JWBooth
Diamond Member
Lived through the 70’s. It took a while for the money printing that was done to finance LBJ’s guns and butter programs. Nixon shut the gold window and made US currency truly purely fiat one. As prices rose Nixon instituted wage and price freezes leading to shortages. William Burns was appointed to chair the Federal Reserve in 1970 and the printing presses kept running, further devaluing the money. Gerald Ford thought campaign buttons “Whip Inflation Now” could slay the dragon and between the bad economy that was resulting, the shocks in oil prices, and his pardon of Nixon. Carter was no more adept at economic thought and appointed Wm. Miller who doubled down and inflation raged.