask the Congress to remove all remaining acreage limitations on rice, peanuts, and cotton. 

I also assure America's farmers here and now that I will allocate all the fuel and ask authority to allocate all the fertilizer they need to do this essential job. 

Agricultural marketing orders and other Federal regulations are being reviewed to eliminate or modify those responsible for inflated prices. 

I have directed our new Council on Wage and Price Stability to find and to expose all restrictive practices, public or private, which raise food prices. The Administration will also monitor food production, margins, pricing, and exports. We can and we shall have an adequate supply at home, and through cooperation, meet the needs of our trading partners abroad. 

Over this past weekend, we initiated a voluntary program to monitor grain exports. The Economic Policy Board will be responsible for determining the policy under this program.

In addition, in order to better allocate our supplies for export, I ask that a provision be added to Public Law 480 under which we ship food to the needy and friendly countries. The President needs authority to waive certain of the restrictions on shipments based on national interest or humanitarian grounds. 

Number two: energy. America's future depends heavily on oil, gas, coal, electricity, and other resources called energy. Make no mistake, we do have a real energy problem.

One-third of our oil—17 percent of America's total energy—now comes from foreign sources that we cannot control, at high cartel prices costing you and me $16 billion—$16 billion more than just a year ago. 

The primary solution has to be at home. If you have forgotten the shortages of last winter, most Americans have not. I have ordered today the reorganization of our national energy effort and the creation of a national energy board. It will be chaired with developing-or I should say charged with developing a single national energy policy and program. And I think most of you will be glad to know that our former colleague, Rog Morton, our Secretary of Interior, will be the overall boss of our national energy program.

Rog Morton's marching orders are to reduce imports of foreign oil by 1 million barrels per day by the end of 1975, whether by savings here at home, or by increasing our own sources. 

Secretary Morton, along with his other responsibility, is also charged with increasing our domestic energy supply by promptly utilizing our coal resources and expanding recovery of domestic oil still in the grounds in old wells. 

New legislation will be sought after your recess to require use of cleaner coal processes and nuclear fuel in new electric plants, and the quick conversion of existing oil plants. I propose that we, together, set a target date of 1980 for eliminating oil-fired plants from the Nation's base-loaded electrical capacity. 

I will use the Defense Production Act to allocate scarce materials for energy development, and I will ask you, the House and Senate, for whatever amendments prove necessary.

I will meet with top management of the automobile industry to assure, either by agreement or by law, a firm program aimed at achieving a 40 percent increase in gasoline mileage within a 4-year development deadline. 

Priority legislation—action, I should say—to increase energy supply here at home requires the following: 

One, long-sought deregulation of natural gas supplies,

Number two, responsible use of our Naval petroleum reserves in California and Alaska,

Number three, amendments to the Clean Air Act; and

Four, passage of surface mining legislation to ensure an adequate supply with commonsense environmental protection. 

Now, if all of these steps fail to meet our current energy-saving goals, I will not hesitate to ask for tougher measures. For the long range, we must work harder on coal gasification. We must push with renewed vigor and talent research in the use of nonfossil fuels. The power of the atom, the heat of the sun and the steam stored deep in the Earth, the force of the winds and water must be main sources of energy for our grandchildren, and we can do it. 

Number three: restrictive practices. To increase productivity and contain prices, we must end restrictive and costly practices whether instituted by Government, industry, labor, or others. And I am determined to return to the vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws.

The Administration will zero in on more effective enforcement of laws against price fixing and bid rigging. For instance, non-competitive professional fee schedules and real estate settlement fees must be eliminated. Such violations will be prosecuted by the Department of Justice to the full extent of the law. 

Now, I ask Congress for prompt authority to increase maximum penalties for antitrust violations from $50,000 to $1 million for corporations, and from $50,000 to $100,000 for individual violators. 

At the Conference on Inflation we found, I would say, very broad agreement that the Federal Government imposes too many hidden and too many inflationary costs on our economy. As a result, I propose a four-point program aimed at a substantial purging process. 

Number one, I have ordered the Council on Wage and Price Stability to be the watchdog over inflationary costs of all governmental actions. 

Two, I ask the Congress to establish a National Commission on Regulatory Reform to undertake a long-overdue total reexamination of the independent regulatory agencies. It will be a joint effort by the Congress, the executive branch, and the private sector to identify and eliminate existing Federal rules and regulations that increase costs to the consumer without any good reason in today's economic climate. 

