Ace of Spades HQ

June 13, 2012

A Better Graph
— LauraW

Thanks to Moron Goy on Twitter.
This probably more accurately quantifies 'consumer confidence.'

If you were alive during the Carter years, this graph is rather stunning. I'm not THAT surprised- a lot of people are hurting right now.

But I would not have guessed we were quite so close to what life was like under Carter's level of suckage.

Posted by: LauraW at 09:21 AM | Comments (239)
Post contains 65 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I'm more surprised by how effectively the media and Ross Perot's candidacy managed to kill 41's re-election bid despite economic growth.

Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at June 13, 2012 09:38 AM (e0xKF)

2 I still remember the gas lines for 10 blocks.

And Obama is still a SCOAMF - only this time we have a chart that proves it.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at June 13, 2012 09:38 AM (sbV1u)

3 The only thing missing from the Carter years are the huge interest rates on loans and the gas lines.

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 09:39 AM (Dnbau)

4 Thanks for sharing that racist graph, racist.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 09:39 AM (HR5x9)

5 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable tyrant.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) Channelling Breitbart at June 13, 2012 09:39 AM (8y9MW)

I was 25 when that POS was elected, he almost killed the country. Thank God for Reagan.

Just checked, popcorn futures are at a 32 year high

Posted by: BIG ROB at June 13, 2012 09:40 AM (MuXag)

7 I hope Romney can turn that graph into a hockey stick!

Posted by: dfbaskwill at June 13, 2012 09:40 AM (71LDo)

8 I find myself wondering what consumer confidence numbers are looking like in Spain or Italy right now. Or what they'll look like in this country once the EU debt-collapses this summer.

Posted by: Wodeshed at June 13, 2012 09:41 AM (mWijP)

9 @3 The only thing missing from the Carter years are the huge interest rates on loans and the gas lines. Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 01:39 PM (Dnbau) That's because during the Carter years we weren't printing endless rolls of toilet paper. Excuse me. I meant endless bales of money. Got hyperinflation?

Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2012 09:42 AM (54vf8)

10 No problem, racist. All you racist math lovers out there, yell HE-EY!

Posted by: lauraw at June 13, 2012 09:42 AM (mhzPJ)

11 Oh yeah, the good, ol' Carter days.

Posted by: SFGoth at June 13, 2012 09:43 AM (dZ756)

12 The main difference is that in Carter's era, the press were willing to dump on the economy when a Democrat was in office - it was bad news and sold papers, so they didn't care who it hurt politically. These days they're willing to suicide their career for the right political party's benefit, so the coverage isn't as dire. We just don't get nightly reports on unemployment, inflation, misery, malaise, and reports on families in distress. Its worse now than when Carter was president in some ways, but the reporting is far more upbeat and barely touches on bad news.
Which, in my opinion, is not bad. The press made matters worse under Carter, they depress the economy by fixating on bad news, and that hurts everyone. Better they go light on the bad economic news for the benefit of us all.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 09:44 AM (r4wIV)

13 HEY-EY

Posted by: Wodeshed at June 13, 2012 09:44 AM (mWijP)

14 I was told there would be no math.

Posted by: T at June 13, 2012 09:44 AM (D3kCG)

15 *bans Wodeshed* Yeah, that was a trap.

Posted by: lauraw at June 13, 2012 09:45 AM (mhzPJ)

16 I was there for Carter and yes, we're almost that bad now. I think people with steady jobs don't realize how many people out there are struggling, struggling like people did under the Jimster.

Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at June 13, 2012 09:45 AM (RD7QR)

17 Got hyperinflation?
Posted by: naturalfake

No, not right now. 5% - 10% inflation is not 'hyperinflation.'

There's no need to exaggerate our problems. Best leave the hyperbole to the Left.

Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at June 13, 2012 09:45 AM (famk3)

18 This is crap...We still loves Pres Bama and will support his re-eelection.......

Posted by: The People of Brattleboro, Vermont at June 13, 2012 09:45 AM (48wze)

Life in the Carter years was terrible. Inflation was ridiculous, there were lines at gas stations, meat shortages, mortgages at 14% interest, no indexing of federal or state income taxes to inflation so every year people were getting thrown into higher tax brackets just because of inflation, etc. etc. Cars made in Detroit were hideous pieces of crap that got 10 mpg. The steel industry cratered. Then the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and Jimmy Carter's response was to pull the USA out of the Moscow Olympics.

It's bad now, but it isn't that bad.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 09:45 AM (NYnoe)

I wasn't alive during the Carter years, then again I'm not some old fogey like Dave in Texas.

Posted by: Ben at June 13, 2012 09:45 AM (C2Y4l)

21 I was in my early 20s during the Carter years

Not only did the economy suck and we were getting laughed at by dictators, but there was disco, polyester, avacado colored kitchens, and Ford Pintos

Saturday Night Live was funny back then though

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 09:45 AM (Y+DPZ)

22 But I would not have guessed we were quite so close to what life was like under Carter's level of suckage.

I would have guessed. It's also eerily similar how they both seem to enjoy it.

Posted by: eleven at June 13, 2012 09:46 AM (KXm42)

23 If you weren't alive during the Carter years... you were dead, right?

Posted by: CoolCzech at June 13, 2012 09:46 AM (v7sZM)

24 I was too young during the Carter years to care about earning a paycheck -- as I mentioned in the other thread I was busy hiding under the bed from Reagan's nukes -- but I can understand what all the fuss was about. I get it!!

Posted by: Uncledave at June 13, 2012 09:47 AM (nJ32z)

25 Saturday Night Live was funny back then though Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 01:45 PM (Y+DPZ) That's because they were all wasted. They got to have sex without cast iron condoms too.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet at June 13, 2012 09:47 AM (9TTOe)

26 3 The only thing missing from the Carter years are the huge interest rates on loans and the gas lines.

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 01:39 PM (Dnbau)

On the other hand certificates of deposit were actually a wise investment then. Now, not so much.

Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at June 13, 2012 09:47 AM (RD7QR)

27 The job numbers are bad ... how is this bad for the President ?
Lady Gaga hit by pole ... how is this bad for the President ?
CNN almost unwatched ... how is this bad for the President ?

Posted by: Wolf Blitzer at June 13, 2012 09:48 AM (e8kgV)

"But I would not have guessed we were quite so close to what life was like under Carter's level of suckage."

How do you think we ended up with BHO? It had been thirty years since Carter, and memories had faded...

Posted by: Eagerly awaiting the mark of the beast, er Ace's comment registration at June 13, 2012 09:48 AM (wkR3c)

29 During the Carter years, the president that Chevy Chase worked so hard to get elected sucked so badly that Dan Ackroyd got huge laughs with his imitation of Jimmah

"We're screwed, blued, and tattooed" - Dan Ackroyd as Jimmy Carter with his "Preparation I" State of the Union speech back in 1978 on SNL

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 09:48 AM (Y+DPZ)

30 Ahhh, the good years in young Scrummy's life, especially during Carter's reign of error. Yep, Scrummy's father was "downsized" twice during Jimmah's time. Yes, the economy was poopie during Jimmah's time. Good times, nice to see that history kinda repeats itself. Loved pulling the lever for Reagan in '84.

