Everything that is happening in our fractured nation today seems so worrisomely reminiscent of America’s last lost decade — the 1970s.

For those who don’t remember, the late 1970s under part-time President Gerald Ford and then much worse under President Jimmy Carter was one economic and national security setback after another.

The witches’ brew of high inflation of 7% to 10% by 1979 and ever-increasing tax rates — which rose as high as 70% — drove the economy into a ditch. Real family incomes cratered under Carter because inflation rose so much faster than family take-home pay. Homes became unaffordable, with interest rates on mortgages skyrocketing up to 17%. Gas prices tripled. Carter blamed “Big Oil” and “invested” in pipe-dream green energy alternatives that all went bankrupt.

Updated: Tue May 07, 2024