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Edited on Wed Aug-20-08 08:27 AM by liberalmike27
After decades of a media who has nearly destroyed Carter's reputation as a president, and put Reagan on a pedestal, most folks who weren't around during his administration have no idea what kind of president he was.
Many of the problems with the economy had to do with the Vietnam war, and adjusting to a non-war economy, including high interest rates to maintain treasuries. High interest rates also caused some of the other problems.
The oil embargo, just more reason to do the things he said to become independent.
And plenty of people got houses with low interest rates, only to lose them as salaries dropped, and jobs left, under our "Chicago school of economic policy," led by Milton Friedman.
But, Carter wasn't a bad man, or a bad president. In truth, after Iran nationalized the oil in 1945, American oil companies were pissed. Back then it was popular, instead of a full-fledged war, to use the CIA to instigate coups. They did so, and installed a brutal Shah, Reza. He lasted until 1979, when they finally were able to remove the puss-ball that America had evoked on the Iranian skin.
Reagan sent Bush in October 1980 to negotiate with Iran, offering much more than the non-war items for the safe removal of American hostages, who weren't likely ever going to be hurt. He promised spare parts, and more weapons, which were later delivered, if only they kept the hostages until inauguration day. Reagan Bush were elected, and that was the beginning of the real blight on our country, the assault on the middle class, the begin of the class war, which they've pretty much won. They did, it was perceived by the everyone as "Reagan-fear" that they were released, when it was all according to plan.
Then there was the eight year, puppet war, between Iran and Iraq. It was called that, since Iran had wrested control of their country, their oil from us, Iraq was provided weapons under the dictator Saddam Hussein. We had taken to forcing our economic policy onto countries by force, through the use of dictators, like Saddam, and Noriega. These were much more harsh policies that usual in Iraq, as they were in Iraq, as we've seen in the propaganda once Saddam reared up, as dictators always seem to eventually do.
Then there was 1991, and 2003, all wars that started way back in 1908, really, when the oil was discovered in Iran, one-hundred years ago.
So, if you want to place the weight of the world and bad policy on anyone, don't put it on Carter's back. The CIA was doing bad shit back then, and from what we hear, now that Bush is in office, they are up to their old tricks, shocking, working the genitals, and emptying out the minds of terrorists, probably to such a degree that they will soil their pants for the rest of their lives.
Really something to be proud of, right?
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