Posted by: Jim Scrummy at June 13, 2012 09:50 AM (sbV1u)

31 Obama will outdo Carter's level of suckage, but moreso after he's out of office. There won't be a more miserable and arrogantly pompous ex-President for probably ever.

Posted by: Roy at June 13, 2012 09:50 AM (VndSC)

32 If you were alive during the Carter years, this graph is rather stunning. I'm not THAT surprised- a lot of people are hurting right now.

Keep in mind that these are based on official government numbers which are shit. real inflation and unemployment are much worse than what the lying jackals in the Obamanite regime are putting out.

The Obama dot should be almost off the graph low.
And yes, I was alive and working during the Carter years. The only thing different now is while inflation and unemployment are much worse now, the inter4st rates are very low because government is keeping them low and help causing that unpublished hyperinflation.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 09:50 AM (YdQQY)

33 If you'd just reset your thermostats like I told you to, none of this shit would have happened.

Posted by: Jimmah Carter at June 13, 2012 09:50 AM (IoNBC)

34 Paraphrasing the 60s motto:

If you can remember the Carter years, you didn't live through them

Yeh, we drank and did lots of other stuff a lot

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 09:50 AM (Y+DPZ)

35 But see there is nothing funny about Obama. So no wonder SNL sucks.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 09:51 AM (HR5x9)

36 (To be fair, I was only 12 when Jimmy was elected, but I was old enough to figure things out.)

Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at June 13, 2012 09:52 AM (RD7QR)

37 I think unemployment under Carter was around 16-17 percent. I'm sure thats the same under JEF too, just that they lie to us about it.

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 09:52 AM (Dnbau)

38 But see there is nothing funny about Obama. So no wonder SNL sucks.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 01:51 PM (HR5x9)

Hell even if they elected to put in a Bama joke skit the assholes at NBC would censor it the way they did Don Rinkles.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 09:53 AM (YdQQY)

39 @35: you can say that again!

Posted by: CoolCzech at June 13, 2012 09:53 AM (v7sZM)

40 How on earth do we know that Obama's share of the two party vote for his re-election will really be at the 46-47% level shown on this graph? If it was a simple extrapolation, I'd expect the marker to be right on the trend line but it's just a percentage point or so above. Did the author use some poll result(s) to get that number?

I mean, if that's really the results we'll see on November 6th, sign me up ...

Posted by: Timbuck at June 13, 2012 09:53 AM (BZuvE)

41 Which, in my opinion, is not bad. The press made matters worse under Carter, they depress the economy by fixating on bad news, and that hurts everyone. Better they go light on the bad economic news for the benefit of us all.

Just wait till President Romney gets in there.
It will be bad news 24/7

Posted by: Wolf Blitzer at June 13, 2012 09:53 AM (e8kgV)

42 - "I would not have guessed we were quite so close to what life was like under Carter's level of suckage." Ne meither. But then, they say that you don't really FEEL the paradigm shift when you're IN the paradigm shift, so...

Posted by: goy at June 13, 2012 09:53 AM (QsFws)

43 Holy schnikies insty links a story that aflcio is going to pull funds from the Obama campaign.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 09:53 AM (HR5x9)

44 "Great Galloping Peanuts, Jimmah, obama may just manage to edge you out as the worst economic POTUS of the modern era. Mah prayers have been answered! Now if I can just get the big Guy to straighten out Amy, I can get up off my knees."

Rosalyn Cartarrh

Posted by: Will Not Assimilate For Food at June 13, 2012 09:55 AM (kXoT0)

45 You know what we need? We need somma that Jimmah Carter 21% inflation to get Zero's numbers down in the basement where they belong.

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 09:55 AM (OlN4e)

46 That Don Rickels censorship (and I fully admit it was a terrible joke) just goes to show one thing that I've been saying for years now: They treat Obama as if he were a retarded child.

Posted by: AmishDude at June 13, 2012 09:55 AM (T0NGe)

I'm reminded of a great quote from someone, "History doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes."

In 1978 we had the first inklings of the Reagan Revolution, with the California tax revolt that resulted in the passage of Proposition 13. Democrats got hammered pretty bad in the 1978 midterm elections. And a young Congressman staked out the future with a bold economic plan - then it was Jack Kemp with his across-the-board tax rate cuts.

In 1980 we had a bruising fight for the GOP nomination, and it was won by a guy who ran before in 1976 and lost, and was perceived by many pundits as someone who had too much baggage to win a general election against a still somewhat popular incumbent. Reagan didn't clinch the nomination until the Texas primary in June. Democrats thought they had won the lottery. But the economic numbers kept getting worse and worse, Carter looked more and more clueless, then he made the huge gaffe with the "malaise" speech. His campaign tried to scare people about Reagan, called him a warmonger and a stupid B-movie actor, but nothing really stuck to Reagan.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 09:55 AM (qE3AR)

48 Just wait till President Romney gets in there.
It will be bad news 24/7

Posted by: Wolf Blitzer at June 13, 2012 01:53 PM (e8kgV)

I look forward to unemployment decreasing and consumer confidence increasing unexpectedly, Wolf.

Posted by: calm, enhanced jwb7605 at June 13, 2012 09:56 AM (Qxe/p)

49 How long after he was elected did he received the Nobel Prize? seems like he has been around forever probably because his mug is on television more than anyone ... ever.

Posted by: odu at June 13, 2012 09:56 AM (+OUu0)

50 Environmentals must be pissed ...

SANTA FE - The dunes sagebrush lizard will not be listed as an endangered species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided today against federal protection for the lizard, which exists in four counties of southeastern New Mexico and four others in West Texas.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has scheduled a news conference for later today, but the federal government's position is that voluntary conservation agreements to save the reptile are working well.

Through these measures, private landowners and businesses are setting aside land and money to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard's habitat, which overlaps with oil drilling in the Permian Basin.

The lizard needs wind-blown dunes with a shrub called shinnery oak to survive.

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., was perhaps the fiercest opponent of listing the lizard as endangered. He hailed the Obama administration's ruling as a belated but correct decision.

Posted by: Rachel Carson at June 13, 2012 09:56 AM (e8kgV)

51 SNL did censor the Obama jokes. Remember the skit that got cancelled? Because there is nothing. Funny. About. Obama.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 09:56 AM (HR5x9)

52 These days they're willing to suicide their career for the right political party's benefit, so the coverage isn't as dire. We just don't get nightly reports on unemployment, inflation, misery, malaise, and reports on families in distress. Its worse now than when Carter was president in some ways, but the reporting is far more upbeat and barely touches on bad news.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 01:44 PM (r4wIV)

In those days, people got their news from the 6:00-7:00 network newscasts, and their analysis from the newsweeklies and major papers. Not so much anymore.

"Since 1980, the three commercial evening newscasts have lost 28.9 million viewers, or 55.5% of the audience they once had"

http://tinyurl.com/crc3gqe

Posted by: Uncledave at June 13, 2012 09:57 AM (nJ32z)

53 They treat Obama as if he were a retarded child.

----------------------

Which is actually a fairly apt comparison.

Posted by: mediumheadboy at June 13, 2012 09:57 AM (x2CNJ)

54 43 Holy schnikies insty links a story that aflcio is going to pull funds from the Obama campaign.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 01:53 PM (HR5x9)

Whoa. Another rat taking a swam dive from the USS Bambi. Pretty significant, given how much Bambi depends on unions for footsoldiers.

Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at June 13, 2012 09:59 AM (RD7QR)

55 Uncledave, I was a kid too. But I remember gas rationing- we had odd/even days for when you were allowed to go buy gas. It's kind of amazing, when you think of it, how shitty things were.

Posted by: lauraw at June 13, 2012 09:59 AM (mhzPJ)

56 Also if you go to the US News article about aflcio and then click on the cartoons they have one about how you take stuff out of context to make an attack ad. And the thing is they think that panel 1 is actually a positive thing that is turned into a negative thing in panel 2. Read it and laugh, just not in the way they meant.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 09:59 AM (HR5x9)

Remember the Misery Index? Carter invented it in 1976 as the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates, and beat Gerry Ford over the head with it. By 1980 it was significantly bigger and Reagan beat Carter over the head with it.

Sort of like Barack Obama railing against all the debt run up by Geirge W. Bush, and now getting beaten over the head by his additionof $5 trillion of new debt.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 10:01 AM (NYnoe)

58 Whats a goy? And why do i find myself titillated?

Posted by: dananjcon at June 13, 2012 10:01 AM (eavT+)

59 Things that made the Carter years really sucky;

Jimmy Carter
Zbigniew Brzezinski (yes, he's Mika's daddy)
Amy Carter
The Love Boat
Disco
Awful Pop Music
Billy Beer
Soviet Expansionism and "Detente"
Stagflation
Gas Lines and rationing
Polyester
Frizzy perm hairstyles on both genders
The Pinto, Mustang II, Volare, TR7, Accord, and Lincoln Town Cars with 130 hp V8s
The Star Wars Christmas Special
The China Syndrome (movie)

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 10:01 AM (Y+DPZ)

60 Because there is nothing. Funny. About. Obama.

But SWATing is just hilarious!

Posted by: Politico at June 13, 2012 10:01 AM (8y9MW)

61 SNL did censor the Obama jokes. Remember the skit that got cancelled? Because there is nothing. Funny. About. Obama.

Don't make fun of the special kid. He's trying his best.

Soft bigotry and all that...

Posted by: eleven at June 13, 2012 10:01 AM (KXm42)

62 We are in a depression. Malls are dying, businesses are dying. Kids aren't going to summer camp this year.
The private sector is NOT doing fine and everyone knows it.

Posted by: real joe at June 13, 2012 10:01 AM (hZHuW)

63 The Carter era just had different levels of suckage compared to the current era of suck...

the 1970's: Interest rates were near 20%, the energy crisis, disco music

The 21st Century: High unemployment, terrorism, Justin Beiber

Posted by: sgt. york at June 13, 2012 10:02 AM (gw1Wl)

64 Goy = non-Jew

Posted by: mediumheadboy at June 13, 2012 10:02 AM (x2CNJ)

65 largest union for AFL-CIO is the union for state, county and municipal employees. hmmmm

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 10:02 AM (Dnbau)

66 59 Things that made the Carter years really sucky;

Hey the TR7 was great fun. For about 40,000 mi. Then it fell apart.

Posted by: real joe at June 13, 2012 10:03 AM (hZHuW)

67 Whats a goy?And why do i find myself titillated?

If you have to ask you are one.

Posted by: eleven at June 13, 2012 10:03 AM (KXm42)

68 51 SNL did censor the Obama jokes. Remember the skit that got cancelled? Because there is nothing. Funny. About. Obama. Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 01:56 PM

Viacom is going to cut out Don Rickles joke about Obama in their telecast.

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 10:03 AM (Y+DPZ)

69 Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 02:01 PM (Y+DPZ)

Hey, the Star Wars Holiday Special is AWESOME. It's everything you need to know about the 70's in one neat little bundle.

Posted by: mediumheadboy at June 13, 2012 10:03 AM (x2CNJ)

The lizard needs wind-blown dunes with a shrub called shinnery oak to survive.

**

Aah...there's no place like home.

Posted by: SageBrush Lizard No 2 on the set of a new car insurance commercial at June 13, 2012 10:04 AM (eavT+)

71 Something about the word "suckage" made it difficult for me to focus on the story.

Posted by: Drider at June 13, 2012 10:05 AM (HaJD9)

72 Disco beats the shit that passes for pop music now. The Bee Gees actually had talent. Plus album rock was in its Golden Age.

Posted by: eleven at June 13, 2012 10:05 AM (KXm42)

73 I do remember in the Carter years that nobody cared about seat belts or car seats. It was fun bouncing around in the back of our Mercury Zephyr wagon, or if we were taking the tank, the Chrysler Newport, sprawling across the mammoth back seat. That two row car could fit more people than my current minivan.

Posted by: Uncledave at June 13, 2012 10:05 AM (nJ32z)

74 My first car was a Mustang II. And it did not have a lame 130 hp v8. It was a Mach I with a 92 hp 4 cylinder! Shut up.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:06 AM (HR5x9)

I wasn't alive during the Carter years. . .

I was. If you could call it living.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Clitoris at June 13, 2012 10:07 AM (zF6Iw)

76 Posted by: weft cut-loop at June 13, 2012 01:45 PM (famk3) You're right. I jumped to the chase. You can't endlessly print money though, endlessly borrow money from yourself (and China), and endlessly give loan guarantees (new DOE investments today) to cronies without severe inflation or hyperinflation raising its ugly head. The funny thing is- the only thing keeping us from severe to hyperinflation is that the rest of the world (*cough* Europe) looks so sucky right now. We're still the only relatively safe place to invest in. But at what point does that bubble pop? Then, yeah, hyperinflation. If Obama wins, I can't see the center holding, every one knows it'll be four more years of destroying the value of the American dollar.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2012 10:07 AM (54vf8)

77 Disco beats the shit that passes for pop music now.

------------------

Yes, but it set the stage for the aforementioned shit by being producer- rather than artist-driven.

Posted by: mediumheadboy at June 13, 2012 10:07 AM (x2CNJ)

78 Mustangs really lamed out into GMC Pacerville for a while there. I never got that.

Posted by: eleven at June 13, 2012 10:08 AM (KXm42)

79 It was fun bouncing around in the back of our Mercury Zephyr wagon, or if we were taking the tank, the Chrysler Newport, sprawling across the mammoth back seat. That two row car could fit more people than my current minivan.

Posted by: Uncledave at June 13, 2012 02:05 PM (nJ32z)

Oh hell yes, you could launch airstrikes off of the Chevy Impala we had then. The trunk could have been a small apartment.

Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at June 13, 2012 10:08 AM (RD7QR)

People aren't as stupid as the Dems think they are.

Folks see inflation happening all around them....in the higher prices they're having to pay.

Yet....

The govt figures for inflation remain low.

So people know they're being lied to.

I remember the Carter levels of suckage. ....We're past that now.

Problem is...we have more tit-suckers today, sucking off the Govt Sow.

The tit-sucker vote is what is different now, than when Carter lost big.

I hope Team Romney is aware of this.

While I love to hear the red meat stuff...about pulling the tit-suckers off the teat....I can do without hearing it right now.

Because talking about it will only hurt his chances of winning.

