Jimmy Carter and Hamas

I obtained a driver's license in March 1977. Never sat in a line for gasoline. Never even saw a line for gasoline.

10 percent inflation sucks . . . but when you say "more than 10 percent a year" that makes it sound like there was year after year after year of 10 percent inflation. There wasn't. There were two years like that. And since energy prices and food prices (corn, milk) have risen by more than 10 percent a year recently, I think many Americans today are feeling the effects of inflation to a degree that compares with people in 1979.

And to throw a little more gasoline on the fire . . .

Average household income (in 2006 dollars) rose from $47,672 to $49,011 from 1977-1980 (it actually topped $50K in 1978-79). Yes, you had bad inflation, but you did have rising incomes.

Average household income (in 2006 dollars) have gone from $66,290 in 2001 to $66,570 in 2006. Basically zero income gain in six years . . . to help pay for rising energy and food and housing prices (all of which approach or exceed 10 percent per year since 2001).

In 2001 I paid . . .
$1.59 for gasoline
$1.49 for a pint of milk
$800 for homeowners insurance

Today I pay . . .
$3.49 for gasoline
$2.39 for a pint of milk
$2,200 for homeowners insurance

Are we at 10 percent a year yet?

 

$2.39 a pint for milk? I get a quart for less than that.

 

Meant to say a quart.

And while I can get it for less than that (store brand), the name brand I used to buy for $1.49 now costs $2.39.

 

I seem to recall the rise of something called OPEC back in the day, yet it goes unmentioned in lengthy posts allegedly discussing that period in history..
The projector is running overtime.
We have a "skewed view of history."
Wowser.

 

The Iranian Revolution and subesquent market panic had a lot more to do with the 1979 oil crisis than Carter. And of course, the Iranian Revolution had its roots in the 1953 coup which we so lovingly inflicted on them. Blaming the 1979 oil crisis on Carter's failed attempts to manage the crisis is like blaming "Brownie" for Hurricane Katrina. Fail? Yes. Cause of the problem? No.

BTW, the price controls were originated by Nixon in the 1973 crisis, not Carter. Carter was much more of a supply-sider than Nixon.

Finally, we would have done well to heed his advice about energy independence.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm

 

No, Ragu, you're wrong. Nixon initiated the price controls in the 1973 crisis. Carter began phasing them out and Reagan finished phasing them out in 1981. "That is factual."

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32755
Executive Order 12153- August 17th, 1979. Carter initiates rollback of Nixon Administration price controls.
"What you gave is a false history."

Yes, the drop in production as a result of the Iranian Revolution was negligible. But the market panic was very real, and far more influential than the- admittedly modest- drop in production. I believe that's what I wrote the first time: "subsequent market panic."

You are funny when you are so very certain when you're wrong. "This is not a matter of opinion. It's fact." :

 

From the Department of Energy at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/AOMC/Overview.html

1.OPEC begins to assert power; raises tax rate & posted prices
2.OPEC begins nationalization process; raises prices in response to falling US dollar.
3.Negotiations for gradual transfer of ownership of western assets in OPEC countries
4.Oil embargo begins (October 19-20, 1973)
5.OPEC freezes posted prices; US begins mandatory oil allocation
6.Oil embargo ends (March 18, 1974)
7.Saudis increase tax rates and royalties
8.US crude oil entitlements program begins
9.OPEC announces 15% revenue increase effective October 1, 1975
10.Official Saudi Light price held constant for 1976
11.Iranian oil production hits a 27-year low
12.OPEC decides on 14.5% price increase for 1979
13.Iranian revolution; Shah deposed
14.OPEC raises prices 14.5% on April 1, 1979
15.US phased price decontrol begins
16.OPEC raises prices 15%
17.Iran takes hostages; President Carter halts imports from Iran; Iran cancels US contracts; Non-OPEC output hits 17.0 million b/d
18.Saudis raise marker crude price from 19$/bbl to 26$/bbl
19.Windfall Profits Tax enacted
20.Kuwait, Iran, and Libya production cuts drop OPEC oil production to 27 million b/d
21.Saudi Light raised to $28/bbl
22.Saudi Light raised to $34/bbl
23.First major fighting in Iran-Iraq War
24.President Reagan abolishes remaining price and allocation controls

 

"For all its flaws, Carter's 1977 national energy plan contained a sensible idea: letting the price of domestically drilled crude oil, which is now fixed legislatively by a complex system of price controls and formulas, rise to world levels."
Time magazine, 3/12/79
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948432-1,00.html

Ragu's right about one thing: it's useful to distinguish between the high-price aspect of the 79 crisis and the shortage aspect. Here's an interesting piece, that I'm neither endorsing nor rebutting, on the shortage issue. Could the shortage have been exacerbated or even created by those innocent saints at the oil companies? Again, I'm not venturing an opinion on that one, but it's an interesting read.
http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF0403/Donovan/Donovan.html
Of course, the author's a leftie reporter and not an academic or think-tanker on the take from the rich, so I'm sure he's wrong. Only the rich and their lackeys can be trusted to describe the activities of the rich.

BTW, here's the text of that 77 Carter speech. He was not an effective leader, but he understood a hell of a lot and had the moral courage to say it.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_energy.html