Three: Hereafter, I will require that all major legislative proposals, regulations, and rules emanating from the executive branch of the Government will include an inflation impact statement that certifies we have carefully weighed the effect on the Nation. I respectfully request that the Congress require a similar advance inflation impact statement for its own legislative initiatives. 

Finally, I urge State and local units of government to undertake similar programs to reduce inflationary effects of their regulatory activities. 

At this point, I thank the Congress for recently revitalizing the National Commission on Productivity and Work Quality. It will initially concentrate on problems of productivity in Government—Federal, State, and local. Outside of Government, it will develop meaningful blueprints for labor-management cooperation at the plant level. It should look particularly at the construction and the health service industries. 

The Council on Wage and Price Stability will, of course, monitor wage and price increases in the private sector. Monitoring will include public hearings to justify either price or wage increases. I emphasize, in fact reemphasize, that this is not a compulsory wage and price control agency. 

Now, I know many Americans see Federal controls as the answer. But I believe from past experience controls show us that they never really stop inflation—not the last time, not even during and immediately after World War II when, as I recall, prices rose despite severe and enforceable wartime rationing. 

Now, peacetime controls actually, we know from recent experience, create shortages, hamper production, stifle growth, and limit jobs. I do not ask for such powers, however politically tempting, as such a program could cause the fixer and the black marketeer to flourish while decent citizens face empty shelves and stand in long waiting lines. 

Number four: We need more capital. We cannot "eat up our seed corn." Our free enterprise system depends on orderly capital markets through which the savings of our people become productively used. Today, our capital markets are in total disarray. We must restore their vitality. Prudent monetary restraint is essential. 

You and the American people should know, however, that I have personally been assured by the Chairman of the independent Federal Reserve Board that the supply of money and credit will expand sufficiently to meet the needs of our economy and that in no event will a credit crunch occur. 

The prime lending rate is going down. To help industry to buy more machines and create more jobs, I am recommending a liberalized 10 percent investment tax credit. This credit should be especially helpful to capital-intensive industries such as primary metals, public utilities, where capacity shortages have developed. 

I am asking Congress to enact tax legislation to provide that all dividends on preferred stocks issued for cash be fully deductible by the issuing company. This should bring in more capital, especially for energy-producing utilities. It will also help other industries shift from debt to equity, providing a sounder capital structure.

Capital gains tax legislation must be liberalized as proposed by the tax reform bill currently before the Committee on Ways and Means. I endorse this approach and hope that it will pass promptly.

Number five: Helping the casualties. And this is a very important part of the overall speech. The Conference on Inflation made everybody even more aware of who is suffering most from inflation. Foremost are those who are jobless through no fault of their own.

Three weeks ago, I released funds which, with earlier actions, provide public service employment for some 170,000 who need work. I now propose to the Congress a two-step program to augment this action 

First, 13 weeks of special unemployment insurance benefits would be provided to those who have exhausted their regular and extended unemployment insurance benefits, and 26 weeks of special unemployment insurance benefits to those who qualify but are not now covered by regular unemployment insurance programs. Funding in this case would come from the general treasury, not from taxes on employers as is the case with the established unemployment programs. 

Second, I ask the Congress to create a brand new Community Improvement Corps to provide work for the unemployed through short-term useful work projects to improve, beautify, and enhance the environment of our cities, our towns, and our countryside.

This standby program would come alive whenever unemployment exceeds 6 percent nationally. It would be stopped when unemployment drops below 6 percent. Local labor markets would each qualify for grants whenever their unemployment rate exceeds 6.5 percent. 

State and local government contractors would supervise these projects and could hire only those who had exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits. The goal of this new program is to provide more constructive work for all Americans, young or old, who cannot find a job. 

The purpose really follows this formula: Short-term problems require short-term remedies. I therefore request that these programs be for a 1-year period. 

Now, I know that low- and middle-income Americans have been hardest hit by inflation. Their budgets are most vulnerable because a larger part of their income goes for the highly inflated costs of food, fuel, and medical care. 

The tax reform bill now in the House Committee on Ways and Means, which I favor, already provides approximately $1.6 billion of tax relief to these groups. Compensating new revenues are provided in this prospective legislation by a windfall tax, profits tax on oil producers, and by closing other loopholes. If enacted, this will be a major contribution by the Congress in our common effort to make our tax system fairer to all. 