Posted by: wheatie at June 13, 2012 10:08 AM (/V8D4)

81 I was born during the Carter years. So just like you older ladies & gents, I spent the Carter years crawling around in a stupor, sucking on boobs, and barfing and shitting everywhere.

Posted by: yinzer at June 13, 2012 10:08 AM (/Mla1)

82 I keep saying that hyperinflation is the intent of current policy. A blast of Argentine style 1500% annual inflation, and our debt to China is suddenly very manageable.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:09 AM (HR5x9)

83 The Carter years -- I was more focused on Death before Disco then politics

Posted by: Jean at June 13, 2012 10:09 AM (WkuV6)

84 The thing is, under Carter, you still felt that the banks were safe and the economy would recover. It sucked but you knew the end was in sight, you knew it would turn around in time. I was looking for work then and it was awful but I was confident eventually they'd start hiring again.
Does anyone really have confidence things will get better now? Does anyone trust banks and investments? Does anyone think we'll turn this around soon? Its worse now, even if the numbers aren't as gaudy.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:09 AM (r4wIV)

85 The car that perfectly symbolized the Carter Presidency was........wait for it.........The AMC Matador!

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 10:09 AM (OlN4e)

86 People aren't as stupid as the Dems think they are.

----------

Speak for yourself!

Posted by: erg, Gerg, KayInSane, Mary Whatever in Wherever VT at June 13, 2012 10:09 AM (x2CNJ)

87 First independent white voters now the world! New poll shows Obama losing world vote.

Posted by: Long Island at June 13, 2012 10:10 AM (kzp9t)

88
SANTA FE - The dunes sagebrush lizard will not be listed as an endangered species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided today against federal
protection for the lizard, which exists in four counties of southeastern
New Mexico and four others in West Texas.
===============
Oh, hells yeah. Let the oil and gas boom here continue unabated. And you turds in your crappy blue states stay home--this is our boom and we ain't sharing.

Latest news is, they are moving north of Midland/Odessa (3.7%/4.3%UE) and are buying exploration rights at a good clip around Lubbock/Levelland (5.6%UE).

Posted by: RoyalOil at June 13, 2012 10:10 AM (kSaUf)

89 no - the Gremlin or - the Pinto - it burst into flames too

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 10:10 AM (Dnbau)

90 43 Holy schnikies insty links a story that aflcio is going to pull funds from the Obama campaign. Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 01:53 PM

I have a hunch it's not because they're pissed at the SCOAMF, it's because it's a big cash flow problem. It's possible their pension funds are in really bad shape, and all that money they threw into multiple bullshit elections and recalls didn't help either

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 10:11 AM (Y+DPZ)

91 blaster, the idea that we can inflate our way out of the debt is pernicious around here (DC). The problem is: our debt really isn't to China - it is to ourselves. The fixed-income voters will not like it.

Posted by: Jean at June 13, 2012 10:11 AM (WkuV6)

92 I'll tell ya, in the back of that Chrysler Newport you could really show a girl (or two or three) a good time. Kids today with their jettas and neons, bah.

Posted by: Uncledave at June 13, 2012 10:11 AM (nJ32z)

#59 You forgot the AMC Pacer and Gremlin. And the Ford Cordoba, Chevy Vega, the ginormous Pontiac Bonneville. Just remembering the cars people drove back then can make you hurl. When I went away to grad school in 1979 I drove a 1974 Ford Cordoba that was sort of a putrid turquoise with a vinyl roof and turquoise vinyl interior, had a 3-speed manual transmission and no air conditioning. I think it got 10 mpg. Everybody drove heaps like that. Nobody could afford a new car loan at 18% interest.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 10:11 AM (NYnoe)

94 The AFL-CIO is just playing the same game that the rich fag lobby did for cash. They're holding his donations hostage until he does something - likely card check - then they'll open up the coffers. Obama has proven he'll give in to demands from hostage takers. That just opens the floodgates.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:12 AM (r4wIV)

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 02:11 PM (NYnoe)

It was the Chrysler Cordoba. I don't mean to be nitpicky, but we had one growing up. Thing was huge, bright red with bright red interior.

Posted by: yinzer at June 13, 2012 10:12 AM (/Mla1)

96 @92 Cordoba was a Chrysler. With fine Corinthian leather. Khaaaan!

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:13 AM (HR5x9)

97 Renault Le Car -- think about it, a French car got a toe hold on the US market (briefly).

Posted by: Jean at June 13, 2012 10:13 AM (WkuV6)

98 Yeah, the Repubs can use the two cars for a little comparison between Carter and da Zero. A burned out pinto side by side with a still smoking Volt. That would kick ass.

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 10:13 AM (OlN4e)

99 I was a teenager in the mid 70's and I remember the gas lines and stuff, but I don't recall starving or not having enough money to do anything. I guess my parents were better at saving for a rainy day than I am. Although I was old enough to know Carter sucked, and I had Rep. John Larsen as a high school teacher who drilled into our skulls on a daily basis how wonderful Carter was, he just couldn't convince me though.

Posted by: Jaimo at June 13, 2012 10:13 AM (9U1OG)

100 @ 59

Don't forget the American hostages in Iran. That sucked big time.

Posted by: small town girl at June 13, 2012 10:13 AM (rwuf5)

101 ...
Everybody drove heaps like that. Nobody could afford a new car loan at 18% interest.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 02:11 PM (NYnoe)

I bought a Vega brand new for $1600 cash (military discount), and drove it for 10 years.
I replaced it with a used Chevette which I bought for $100 and sold for $200.

Profit!!

Posted by: calm, enhanced jwb7605 at June 13, 2012 10:14 AM (Qxe/p)

102 82 I keep saying that hyperinflation is the intent of current policy. A blast of Argentine style 1500% annual inflation, and our debt to China is suddenly very manageable.
Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 02:09 PM

Paul Krugman keeps pounding the table with that.

The problem is the assumption that you won't need to borrow any more money. You're paying off past debts with inflated currency, but you have to keep borrowing to pay for new shit at inflated prices. Since you fucked over the guys who lent you the money before, they're going to eventually demand higher yields no matter how low the Fed keeps the interest rates

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 10:14 AM (Y+DPZ)

103 @93 the private sector is doing fine. They've converted so much of the debt to short term that hardly pays anything, and in hyperinflation all the gubmint stuff will get regular CPI increases so they willbe taken care of that way.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:15 AM (HR5x9)

104 Also I remember my 1974 Pinto wagon. It was monkey shit brown and never blew up. Dad sold it to me in 1980 for 500 bucks after driving it into the ground for 6 years. I loved that piece of shit car.

Posted by: Jaimo at June 13, 2012 10:15 AM (9U1OG)

105 But there was the US Olympic Hockey Team - do you believe in miracles?

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 10:15 AM (Dnbau)

106 I was in high school/college during the Carter years. They were as bad as, but not necessarily worse, than what we're going through now. One big difference is that in the '70s, nobody (or at least nobody the pundits talked to), knew what to do. Big name economists were talking about the end of capitalism, and how Soviet-style command economies were going to overtake us. Today, thanks to Ronald Reagan, we can feel confident (or at least semi-confident) that the right policies can turn this mess around.

Posted by: Burke at June 13, 2012 10:16 AM (9N3G1)

107 I have a hunch it's not because they're pissed at the SCOAMF, it's because it's a big cash flow problem. It's possible their pension funds are in really bad shape, and all that money they threw into multiple bullshit elections and recalls didn't help either

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 02:11 PM (Y+DPZ)

---------------

So glad you mentioned this, kbdabear.

