Was Jimmy Carter Right on Economics?

In the past 2-years I have read much about American consumption. The dreadful decline in our savings savings as we spend more then we earn. With each year, it seems to get worse. Is it any wonder, that our economy is beginning to collapse? You can support the economy for only so long, before over spending will fall in top of you. Look at from a personal angle. If you earn $30,000/year but spend $35,000/year, how long do you think you can do that, before you fall financially. Eventually, you either have to cut spending or file bankruptcy (and cut spending). Back in 1979, Jimmy Carter tried to warn us.

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
- Jimmy Carter, 7/15/1979

Carter's speech, which you can read in it's entirety online, as well as his pessimistic attitude was so unpopular (his popularity was only 25%) that he was defeated in a landslid by Ronald Reagan, in 1980. Since then, no President of either party has dared talk about our over consumption. Instead, they have tried to pump it up.

In the same speech, Carter said,

The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world.

As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.

These changes did not happen overnight. They've come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that were filled with shocks and tragedy.

We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the Presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Water gate.

We remember when the phrase "sound as a dollar" was an expression of absolute dependability, until 10 years of inflation began to shrink our dollar and our savings. We believed that our Nation's resources were limitless until 1973, when we had to face a growing dependence on foreign oil.

Over the years, I criticized the Carter administration. It was however, Reagan, who got me interested in politics. Even though I loved how Carter has helped the poor through habitat for humanity, since leaving office. However, as watched the documentary "Affluenza," and now locating Carter's speech, I have even more respect for at certain aspects of his administration. We are beginning to see more then ever the very things Carter was trying to warn us about 29-years ago.

The answer to correct it, is simple. All though, it is an unpopular idea. Cut spending. Live on less then you make and put the remaining into savings.



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