Which President did best in economic policies and why?

[futurepres]

Who did better in economics?

[republicanism]

NOTA.

Franklin Roosevelt.

[Link]

Bill Clinton obviously.  Reagan introduced the concept of ridiculous totally pointless military expenditures while simultaneously cutting taxes on the wealthy.  We can thank Reagan for giving the troglodytes amongst us cover so they can believe we can blow $740 billion a year on pointless weapons and at the same time cut taxes on millionairs to <15% or even better 9-9-9.

Clinton illustrated for us what a reasonable tax rate can accomplish.  Booming economy and our debts are paid.

Agree with the above though FDR and Johnson would have to be the all time best.  They more so than just about any other president (besides maybe Lincoln) are responsible for us having a civilized modern society.  Instead of living like a bunch of savages.

[ModerateCoward]

The question should be: Which president did less damage to the economy?

[Korwinist]

NoTA

Reagan ran up a deficit, barely cut any taxes, and increased spending.

Clinton ran up a deficit but cleverly hid it by shuffling money around and robbing the Social Security fund. He also barely cut any taxes and increased spending.

I vote Calvin Coolidge.

[opebo]

NOTA.

Franklin Roosevelt.

[© Tweed the Younger]

they were basically the same

[Mr.Phips]

Clinton by many miles.  Clinton achieved a lower unemployment rate for a longer period of time and ran surpluses or near surpluses for all of his second term. 

[Jerseyrules]

Clinton got to reap the benefits of the prosperity from the U.S. being the sole power in the world.  Relative prosperity, no war, and the dot com boom.

[anvi]

I think a better question might be: "Which president did a better job with the federal budget?" or "Which president lucked out more as a result of a rising economy?"  When it comes to economic activity overall, presidents don't so much drive the car as they buy the car insurance and play with the radio dials.

[Torie]

Bill Clinton obviously.  Reagan introduced the concept of ridiculous totally pointless military expenditures while simultaneously cutting taxes on the wealthy.  We can thank Reagan for giving the troglodytes amongst us cover so they can believe we can blow $740 billion a year on pointless weapons and at the same time cut taxes on millionairs to <15% or even better 9-9-9.

Clinton illustrated for us what a reasonable tax rate can accomplish.  Booming economy and our debts are paid.

Agree with the above though FDR and Johnson would have to be the all time best.  They more so than just about any other president (besides maybe Lincoln) are responsible for us having a civilized modern society.  Instead of living like a bunch of savages.

I think you forgot that LBJ with his guns and butter policies let the inflation genie out of the bottle, and it was a long, hard road to shove it back in to the bottle, about 16 years 1966 to 1982, when the Gipper finally managed to exorcise it. Remember now anvi? 

[Mr. Taft Republican]

I vote Calvin Coolidge.

[Link]

Bill Clinton obviously.  Reagan introduced the concept of ridiculous totally pointless military expenditures while simultaneously cutting taxes on the wealthy.  We can thank Reagan for giving the troglodytes amongst us cover so they can believe we can blow $740 billion a year on pointless weapons and at the same time cut taxes on millionairs to <15% or even better 9-9-9.

Clinton illustrated for us what a reasonable tax rate can accomplish.  Booming economy and our debts are paid.

Agree with the above though FDR and Johnson would have to be the all time best.  They more so than just about any other president (besides maybe Lincoln) are responsible for us having a civilized modern society.  Instead of living like a bunch of savages.

I think you forgot that LBJ with his guns and butter policies let the inflation genie out of the bottle, and it was a long, hard road to shove it back in to the bottle, about 16 years 1966 to 1982, when the Gipper finally managed to exorcise it. Remember now anvi? 

The "Gipper" never ran the Federal Reserve.  I believe you are thinking of Jimmy Carter's appointee Paul Volcker...



Your claims about LBJ being the sole cause of inflation in America are dubious.  Furthermore even if true you are not taking into account the increased participation in the economy of women and minorities as a result of LBJ's civil rights act.  Currently numerous colleges are struggling with too many women applicants.  They are actually having to do affirmative action just to keep a respectable amount of males on their campuses!