Where does all that money come from...that the unions are giving to the Dems?

It has to be coming out of their pension funds, doesn't it?

Audits.

The members of all those unions should be calling for Audits.

Posted by: wheatie at June 13, 2012 10:16 AM (/V8D4)

108 Cordoba that was sort of a putrid turquoise with a vinyl roof and turquoise vinyl interior>>>

What no fine Corinthian leather?

Posted by: Buzzsaw at June 13, 2012 10:16 AM (tf9Ne)

109 What I'm most concerned with is that the Obama administration has basically set up a bomb for Romney if he wins. There's BILLIONS of dollars hidden away in reserve funds (ostensibly for banks to use to guarantee loans which people aren't getting), the bulk of the "stimulus" and TARP money pulled out of the economy to prevent devaluing the dollar too much. But its still there, and it cannot stay there forever. Economists all agree that it can't be kept there indefinitely but they aren't sure how long and what the effects of it being there will be.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:17 AM (r4wIV)

110 @102 I am not saying its a good idea but they are full of dumbass ideas. If Krugman is pimping it I expect it is sheer nitwiterry. But I think that's what they want to do. They don't care about the long term debt. I think they want to rede nominate the currency by lopping off 3 zeros or so, and they also inflate away housing and education bubbles which would buys ton of middle class votes.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:18 AM (HR5x9)

111 yea I'm sure the DOJ will be all over those underfunded union pensions

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 10:18 AM (Dnbau)

112

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 02:11 PM (NYnoe)

Well, rockmom, I went to college in a '78 volkswagen beetle. Got 30 mpg and I could fix it with a ball peen hammer and a hair pin. I could fill the tank for $5 and drive it all week. The starter went south and I drove it for 2 months before I could afford to rebuild it. I could actually push start the thing by myself! If I could find a hill, even a small one, piece of cake!

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 10:18 AM (OlN4e)

113 #59 You forgot the AMC Pacer and Gremlin. And the Ford Cordoba, Chevy Vega, the ginormous Pontiac Bonneville. Just remembering the cars people drove back then can make you hurl. When I went away to grad school in 1979 I drove a 1974 Ford Cordoba that was sort of a putrid turquoise with a vinyl roof and turquoise vinyl interior, had a 3-speed manual transmission and no air conditioning. I think it got 10 mpg. Everybody drove heaps like that. Nobody could afford a new car loan at 18% interest.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 02:11 PM (NYnoe)

The Chevy Chevette diesel, what a turd.

Posted by: The Jackhole at June 13, 2012 10:19 AM (nTgAI)

114

http://tinyurl.com/7h5mapo

awesome

A refreshing little bit of truth telling from the EU. Safe for work.

DOOM is coming.

Posted by: Larsen E. Whipsnade at June 13, 2012 10:19 AM (6BgmB)

115

People who think the banking system was great back then, well, there wasn't any interstate banking, there were regional credit crunches where in some places you couldn't get a loan for anything and nobody could buy a house because they couldn't get a mortgage, and there were usury laws that kept some banks from even being able to turn a profit when their cost of funds was 15% and they couldn't charge more than 12. There were no banks open on Saturday or Sunday, no ATMs or debit cards, no direct deposit of paychecks. People wasted shitloads of time going to the bank just to get cash or deposit their paycheck. I worked in a bank as a teller in 1976 and it was a sucky job, there were only rudimentary computers that gave us a daily printout of account balances but everything else had to be done by hand. Balancing your window at the end of the day was a royal bitch.

On the other hand, movie tickets were $1.50.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 10:19 AM (NYnoe)

116 The newly leaked document is one of the most controversial of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. It addresses a broad sweep of regulations governing international investment and reveals the Obama administrationÂ’s advocacy for policies that environmental activists, financial reform advocates and labor unions have long rejected for eroding key protections currently in domestic laws. Â…

Yet nearly all of those vows are violated by the leaked Trans-Pacific document. The one that is not contravened in the present document Â— regarding access to life-saving medication Â— is in conflict with a previously leaked document on intellectual property (IP) standards.

Â“Bush was better than Obama on this,Â” said Judit Rius, U.S. manager of Doctors Without Borders Access to Medicines Campaign, referring to the medication rules. Â“ItÂ’s pathetic, but it is what it is. The worldÂ’s upside-down.Â”

Posted by: Rachel Carson at June 13, 2012 10:20 AM (e8kgV)

117 My mom had a 74 Dodge Monaco. With a 440. Like the Bluesmobile but it was a detective car so it wasn't. Black and white.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:20 AM (HR5x9)

118 Posted by: Jaimo at June 13, 2012 02:15 PM (9U1OG)

My first car was a Plymouth Champ. Loved that POS too. I was driving a friend one day and this idiot pulls an egg out and throws it at some pedestrian from the car, somebody far larger than he and I. The guy of course comes running after my car just as we get caught at a red light, trapped behind other cars. Doors locked, windows up! Guy naturally proceeds to kick a few dozen large dents into the car, plus knocking the drivers side view mirror. So, being broke, I drove around the next year without a mirror and the strangest pattern of dents you'd ever see on a car.

Posted by: Uncledave at June 13, 2012 10:21 AM (nJ32z)

119 The misery of the Carter years has been discussed, but nobody's mentioned the 444 days when our hostages were held in Iran. And how Carter did nothing but an ill-fated rescue attempt.

Don't forget, he also gave away the Panama Canal.

Additionally, there were two times we had gas lines in the 70s. 1973 and the OPEC oil embargo (which was worse, in my opinion) and then again in 1979.

Not only was the economic data bad in the late 70s, everybody pretty much felt like shit. It was depressing.

Why do you think the Miracle on Ice still resonates? Because we finally - finally - had something to be happy about.

So, while things are bad now ... they were much worse during the Carter years.

Posted by: Bea Arthur's Dick at June 13, 2012 10:21 AM (dM1NM)

120

What the hell was I thinking, it was a Ford Granada! Wrong city in Spain! ;-)

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 10:21 AM (qE3AR)

121

Maverick, another turd car

Posted by: The Jackhole at June 13, 2012 10:21 AM (nTgAI)

122 In a weak, half-assed defense of the Carter years, they did at least give us: Decent punk music Alien Star Wars Apocalypse Now The Empire Strikes Back Awesomely embarrassing presidential anecdotes Animal House The Blues Brothers The Jerk Delta Force (the military unit, not the Chuck Norris flick)

Posted by: Hoss Fuentes at June 13, 2012 10:21 AM (tpmzt)

123

More in the continuous stream of evidence that liberal/progressive is not only not working but is detrimental to this country. Those who continue to believe are not only stupid but are a danger to the rest of us. As libs are a 20% minority I call them irrelevant......No more positions of authority for these zoobers. Pass it on.

Posted by: The Inquisitor at June 13, 2012 10:21 AM (Ec4KY)

124 I was 8-12 during the Carter years, too young to understand the economics, but I do know that I'd just discovered soda and loved it...and then my father couldn't afford to buy any for four years.

