In a New Orleans Advocate opinion column dated 6/22/22 titled, "Like Carter, Biden Is A Powerless President" York, a so called conservative journalist, but who actually represents the GOP's extreme ideology displays his ignorance about the power President Biden is supposed to possess concerning controlling inflation. As a result he tries to blame the President's policies for today's inflation and says, like former President Carter is powerless to do anything about it.
York, like most all conservative writers, writings are about attacking democrats because they can not articulate in writing any accomplishments of GOP administrations. They know democrats are better at governing but lack the character to say so. Example: They are still pushing Trump's lies and misinformation with their own about the 2020 election. So, lets take a look at inflation now, under Presidents Carter and Reagan.
We know inflation did not begin with President Carter's administration, it began during the Nixon-Ford administration and continued into Carter's administration. Inflation ran hot on Carter's watch but the economy created 10.3 million jobs and the unemployment rate never exceeded 7.8% during Carter's term. Deficit spending was $242 Billion and inflation hit 13.5% in 1980. Average 30 year home mortgage rate was 13.7%.
In Reagan's first term inflation hit 10,3% in 1981 and 6.3% in 1982. Average 30 year home mortgage rate was 16.3% in 1981,16% in 1982 and 13.2% in 1983. The unemployment rate stood at over 10% for 10 straight months from September 1982 to June 1983. It was and is the highest sustained unemployment rate in the last 72 years. Deficit spending was $735 billion in Reagan's first term. 5.3 million jobs were created.
President Biden at the end of June will have served 17 full months in office. Over 8 million jobs have been created in his first 16 full months in office. The unemployment rate at this writing is 3.6% and inflation in 2021 was 4.7%. As of this writing inflation is running between 5-8 % on an annual basis. The 30 year home mortgage rate is 5.75% as of this writing. The final numbers on deficit spending will not be known until fiscal year 2022 ends on September 30. So as of today, the numbers tell us President Biden has done a better job with inflation than former Presidents Carter and Reagan. And under President Reagan, inflation hit the average worker much harder with larger increases in unemployment, higher mortgage interest rates and less job creation. And in Reagan's second term the collapse of the Homestead and Loan Industry took place that cost the tax payers over $1 billion dollars.
Power is judged by outcomes, not by writers who want to see leaders fail. We do not know yet how the inflation of today will play out in total, but the situation today does not call for, nor is it necessary for the media to pass out misinformation and lies about where we sand today that is dominating the news cycle, radio, TV, newspaper and social. The negative voices are pushing recession, a collapse of the economy and every thing negative you can think of at a time of great progress from the GOP's failed policies of the previous administration. The American people deserve better.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
Note: Mortgage information shown above taken from Peter Millers Mortgage Reports. Inflation numbers taken from the U.S. Labor Departments, inflation charts.
