Discuss the economic factors of the 1970s and how they preve

Discuss the economic factors of the 1970s and how they prevented Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter from having successful presidencies. How and why did America\'s economic fortunes change in the 1980s?

Solution

Answer

It\'s the 1970s, and the stock market was a mess.

It loses 40% in an 18-month period, and for close to a decade few people want anything to do with stocks.

Economic growth was weak, which results in rising unemployment that eventually reaches double-digits.The easy-money policies of the American central bank, which were designed to generate full employment, by the early 1970s, also caused high inflation.

The central bank, under different leadership, would later reverse its policies, raising interest rates to some 20%, a number once considered usurious.

Jimmy Carter administration sought to make the government \"competent and compassionate\" but, in the midst of an economic crisis produced by rising energy prices and stagflation, met with difficulty in achieving its objectives.

The final year of his presidential tenure was marked by several major crises, including the 1979 takeover of the American embassy in Iran and holding of hostages by Iranian students, an unsuccessful rescue attempt of the hostages, serious fuel shortages, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Gerald Ford became the first person to reach the White House without being elected president or vice president. In 1973, President Richard Nixon appointed Ford to replace Spiro Agnew, who resigned his position as vice president before pleading no contest to charges of bribery and tax evasion.

After the recessions of 1980 and 1981-82, family income in the United States expanded through most of the 1980s. The decade brought gains in living standards to most families, but these gains were not distributed evenly.

While high-income families enjoyed above-average gains, the incomes of low-income families declined; the rich grew richer but the poor grew poorer.