Number six: stimulating housing. Without question, credit is the lifeblood of housing. The United States, unfortunately, is suffering the longest and the most severe housing recession since the end of World War II. Unemployment in the construction trades is twice the national average. 

One of my first acts as President was to sign the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. I have since concluded that still more help is needed, help that can be delivered very quickly and with minimum inflationary impact. 

I urge the Congress to enact before recess additional legislation to make most home mortgages eligible for purchase by an agency of the Federal Government. As the law stands now, only FHA or VA home mortgages, one-fifth of the total, are covered. 

I am very glad that the Senate, thanks to the leadership of Senator Brooke and Senator Cranston, has already made substantial progress on this legislation. As soon as it comes to me, I will make at least $3 billion immediately available for mortgage purchases, enough to finance about 100,000 more American homes. 

Number seven: thrift institutions. Savings and loan and similar institutions are hard hit by inflation and high interest rates. They no longer attract, unfortunately, adequate deposits. The executive branch, in my judgment, must join with the Congress in giving critically needed attention to the structure and the operation of our thrift institutions which now find themselves for the third time in 8 years in another period of serious mortgage credit scarcity. 

Passage of the pending financial institution bill will help, but no single measure has yet appeared, as I see it, to solve feast or famine in mortgage credit. However, I promise to work with you individually and collectively to develop additional specific programs in this area in the future. 

Number eight: international interdependency. The United States has a responsibility not only to maintain a healthy economy at home, but also to seek policies which complement rather than disrupt the constructive efforts of others. 

Essential to U.S. initiatives is the early passage of an acceptable trade reform bill. My Special Representative for Trade Negotiations departed earlier this afternoon to Canada, Europe, Japan, to brief foreign friends on my proposals. 

We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems. 

Number nine: Federal taxes and spending. To support programs, to increase production and share inflation-produced hardships, we need additional tax revenues. 

I am aware that any proposal for new taxes just four weeks before a national election is, to put it mildly, considered politically unwise. And I am frank to say that I have been earnestly advised to wait and talk about taxes anytime after November 5. But I do say in sincerity that I will not play politics with America's future. 

Our present inflation to a considerable degree comes from many years of enacting expensive programs without raising enough revenues to pay for them. The truth is that 19 out of the 25 years I had the honor and the privilege to serve in this Chamber, the Federal Government ended up with Federal deficits. That is not a very good batting average.

By now, almost everybody—almost everybody else, I should say—has stated my position on Federal gasoline taxes. This time I will do it myself. I am not-emphasizing not—asking you for any increase in gas taxes. 

I am—I am asking you to approve a l-year temporary tax surcharge of 5 percent on corporate and upper-level individual incomes. This would generally exclude from the surcharge those families with gross incomes below $15,000 a year. The estimated $5 billion in extra revenue to be raised by this inflation-fighting tax should pay for the new programs I have recommended in this message. 

I think, and I suspect each of you know, this is the acid test of our joint determination to whip inflation in America. I would not ask this if major loopholes were not now being closed by the Committee on Ways and Means' tax reform bill. 

I urge you to join me before your recess, in addition to what I have said before, to join me by voting to set a target spending limit—let me emphasize it—a target spending limit of $300 billion for the Federal fiscal budget of 1975. 

When Congress agrees to this spending target, I will submit a package of budget deferrals and rescissions to meet this goal. I will do the tough job of designating for Congressional action, on your return, those areas which I believe can and must be reduced. These will be hard choices and every one of you in this Chamber know it as well as I. They will be hard choices, but no Federal agency, including the Defense Department, will be untouchable.

It is my judgment that fiscal discipline is a necessary weapon in any fight against inflation. While this spending target is a small step, it is a step in the right direction, and we need to get on that course without any further delay. I do not think that any of us in this Chamber today can ask the American people to tighten their belts if Uncle Sam is unwilling to tighten his belt first. 

And now, if I might, I would like to say a few words directly to your constituents and, incidentally, mine. 

My fellow Americans, 10 days ago I asked you to get things started by making a list of 10 ways to fight inflation and save energy, to exchange your list with your neighbors, and to send me a copy. 

I have personally read scores of the thousands of letters received at the White House, and incidentally, I have made my economic experts read some of them, too. We all benefited, at least I did, and I thank each and every one of you for this cooperation. 

