Happy Birthday, President Carter

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
10/01/2020 at 09:46 • Filed to: Happy birthday

Carter turns 96 today. Maybe h e should consider running again. H e may not have been the greatest president, but he is a genuinely decent human being, and I think we could all use a bit of that.

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DISCUSSION (34)

CTSenVy > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 09:50

He term didn’t go so well, but he has been the best ex president since with all his work helping people out.

facw > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 09:53

Kinja'd!!!

In any event, yeah a good guy overall.

Just Jeepin' > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 09:55

Placing Volcker as Fed chair is enough to warrant a bit of praise for his presidency.

When I was in grade school in 1980 , our teacher asked us to stand on different sides of the room depending on who we’d vote for. Of course we all reflected our parents, and of course living in Indiana I was the only Carter voter, although one of my friends who supported John Anderson stood on my side of the room so I wouldn’t feel quite so isolated.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 09:57

I did not realize he was still kicking. Woah. Peanuts will do that to ya.

ttyymmnn > Just Jeepin'
10/01/2020 at 10:02

I had forgotten about Anderson. I was 11 when Carter became president. My parents are lifelong Democrats, so I was too, and am now. We went to see him speak in VA when he was on the campaign trail. Tough times to be president, though.

ttyymmnn > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/01/2020 at 10:03

Obama, Bush, Clinton, Carter still alive. Am I missing anybody?

ranwhenparked > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 10:08

Naval Academy grad with nuclear reactor training (and radioactive materials cleanup experience), multimillion dollar food processing business (that was badly mismanaged by the blind trust he set up to run it for him during his presidency and was nearly bankrupt by the time he left office) devout Christian and Sunday school teacher, and has spent the last 40 years actively supporting what I've always felt is one of the most admirable charities in the country. Might not have been a great president, or a great political, but he's definately a great human being and his presidency is just 4 years out of almost 80 that he's spent serving the country in various ways.

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 10:08

Let’s hope we add another living ex president to that list very soon.

ttyymmnn > ranwhenparked
10/01/2020 at 10:11

Well said.

jminer > Just Jeepin'
10/01/2020 at 10:12

Yeah, he is the reason that the Raegan economy boomed.

When Volcker passed a year ago I head an earlier interview of Carter talking about that. He said everyone told him not to nominate Volcker as he’d loose control of the Fed. Carter new there’d be short term economic pain but the next term would experience a great boom because of these actions - he just expected the next term to be his.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > facw
10/01/2020 at 10:15

Wait, it’s 2007? Noooo, now we’ll have to live through 2020 all over again. And 2008.

ttyymmnn > jminer
10/01/2020 at 10:16

Can any president truly affect the economy in their first term? It seems most presidents end up inheriting what the last president left them, for good or bad.

WilliamsSW > Just Jeepin'
10/01/2020 at 10:18

He did the right thing, even though it quite possibly cost him a 2nd term. Sounds about right for him.

Pepperidge Farms remembers when Presidents used to be leaders who made the hard decisions for the good of the country.

jminer > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 10:19

At least the first year or two is definitely what they inhereted, depending on the severity. For example Obama spent 8 years fixing the Bush crash and Trump inherited the longest economic expansion ever only to when turn it into the largest economic crash since the great depression.

Just Jeepin' > WilliamsSW
10/01/2020 at 10:22

As far as I’m concerned, “living” is optional.

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 10:23

He’s eligible for another term you know. Come back Jim.

facw > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
10/01/2020 at 10:50

Sadly I have it on good authority it is in fact 2020. You’ll have to take the diagram up with Mr. Munroe (how dare he not have a script to update this comic to keep it current).

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 11:04

Not really. Neither the President nor Congress can have that big of an impact on the economy in the short term, other than to a) fuck it up royally or b) implement short term stimulus that has negative long term consequences.

Sometimes option B is necessary (2009, 2020) but it has a cost.

just-a-scratch > Just Jeepin'
10/01/2020 at 11:08

Careful there. Stuff like that could be interpreted as a threat.

I’ll go so far as to say I understand the sentiment.

ttyymmnn > jminer
10/01/2020 at 11:16

To be fair to Trump, not that he deserves it, but there was a 100-year global pandemic.

ttyymmnn > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
10/01/2020 at 11:17

I was wondering about that. Are presidents limited to two terms total, or just two consecutive terms?

jminer > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 11:28

Correct, but he also already seriously stressed the economy with his endless petty trade wars before it and then if he hadn’t shat the bed on the response to the pandemic the impact wouldn’t have been anywhere near as bad.

Future next gen S2000 owner > ttyymmnn
10/01/2020 at 12:15

Two terms total. I believe Garfield, IIRC, had two non-consecutive terms. It was an unwritten rule until Roosevelt got elected 4 times. It was made a law in the 1950's I believe.

Future next gen S2000 owner > jminer
10/01/2020 at 12:19

I did a report on Volcker and his work on the Federal Reserve back then. It is amazing the shit that guy put up with. No one was happy with him but what he did was needed to stop stagflation.

They brought him back on to consult in 2008. Wicked smart fellow.

Future next gen S2000 owner > jminer
10/01/2020 at 12:21

Ironically, they’ve come out with a study, they countries that reacted the swiftest and most aggressively had the smallest economic impact. By dragging this out in order to “help” the economy, he’s actually done the opposite.

jminer > Future next gen S2000 owner
10/01/2020 at 12:21

Yeah, he’s also a lot of the reason we have the modern, strong, independent Fed. His contributions are legion to our modern society.

He was one of the first economists put in charge of the Fed and we’re better for it.

glemon > Future next gen S2000 owner
10/01/2020 at 12:27

And Washington, who by all accounts could have served as many terms as he wanted, established the custom before it became law, for fear that if terms were not voluntarily limited to two, the country would look more like a monarchy than a democracy.

fintail > ranwhenparked
10/01/2020 at 12:27

Hold on, we don’t need a compassionate educated leader, we need someone who can run a business and bring law and order! /s

fintail > Future next gen S2000 owner
10/01/2020 at 12:29

And for a laugh, check out American stimulus as a percentage of GDP compared to competitive developed nations.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
10/01/2020 at 12:37

To be fair, if we live through it again, I’ll know to invest in Ford after the stock market crash, Tesla, Apple, and Bitcoin.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > ranwhenparked
10/01/2020 at 12:48

I’m too young and a recent immigrant to know enough about him - but the more I learn the more I realize that he seems like he was too good a man to be our president. He certainly wasn’t enough of a politician.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > fintail
10/01/2020 at 12:59

Well, America already failed at electing that ~4 years ago...

ranwhenparked > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
10/01/2020 at 12:59

He’s one of the few I can think of that didn’t really come into office with any pre-existing baggage or scandals or anything. Maybe him and, ironically, Gerald Ford. Always seemed like a genuinely good person, maybe in the wrong career for a bit, but he certainly found his calling afterward.

Also, he’s probably one of very few to go into the presidency as a millionaire and leave it basically broke - the other way around is way more common. Part of why he stayed so active post presidency is that he still needed to work to earn money and build his fortune back up. I doubt I’d have voted for him in 1976 or ‘80, but I’d gladly pick him over many of the Republican and Democrat candidates we’ve had since.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > fintail
10/01/2020 at 13:10

Kinja'd!!!