Posted by: Kensington at June 13, 2012 10:22 AM (MBmtt)

125 And the Ford Cordoba ... with rich Corinthian leather

Posted by: Richard Head at June 13, 2012 10:22 AM (e8kgV)

126 Cordoba!

youtube.com/watch?v=Vsg97bxuJnc

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 10:22 AM (Y+DPZ)

127 Of course the AFL-CIO might just be punishing Obama for not going to Wisconsin too. Make him sweat a few days.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:22 AM (r4wIV)

128 In 1974-5....before Carter, the EPA mandated pollution levels that were unattainable with the technology of the day. Since the regs. were specified in parts per million, the car companies put big air pumps on the engines to pump fresh air into the exhaust. These cost a LOT of horsepower and made a 6 cyliner Maverick get 14 mpg if you were lucky. Yeah, I remember the '70's, and Jimmy was, and is, a prig, but Dick and Jerry didn't help us out a great deal either.

Posted by: jinx the cat at June 13, 2012 10:22 AM (aCuSy)

129 I can almost touch that Obama spot on the graph...

Posted by: Jimmy Carter's level of suckage at June 13, 2012 10:23 AM (Ky1+e)

130 Oh yeah, the huge cars. We could get four adults and four children in my Mom's Ford for a drive to the ocean. And the trunk was cavernous, and you could fit two of those ginormous metal Colemans in there that weighed a metric ass-ton apiece and required pallbearers to carry them onto the beach. thoooose were the daaaays

Posted by: lauraw at June 13, 2012 10:23 AM (mhzPJ)

131 Disco was awesome! 50 cent gas was also awesome.

Posted by: Jaimo at June 13, 2012 10:23 AM (9U1OG)

132 AS a town we will be proud to vote for Pres Bama the first Presdent of Colar.

Posted by: The People of Brattleboro, Vermont at June 13, 2012 10:23 AM (48wze)

133 "On the other hand, movie tickets were $1.50."
===============

THIS! For $2.00, I could ride the bus to and from the Ford City Mall and see a movie.

Posted by: Kensington at June 13, 2012 10:24 AM (MBmtt)

134 Doobies were only a buck.

Posted by: Jaimo at June 13, 2012 10:24 AM (9U1OG)

135 The starter went south and I drove it for 2 months before I could afford to rebuild it. I could actually push start the thing by myself! If I could find a hill, even a small one, piece of cake!>>>

I had a 73 MGB and due to the fine Lucas electrical system push starting it myself was my regular exercise. Man looking back I drove crap kids today wouldn't be caught dead in.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at June 13, 2012 10:25 AM (tf9Ne)

136 Oh fuck me! How could we forget the incredibly Leftardesque and totally ineffective 55 mph speed limit? That sucked the tap root to the 9th level of leftard hell.

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 10:25 AM (OlN4e)

137 Holy schnikies insty links a story that aflcio is going to pull funds from the Obama campaign.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 01:53 PM (HR5x9)

Whoa. Another rat taking a swam dive from the USS Bambi. Pretty significant, given how much Bambi depends on unions for footsoldiers.

It sounds like a prudent move. They won't repudiate Obama or even campaign against him, but he's not a good investment. Better to buy some Congressman, Senators and Governors. Private sector unions like that kind of graft anyway. Earmarks, etc.

I also wonder if the leadership of the aflcio feels a bit on the outs as compared to the public sector unions.

Posted by: AmishDude at June 13, 2012 10:25 AM (T0NGe)

138

"That Don Rickels censorship (and I fully admit it was a terrible joke) just goes to show one thing that I've been saying for years now: They treat Obama as if he were a retarded child."

If you read the handful of known non-Ayers, non-Favreau, non-FMD pieces which are attributed to him, then he doesn't sound a whole heckuva lot more intelligent than a retarded child.

Posted by: Zombie Shane at June 13, 2012 10:26 AM (JW/aG)

139 I went to see Star Wars on a weekday matinee and it was 75 cents. Gas went from 27 cents a gallon to 59 so my mom traded her Monaco for a Datsun 210 wagon.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:26 AM (HR5x9)

140

My mom had a Mercury Comet, same body as the Ford Maverick. I drove it while I was in college. Dad had one of those giant brontosaurus Cadillac DeVilles, it was a beautiful car but huuuuuuuge. I was too scared to even try to drive it.

I can actually remember when gas was 25 cents a gallon. It went up to close to a dollar during the Carter years and people were flat out panicking.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 10:26 AM (NYnoe)

141 In a weak, half-assed defense of the Carter years, they did at least give us:

Decent punk music
Alien
Star Wars
Apocalypse Now
The Empire Strikes Back
Awesomely embarrassing presidential anecdotes
Animal House
The Blues Brothers
The Jerk
Delta Force (the military unit, not the Chuck Norris flick) Posted by: Hoss Fuentes

Yeah, the Hitler years gave us Glenn Miller. WHAT THE FUCK?!? What ya got there is an apple and an orange.

Posted by: Dang at June 13, 2012 10:26 AM (Ky1+e)

142 Actually the Maverick wasn't half bad, it was pretty zippy for its size and it wasn't expensive.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:26 AM (r4wIV)

143 The Carter Years:

Gas lines - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - skyjackings - ginormous inflation rates - pay raises that lagged far behind inflation rates - the worst-built US cars in US automotive history - Burt Lance - Billy Carter - Iranian Revolution - cardigan sweaters - Walter Mondale - Panama Canal Treaty - US military establishment cuts - disco

Brother, those years sucked.

Posted by: mrp at June 13, 2012 10:27 AM (HjPtV)

144 My first car was a 1972 Pinto Runabout. Sky blue.

That thing could get up and go, too. The needle went to 120, and I actually had it buried a couple times when I had enough road to let it build up speed.

Flipped that thing end-over-end (not doing 120). Didn't explode, and walked away with a scratch on my arm. Fun car.

Posted by: Bea Arthur's Dick at June 13, 2012 10:27 AM (dM1NM)

145

Our parents got to deduct all the interest that they paid.......all..of..it.....back during the Carter years.

All of that interest that was paid on Credit Cards, charge accounts, student loans, mortages....all of it....was deductable on your income tax returns.

I got in on the tail end of that juicy deduction.

But it was being phased out, by the time that I started making some real money.

So....even though you were paying high interest rates, you could take it off your taxable income....and get a sizeable refund.

This is another difference from the Carter years.

The sting of no longer being able to deduct all consumer interest....was felt during Bush 41.

Clinton took advantage of this.

Posted by: wheatie at June 13, 2012 10:27 AM (/V8D4)

146 Oh yeah, THE VANS WITH MURALS AND BUBBLE WINDOWS, I forgot about the van craze

Posted by: The Jackhole at June 13, 2012 10:28 AM (nTgAI)

147 My brother graduated from college in 1980 and bought a lime green suit for his job interviews. That's the late 70s for you.

Posted by: Kensington at June 13, 2012 10:28 AM (MBmtt)

148 But then again, Mark Hamill in Corvette Summer.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:28 AM (HR5x9)

149 My first car was a 1972 Pinto Runabout. Sky blue.

That thing could get up and go, too. The needle went to 120, and I
actually had it buried a couple times when I had enough road to let it
build up speed.

Flipped that thing end-over-end (not doing 120). Didn't explode, and walked away with a scratch on my arm. Fun car.