You take the single largest portion of the population (women) out of the kitchen and the typing pool and send them to college, and you soon realize the astonishing amount of economic activity that LBJ unleashed with a stroke of a pen.  When the playing field is truly leveled you realize the people we had cooking the food were actually better suited for academic pursuits than we are.  There is really nothing Reagan did that is comprable.

[dialectical fetishist]

Both were poor, but at least Clinton ran up a surplus.

[Politico]

The Fed is a nonpartisan entity, so trying to turn Volcker's successful slaying of inflation into a Democratic success is hogwash. Volcker, unlike the vast majority of Democrats, decided high inflation needed to be eliminated no matter what, even if it meant creating high unemployment in the short-run. He was not popular in the Democratic Party from 1979-1982. You have to give Carter credit for appointing Volcker, but you cannot convince me that Volcker would have survived had Carter won re-election in 1980. Reagan deserves credit for sticking with Volcker and rightfully staying out of monetary policy.

By the way, the fact Volcker is a registered Democrat who supported Obama four years ago means little in the grand scheme of things. The same holds true of me, for example.

Most of the inflation of the 1970s can be blamed on Arthur Burns, but having the currency pegged to gold during Vietnam did not help matters nor can we ignore Nixon's 1971 pressure on Burns to keep monetary policy too loose. I recall reading rumors that Nixon had some dirt on Burns, and threatened leaking damaging information that would sink Burns if he did not ensure the Fed played it real loose in time for Nixon's re-election.

Carter gets credit for deregulating the airlines and trucking industry. The laundry list of blemishes does not need to be rehashed here.

Reagan gets credit for restoring confidence in America after the malaise of the 1970s, for showing there is a correlation between cutting taxes and economic growth, for proving that the American taxpayer can spend most of their own money better than the federal government can, and for a military/arms buildup that the USSR was unable to keep up with while mired in Afghanistan. His obvious blemishes are Iran-Contra, and not calming fears about AIDS sooner. I think some people go too far with the rhetoric about these two blemishes, though. There is no evidence Reagan knew of the Iran-Contra dealings, and Reagan was not a doctor working for the CDC or something.

Clinton gets credit for NAFTA, taking a hard-line on the deficit, and being a very pragmatic leader that made Americans feel good. His obvious blemishes are repealing Glass-Steagall and strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act, but obviously neither policy seemed like a blemish at the time.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

Volcker was somewhat better than Greenspan.

[bgwah]

Clinton got to be President during a big boom... It's not really fair to compare him to Reagan, or Bush, or Obama...

[Link]

I think you forgot that LBJ with his guns and butter policies let the inflation genie out of the bottle, and it was a long, hard road to shove it back in to the bottle, about 16 years 1966 to 1982, when the Gipper finally managed to exorcise it. Remember now anvi? 

The "Gipper" never ran the Federal Reserve.  I believe you are thinking of Jimmy Carter's appointee Paul Volcker...

The Fed is a nonpartisan entity, so trying to turn Volcker's successful slaying of inflation into a Democratic success is hogwash. Volcker, unlike the vast majority of Democrats, decided high inflation needed to be eliminated no matter what, even if it meant creating high unemployment in the short-run. He was not popular in the Democratic Party from 1979-1982. You have to give Carter credit for appointing Volcker, but you cannot convince me that Volcker would have survived had Carter won re-election in 1980. Reagan deserves credit for sticking with Volcker and rightfully staying out of monetary policy.

By the way, the fact Volcker is a registered Democrat who supported Obama four years ago means little in the grand scheme of things. The same holds true of me, for example.

You do a magnificent job mischaracterizing people's posts and throwing up stawmen.  Are you capable of having a straight forward debate on any topic without your gimmicks?

By the way, the fact Volcker is a registered Democrat who supported Obama four years ago means little in the grand scheme of things.

It means giving a Republican president credit for a Democrat's actions is complete hackery.

You have to give Carter credit for appointing Volcker, but you cannot convince me that Volcker would have survived had Carter won re-election in 1980.

The beauty of it is we don't have to convince you.  Whatever mental patients think is of little consequence to those of us who objectively follow politics.  If you want to pretend you are in an alternate universe where Carter wins a second term and fires Volcker go ahead.  Do whatever makes your masturbatory fantasies more erotic.