Some of the good ideas from your home to mine have been cranked into the recommendations I have just made to the Congress and the steps I am taking as President to whip inflation right now. There were also firm warnings on what Government must not do, and I appreciated those, too. Your best suggestions for voluntary restraint and self-discipline showed me that a great degree of patriotic determination and unanimity already exists in this great land. 

I have asked Congress for urgent specific actions it alone can take. I advised Congress of the initial steps that I am taking as President. Here is what only you can do: Unless every able American pitches in, Congress and I cannot do the job. Winning our fight against inflation and waste involves total mobilization of America's greatest resources—the brains, the skills, and the willpower of the American people. 

Here is what we must do, what each and every one of you can do: To help increase food and lower prices, grow more and waste less; to help save scarce fuel in the energy crisis, drive less, heat less. Every housewife knows almost exactly how much she spent for food last week. If you cannot spare a penny from your food budget—and I know there are many—surely you can cut the food that you waste by 5 percent. 

Every American motorist knows exactly how many miles he or she drives to work or to school every day and about how much mileage she or he runs up each year. If we all drive at least 5 percent fewer miles, we can save, almost unbelievably, 250,000 barrels of foreign oil per day. By the end of 1975, most of us can do better than 5 percent by carpooling, taking the bus, riding bikes, or just plain walking. We can save enough gas by self-discipline to meet our 1 million barrels per day goal. 

I think there is one final thing that all Americans can do, rich or poor, and that is share with others. We can share burdens as we can share blessings. Sharing is not easy, not easy to measure like mileage and family budgets, but I am sure that 5 percent more is not nearly enough to ask, so I ask you to share everything you can and a little bit more. And it will strengthen our spirits as well as our economy. 

Today I will not take more of the time of this busy Congress, for I vividly remember the rush before every recess, and the clock is already running on my specific and urgent requests for legislative action. I also remember how much Congress can get done when it puts its shoulder to the wheel. 

One week from tonight I have a long-standing invitation in Kansas City to address the Future Farmers of America, a fine organization of wonderful young people whose help, with millions of others, is vital in this battle. I will elaborate then how volunteer inflation fighters and energy savers can further mobilize their total efforts. 

Since asking Miss Sylvia Porter, the well-known financial writer, to help me organize an all-out nationwide volunteer mobilization, I have named a White House coordinator and have enlisted the enthusiastic support and services of some 17 other distinguished Americans to help plan for citizen and private group participation.

There will be no big Federal bureaucracy set up for this crash program. Through the courtesy of such volunteers from the communication and media fields, a very simple enlistment form will appear in many of tomorrow's newspapers along with the symbol of this new mobilization, which I am wearing on my lapel. It bears the single word WIN. I think that tells it all. I will call upon every American to join in this massive mobilization and stick with it until we do win as a nation and as a people. 

Mr. Speaker and Mr. President, I stand on a spot hallowed by history. Many Presidents have come here many times to solicit, to scold, to flatter, to exhort the Congress to support them in their leadership. Once in a great while, Presidents have stood here and truly inspired the most skeptical and the most sophisticated audience of their co-equal partners in Government. Perhaps once or twice in a generation is there such a joint session. I don't expect this one to be. 

Only two of my predecessors have come in person to call upon Congress for a declaration of war, and I shall not do that. But I say to you with all sincerity that our inflation, our public enemy number one, will, unless whipped, destroy our country, our homes, our liberties, our property, and finally our national pride, as surely as any well-armed wartime enemy. 

I concede there will be no sudden Pearl Harbor to shock us into unity and to sacrifice, but I think we have had enough early warnings. The time to intercept is right now. The time to intercept is almost gone. 

My friends and former colleagues, will you enlist now? My friends and fellow Americans, will you enlist now? Together with discipline and determination, we will win.

I thank you very much.

There are some very serious lessons from The Great Inflation that have been largely forgotten, not the least of which is that running the massive deficits we currently are inevitably will feed into an inflationary cycle.  Neither party, nor the American public in general, have any fiscal restraint.

The campaign was a failure.  High inflation would persist until the Reagan administration intentionally through the economy into a recession, which cured it.

Pins with WIN were offered for free.

The Franklin National Bank on Long Island failed, the largest bank failure in U.S. History. 

Baja California Sur as its 30th state and Quintana Roo were added as the 30th and 31st Mexican states.

Last edition

Monday, September 16, 1974. Letting the evaders and deserters off, somewhat.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, 1977, Conscription, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Vietnam War