Posted by: Bea Arthur's Dick at June 13, 2012 02:27 PM (dM1NM)

Pintos were actually built pretty solid

Posted by: The Jackhole at June 13, 2012 10:29 AM (nTgAI)

150 Now that I look at it through my parents eyes, it was awful. My dad had a job, lost it, started a business, lost it, got another job and lost it. We had to sell the house I grew up in and move to a condo, and at age 50 my mother had to get the first job in her life to help make ends meet. It must have been awful for them. Sounds like now for a lot of people doesn't it.

Posted by: thunderb at June 13, 2012 10:29 AM (Dnbau)

151 Plus girls with feathered hair, no bras, and hot pants with halter tops. Life wasn't all bad back then.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:29 AM (r4wIV)

152 120 What the hell was I thinking, it was a Ford Granada! Wrong city in Spain! ;-) Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 02:21 PM

Back when those rust generators were coming out, Ford did a commercial proving that you could get the "big car ride" from a smaller car by having a diamond sculptor cut a diamond in the back while riding the city streets

SNL did a parody where a Jewish couple has a mohel doing a bris in the back of their new Ford Granada

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 10:29 AM (Y+DPZ)

153 The 70s sucked but my dad did very well financially during them. And we still hated Carter.

Posted by: Dang at June 13, 2012 10:30 AM (Ky1+e)

154 Yeah, the Pinto got a bad rap, it wasn't that bad a car and it wasn't remotely dangerous. It made a funny bit of comedy to have them explode with a touch, but they weren't any more likely to blow up than any other car. The gas tank was just poorly placed.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:30 AM (r4wIV)

155

Hah, AFL-CIO thows Obama under the bus, pulls funding from his campaign.

http://tinyurl.com/88jftn8

Posted by: robtr at June 13, 2012 10:30 AM (MtwBb)

156 So is ace loading up a movie review?

Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at June 13, 2012 10:31 AM (RD7QR)

157 "SNL did a parody where a Jewish couple has a mohel doing a bris in the back of their new Ford Granada"
I thought that was Second City TV (which was brilliant).

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:31 AM (r4wIV)

158 "SNL did a parody where a Jewish couple has a mohel doing a bris in the back of their new Ford Granada"

I remember that - LOL!

Posted by: mrp at June 13, 2012 10:31 AM (HjPtV)

159 142 Actually the Maverick wasn't half bad, it was pretty zippy for its size and it wasn't expensive.

My Mom had a Maverick. It was what I learned to drive on.

Posted by: Long Island at June 13, 2012 10:31 AM (kzp9t)

160 Also there was a commercial where the couple could not distinguish their Granada from a Mercedes. Hahahaha!

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:31 AM (HR5x9)

161 Gas went from 27 cents a gallon to 59 so my mom traded her Monaco for a Datsun 210 wagon.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 02:26 PM (HR5x9)

Gawd, that brought back a memory: I ran over a full grown cow in a blizzard in a Datsun 210. A truck had killed the damn thing and it was lying in the middle of a two lane highway in the mountains of New Mexico. The defogger was pretty ineffective, so I didn't see it lying in the road (black cow) until it was too late to dodge. Damn car went right over it, airborne mebbe 30 feet, landed OK. My Dad was ahead of me and had to stop his vehicle because he was laughing so hard. Said that my headlights scanning space for a minute was pretty funny. I disagreed.

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 10:32 AM (OlN4e)

162 I was alive, and working, during the Carter years. But I was young and still drinking, and I could afford gasoline and booze, and food and rent and books and movies, so his administration's suckage didn't bother me much. The prices of things then weren't so far out of proportion to what the average guy brought home.

One nice thing, it seems to me, was that you could actually get hired a lot more easily than you can today. In '77, if you found a job, you didn't have to go through endless hassles with layer after layer of affirmative action "experts" and HR "employment coordinators." The boss said, "Can you start Monday?", and you said, "Yes," and you filled out a couple of forms and showed your SS card, and that was it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 13, 2012 10:33 AM (exvgC)

163 In 86 I bought a 77 Chrysler New Yorker. The 440 had 140hp. You could floor it and watch the gas needle move. It made more noise but did not actually accelerate.

Posted by: blaster at June 13, 2012 10:33 AM (HR5x9)

164 Y'all keep talking about the Ford Pinto catching on fire. I hope you all know that was a bull shit myth created by trial lawyers to extort money from Ford.

As for the Maverick, that was my first car. I had a 1972 Maverick Grabber with a 302 v8 in it. It would do a 135 mph on top end with peddle still left. I was afraid to take it any higher than that because due to the shape of the car it tended to float above 100 mph. I had that car until 1979 when I traded it in on a 4 cylinder Mustang that was essentially designed by the government for pollution and safety. It was a piece of shit, but so was every other car in 1979, thanks to the frakin government.

My first years of driving, besides trucks at the shop I worked at, was on motorcycles. They were a lot cheaper to buy and operate.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 10:33 AM (YdQQY)

165 Obama Doing fine:

AFL-CIO Pulling Funds From Obama Campaign

Posted by: Jay at June 13, 2012 10:33 AM (3LaGb)

166 An ounce of gold was $35 back in those days - both kinds of gold.

Posted by: Roy at June 13, 2012 10:34 AM (VndSC)

167 BTW, if anybody wants to see what it was really like in the 70s, watch MeTV.

I've got Cannon on the television right now. The cars, the styles, the decor ... positively hideous.

Rockford Files is another.

Posted by: Bea Arthur's Dick at June 13, 2012 10:34 AM (dM1NM)

168 Posted by: Dang at June 13, 2012 02:26 PM (Ky1+e) The bright side was a 1-watt Christmas tree bulb in the inexhorable darkness of suck that was the Carter years.

Posted by: Hoss Fuentes at June 13, 2012 10:34 AM (tpmzt)

169 In an economic speech on Thursday that could set the tone for months of campaigning, Obama is not likely to unveil new ideas to boost the economy and create new jobs, according to Democrats familiar with the preparations for the address.

Instead, he will make the case that he needs four more years to undo the damage left by George W. Bush, his Republican predecessor in the White House, and argue that a President Romney would bring back the weak financial regulation and budget-busting tax cuts of the Bush years.

Posted by: Richard Head at June 13, 2012 10:35 AM (e8kgV)

170 "But then again, Mark Hamill in Corvette Summer."
===============

Was he? I didn't notice; I was too busy drooling over Annie Potts in Corvette Summer.

Posted by: Kensington at June 13, 2012 10:35 AM (MBmtt)

171 1) I was only in middle school during the Carter years, but remember Pop Jakeman going on epic rants about the idiocy, while calculating how much he could sell their wedding silver for.

2) We owned a yellow Pinto with the faux wood paneling. Sweet.

3) To the positives, would add the Farrah poster (red bathing suit, nips at attention). My sibs and I bought one for Pop Jakeman for Christmas. I'm pretty sure it was still hanging in his closet when he passed away, far, far too early, in May 2000.