[Link]

Clinton got to be President during a big boom... It's not really fair to compare him to Reagan, or Bush, or Obama...

True but he could have pulled a Bush II and dished out some stupid tax cuts and blown over a Trillion dollars on a pointless war.  It's a pretty low bar but he was certainly better than that.

The repeal of Glass Steagall... well that was dumb.  But hey everybody was clamoring to do it.  The question is now that we know that was one of the stupidest things to do are we going to reverse our actions.  For heaven sakes even Gingrich has admitted it should come back.

[Politico]

I think you forgot that LBJ with his guns and butter policies let the inflation genie out of the bottle, and it was a long, hard road to shove it back in to the bottle, about 16 years 1966 to 1982, when the Gipper finally managed to exorcise it. Remember now anvi? 

The "Gipper" never ran the Federal Reserve.  I believe you are thinking of Jimmy Carter's appointee Paul Volcker...

The Fed is a nonpartisan entity, so trying to turn Volcker's successful slaying of inflation into a Democratic success is hogwash. Volcker, unlike the vast majority of Democrats, decided high inflation needed to be eliminated no matter what, even if it meant creating high unemployment in the short-run. He was not popular in the Democratic Party from 1979-1982. You have to give Carter credit for appointing Volcker, but you cannot convince me that Volcker would have survived had Carter won re-election in 1980. Reagan deserves credit for sticking with Volcker and rightfully staying out of monetary policy.

By the way, the fact Volcker is a registered Democrat who supported Obama four years ago means little in the grand scheme of things. The same holds true of me, for example.

You do a magnificent job mischaracterizing people's posts and throwing up stawmen.  Are you capable of having a straight forward debate on any topic without your gimmicks?

Hey, you are the one who tried to make the argument that the Fed's ability to clobber high inflation was some sort of Democratic success. It was no such thing. When the Fed accomplishes something, it has nothing to do with politics regardless of the political affiliation of the Chairman of the Board of Governors. Truth be told, Volcker was incredibly unpopular among Democrats in the late 70s and early 80s for his inflation-combating medicine.

By the way, the fact Volcker is a registered Democrat who supported Obama four years ago means little in the grand scheme of things.

It means giving a Republican president credit for a Democrat's actions is complete hackery.

Here is the point your partisan mind is missing: Volcker's actions as Chairman of the Fed were the actions of a brilliant economist, not a politician/political operative. Yes, he is a registered Democrat and has his personal reasons for being registered in the Democratic Party as do I. However, politics never entered into his decisions as Chairman of the Fed and you are tarnishing the independence of the Fed and Volcker the economist by implying such a thing.

You have to give Carter credit for appointing Volcker, but you cannot convince me that Volcker would have survived had Carter won re-election in 1980.

The beauty of it is we don't have to convince you.  Whatever mental patients think is of little consequence to those of us who objectively follow politics.  If you want to pretend you are in an alternate universe where Carter wins a second term and fires Volcker go ahead.  Do whatever makes your masturbatory fantasies more erotic.

Obviously my point was simply to emphasize how unpopular Volcker was with Democrats in the late 70s/early 80s.

[Link]

I think you forgot that LBJ with his guns and butter policies let the inflation genie out of the bottle, and it was a long, hard road to shove it back in to the bottle, about 16 years 1966 to 1982, when the Gipper finally managed to exorcise it. Remember now anvi? 

The "Gipper" never ran the Federal Reserve.  I believe you are thinking of Jimmy Carter's appointee Paul Volcker...

The Fed is a nonpartisan entity, so trying to turn Volcker's successful slaying of inflation into a Democratic success is hogwash. Volcker, unlike the vast majority of Democrats, decided high inflation needed to be eliminated no matter what, even if it meant creating high unemployment in the short-run. He was not popular in the Democratic Party from 1979-1982. You have to give Carter credit for appointing Volcker, but you cannot convince me that Volcker would have survived had Carter won re-election in 1980. Reagan deserves credit for sticking with Volcker and rightfully staying out of monetary policy.

By the way, the fact Volcker is a registered Democrat who supported Obama four years ago means little in the grand scheme of things. The same holds true of me, for example.

