Thursday, December 14, 2006
Piling On - But at least it's economics
by Ken Houghton
Editorial by Fred Hiatt in the Washington Post (date tbd):
The death of James Earl Carter, Jr., yesterday reminds us of his greatest accomplishment: setting the stage for the following 20 years of economic prosperity. As we noted in 2006, rulers are responsible for the time after they leave office and until their death, not when they are actually shepherding the process. To slightly edit a paragraph from then:In the 15 years [following Carter's presidency], [the U.S. stock market] grew [more than] twice that of the regional average, although its poverty rate increased and debt levels rose.
Mr. Carter was inspired to attempt "The Volcker Experiment," which ultimately changed the goals of the Fed from managing growth to maintaining the growing inequality. It was that growth of inequality that resulting in the booming capital markets of later eras, and it is high time that those who have claimed that growing inequality leads to inefficient use of capital admit they were wrong.
