It's always fun to bitch-slap Krugman
And Alan Reynolds does a fine job of slapping Krugman and other Reagan deniers.
In June 1980, under Pres. Jimmy Carter, the combined unemployment and inflation rates-the "misery index"-reached 22 percent. The Federal Reserve belatedly raised the federal-funds rate from 9 percent in July of 1980 to 19.1 percent shortly before Ronald Reagan took office. The 30-year mortgage rate hit 18.45 percent that fall.
Despite that unprecedented headwind, the misery index dropped to 7.7 percent by the end of 1986. And the U.S. economy grew by 3.4 percent a year from 1981 to 1988-an average that includes the worst postwar recession by far (this one is not even close). After the recession, from 1983 to 1989, the economy grew by 4.3 percent a year.
Yet still the deniers wave their hands and point to the failures of Carter as reasons why it just wasn't so. :P
In June 1980, under Pres. Jimmy Carter, the combined unemployment and inflation rates-the "misery index"-reached 22 percent. The Federal Reserve belatedly raised the federal-funds rate from 9 percent in July of 1980 to 19.1 percent shortly before Ronald Reagan took office. The 30-year mortgage rate hit 18.45 percent that fall.
Despite that unprecedented headwind, the misery index dropped to 7.7 percent by the end of 1986. And the U.S. economy grew by 3.4 percent a year from 1981 to 1988-an average that includes the worst postwar recession by far (this one is not even close). After the recession, from 1983 to 1989, the economy grew by 4.3 percent a year.
Yet still the deniers wave their hands and point to the failures of Carter as reasons why it just wasn't so. :P