You do a magnificent job mischaracterizing people's posts and throwing up strawmen.  Are you capable of having a straight forward debate on any topic without your gimmicks?

Hey, you are the one who tried to make the argument that the Fed's ability to clobber high inflation was some sort of Democratic success.

No dude.  Read the whole exchange.  Someone posted that Reagan (tax cuts, huge deficit spending) was the person that got inflation under control.  I presented objective third party evidence that in fact it was not Reagan that got inflation under control but indeed a Democrat named Volcker who was appointed by a Democrat named Carter who got inflation under control.  Don't just start in in the middle of an exchange and start incorrectly critiquing my response to another post.  Start with the original post.  Prior to that guy's post I made no mention of Carter or Volcker and you know it.  You chose to selectively ignore the obviously partisan and incorrect answer of the person I was responding to.  Actually you did worse.  You piled on by saying that in a fantasy world Carter would be reelected and fire his own appointee so we should come back into the real world and sing Reagan's praises.  Pathetic.

Fact Carter is a Democrat.
Fact Carter appointed Volcker.
Fact Volcker is a Democrat.
Fact Volcker is widely credited with bringing inflation under control.

Furthermore I never typed the word Democrat until this post in regards to this topic so stop lying.

Here is the point your partisan mind is missing: Volcker's actions as Chairman of the Fed were the actions of a brilliant economist, not a politician/political operative.

There's your strawman gimmick again.  Who said Volcker tamed inflation because he was a Democrat?  Show me where in my previous posts I typed the word Democrat let alone said he implemented some Democrat voodoo at the Fed?  Show us?  We're waiting.  Or is this just another one of your strawmen?

Again my post was a reaction to someone saying the Gipper brought inflation under control.  A far more accurate statement if you want to include presidents is Carter's appointee Volcker got inflation under control.

[Politico]

So you personally emphasized the fact Volcker is a Democrat by underlining "Paul Volcker, a Democrat" for no particular reason? Suuuuuuuure.

You responded to blatant partisan hackery with more subtle partisan hackery, and then you get all pissy when I call you on it.

By the way, yes, Reagan does deserve some praise for sticking with Volcker just like Carter gets credit for appointing him. His political affiliation had nothing to do with his conduct, of course. A lot of people wanted him gone after 1980, especially in Democratic quarters. The temptation was strong to not get inflation truly under control, but Reagan wisely stayed out of monetary policy. America greatly benefited from Volcker's actions and Reagan's decision to allow economists at the Fed to independently conduct monetary policy.

[Link]

So you personally emphasized the fact Volcker is a Democrat by underlining "Paul Volcker, a Democrat" for no particular reason? Suuuuuuuure.

I didn't do it for no reason.  I did it in response to the ridiculous assertion that "the Gipper" was somehow magically responsible for brining inflation under control.  I did it to illustrate that it was not only not the Gipper that did it but a Democratic Jimmy Carter appointee.  The OP was the one that got political.  Frankly I was just illustrating the irony of the truth.  It doesn't mean any fed Chairman is working partisan machinations over at the Fed that I know of.  You took what was a light hearted jab between me and another poster and turned it into some bizarre Jihad.  Give it a rest!

[Jerseyrules]

I vote Calvin Coolidge.

Agreeing for 20th century, but all time is Grover Cleveland by far.  Cals downfall was protective tariffs, which led to the depression

[Politico]

So you personally emphasized the fact Volcker is a Democrat by underlining "Paul Volcker, a Democrat" for no particular reason? Suuuuuuuure.

I didn't do it for no reason.  I did it in response to the ridiculous assertion that "the Gipper" was somehow magically responsible for brining inflation under control.  I did it to illustrate that it was not only not the Gipper that did it but a Democratic Jimmy Carter appointee.  The OP was the one that got political.  Frankly I was just illustrating the irony of the truth.  It doesn't mean any fed Chairman is working partisan machinations over at the Fed that I know of.  You took what was a light hearted jab between me and another poster and turned it into some bizarre Jihad.  Give it a rest!

The political affiliation of the Chairman of the Fed is meaningless. The Board acts independently of any and all political considerations, and even the most remote suggestion to the contrary is dangerous to America's economy.