Paul Volcker (D) vs. Alan Greenspan (R)

[FerrisBueller86]

This is the battle of the Federal Reserve Chairs.  Paul Volcker was appointed as the Federal Reserve Chair in 1979 by President Carter.  Alan Greenspan was appointed as the Federal Reserve Chair in 1987 by President Reagan.  Thus, consider Volcker to be the Democrat and Greenspan to be the Republican in this thought experiment.

Whom do you vote for?  Who wins?  What does the electoral map look like?

[FerrisBueller86]

I'd vote for Volcker but Greenspan would win in a landslide.

Volcker didn't inflate bubble after bubble after bubble on his watch.  OK, there was a brief tech stock bubble in 1983-1984, but the bust didn't seem to cause that much economic damage.  There was the Cabbage Patch Doll bubble in 1983, but only little girls were caught in it.  Volcker did dampen down the double digit inflation of the 1970s.  The appointment of Volcker by President Carter says a lot about him - Carter was willing to take the political heat for doing what was better in the long run, never mind that he and his party were out of the White House for the long run.

Greenspan would win in a landslide.  He'd do especially well in the Great Lakes states due to bad memories of the early 1980s recession, which happened on Volcker's watch.  Places that were dependent on the steel industry still haven't recovered economically.  Greenspan would do well nearly everywhere else as well, because most people like the easy credit and low interest rates on their mortgages and home equity loans.

Greenspan would lose Arizona and Florida because of retirees voting against him.  Retirees on fixed incomes don't like his low interest rates.  Volcker would win in Oklahoma and Texas, where the oil industry was booming in the late 1970s and early 1980s and collapsed in the second half of the 1980s.  The oil industry STILL hasn't recovered to this day.

The map:

Greenspan wins with 434 electoral votes.

[Erc]

I like both of them...

[A18]

I like both of them...

^^^

[nini2287]

I think it's been established that Greenspan is a Democrat or at least a Democatic-leaning Independent.

[phk]

I think it's been established that Greenspan is a Democrat or at least a Democatic-leaning Independent.

I thought he was a Republican.

You could argue he was one of those Clinton Republicans that nobody talks about.. but. yeah.

[George W. Hobbes]

Greenspan wants a consumption tax, first of all.  That's not an idea very popular with the Left right now.

[opebo]

Both are horrible.

[Yates]

I admire both but would choose Greenspan, who would win.