Posted by: jakeman at June 13, 2012 10:35 AM (96M6e)

172 All of my clothing was itchy in the 70's.

Posted by: Kensington at June 13, 2012 10:35 AM (MBmtt)

173 My brother graduated from college in 1980 and bought a lime green suit for his job interviews.

Oh man that's funny. heh

Posted by: eleven at June 13, 2012 10:36 AM (KXm42)

174 Following the election, praying Obama loses, we need to put up these graphs of indicators of re-election. Another such measurement discussed today is Consumer Confidence (prez doesn't win if below 100). We need to take all these measurements in graph form and splash them all over with the caption, "because we're racist."

Posted by: Crispian at June 13, 2012 10:36 AM (uBMtY)

175 Ah yes the Carter years. Even/Odd gas days. Sitting in lines forever. If you had a business which utilized vehicles (we did) you were pretty well fucked.

23% plus interest rates, heating bills that were astronomical...and the final straw...Iran Hostage Crisis and dead servicemen in the desert.

Yeah, not such good times.

Posted by: mpfs at June 13, 2012 10:36 AM (iYbLN)

176 Remember the Symbionese Liberation Army? I was 9 or 10 years old and absolutely hated those vermin. I think there will be some OWS offshoots that will try that kind of crap.

Posted by: Dang at June 13, 2012 10:36 AM (Ky1+e)

177 Vo-la-re !!!

youtube.com/watch?v=LLTIQg_bjFI

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 10:37 AM (Y+DPZ)

178 New ace thread up, and no its not a movie review.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 10:37 AM (YdQQY)

179 Oh, and I still have my '77 Datsun 280Z ... so not everything sucked about the 70s.

Now, THAT is a fun car.

Posted by: Bea Arthur's Dick at June 13, 2012 10:37 AM (dM1NM)

180 Jeez you people are old.

Posted by: lauraw at June 13, 2012 10:37 AM (mhzPJ)

181

If gas were as cheap now...as it was during Carter...we would probably still be having gas lines.

The kind of price controls that the Dems still want to impose...would result in lines at the gas stations...

Until the gas stations ran out.

Posted by: wheatie at June 13, 2012 10:38 AM (/V8D4)

182 Bring back the Misery Index.

Posted by: toby928© at June 13, 2012 10:38 AM (QupBk)

183

Arcade games didn't have TV screens.

Posted by: Up, Up With People at June 13, 2012 10:38 AM (iYvMQ)

184

Gas lines - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - skyjackings - ginormous inflation rates - pay raises that lagged far behind inflation rates - the worst-built US cars in US automotive history - Burt Lance - Billy Carter - Iranian Revolution - cardigan sweaters - Walter Mondale - Panama Canal Treaty - US military establishment cuts - disco

***

We didn't start the fire. It's been burning since the world's been turning.

Posted by: Billy Joel at June 13, 2012 10:38 AM (jUZRg)

185 Obama Doing fine:

AFL-CIO Pulling Funds From Obama Campaign
Posted by: Jay

Ouch! My schadenboner just bumped into my zipper.

Posted by: Dang at June 13, 2012 10:39 AM (Ky1+e)

186 "inexhorable darkness of suck" Posted by: Hoss Fuentes

LOL!

Posted by: Dang at June 13, 2012 10:40 AM (Ky1+e)

187 The reason the prices seemed so reasonable then compared to now is that the Carter years with the rampant inflation is what set the stage for what we have now.

Until then, inflation was pretty much under control (after FDR was done with his shit and gold).

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 10:40 AM (YdQQY)

188 I drove my uncle's VW Rabbit. No power steering, no power windows, stick shift a complete piece of shit in that awful green color.

Posted by: mpfs at June 13, 2012 10:40 AM (iYbLN)

189 High interest rates continued through the 80's. I remember buying a house in '88 with 9% "Bond Money" and being overjoyed at my good fortune. On the flip side, I think I paid less than a dollar a gallon for regular that year.

Posted by: toby928© at June 13, 2012 10:40 AM (QupBk)

190 180 Jeez you people are old.

Posted by: lauraw at June 13, 2012 02:37 PM (mhzPJ)

Laura ...You whippersnapper. Now get off my lawn.

Posted by: Long Island at June 13, 2012 10:41 AM (kzp9t)

191 I have 3 word for you...70's PORN!!

Posted by: dananjcon at June 13, 2012 10:41 AM (eavT+)

192 180
Jeez you people are old.

Posted by: lauraw at June 13, 2012 02:37 PM (mhzPJ)

You and the hump....out!!!

Posted by: mpfs at June 13, 2012 10:42 AM (iYbLN)

193 I have 3 word for you...70's PORN!! Disco Bush!

Posted by: toby928© at June 13, 2012 10:42 AM (QupBk)

194 I had a 73 MGB and due to the fine Lucas electrical system push starting it myself was my regular exercise. Man looking back I drove crap kids today wouldn't be caught dead in.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at June 13, 2012 02:25 PM (tf9Ne)

Add in the complete absence of the cell phone, and today you describe the car kids would die (of starvation and panic) in because they're that far removed from basic survival skills and common sense.

Posted by: calm, enhanced jwb7605 at June 13, 2012 10:42 AM (Qxe/p)

195 I think people need to draw a distinction between "stripped down simple" car and "crappy, poorly built car." I mean, manual gearbox, windows, and steering doesn't mean lousy, it means simple. Doors that fall off and a car that you have to push up hills is crap. Its the difference between the original Honda that got 50 mpg and the Chrysler New Yorker.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 13, 2012 10:42 AM (r4wIV)

196 Carter was an INCOMPETENT peacenik. Obama is an INCOMPETENT Chicago thug. Stunningly, Carter did more damage in one term (I was there, it was awful). Thankfully, the SCOAMF is committing one unforced error after another ... and America seems to be catching on to the con the crony capitalists are running on us.

Posted by: Grumpy the Younger at June 13, 2012 10:42 AM (jts1f)

197 189I drove my uncle's VW Rabbit. No power steering, no power windows, stick shift a complete piece of shit in that awful green color.

Posted by: mpfs at June 13, 2012 02:40 PM (iYbLN)

I bought a first year VW rodent. It spent more time at the dealer being warranty repaired than in my driveway. Sold it the month the warranty ran out. That car just about ruined VW in this country.

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 10:43 AM (OlN4e)

198 I have 3 word for you...70's PORN!!

Posted by: dananjcon at June 13, 2012 02:41 PM (eavT+)

Complete with a bush bigger than my pomegranate bush outside.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 10:43 AM (YdQQY)

199 LOL, I see toby beat me to it.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 10:43 AM (YdQQY)

200 189 I drove my uncle's VW Rabbit. No power steering, no power windows, stick shift a complete piece of shit in that awful green color.

I wonder if my 20 yo would even know how to roll down a window.

Posted by: Long Island at June 13, 2012 10:44 AM (kzp9t)

201

Oh, and I still have my '77 Datsun 280Z ... so not everything sucked about the 70s.

------

My first car was a Datsun B210. Pretty sure it had a moped engine in it because one hill I traveled every day I had to get a running start, and get it up to about 65mph, and by the time I reached the top of the hill I was doing 25, with a line of cars behind me.

A friend purchased a brand new Datsun F10, even more economical than mine. The door was about 1.5 inches thick. Rolled it a month later rounding a corner.

Posted by: Up, Up With People at June 13, 2012 10:44 AM (iYvMQ)

202

OK, if we're going to be posting videos of Volare, here's one I thought would be kind of fun to do a parody of regarding Obama's energy policy.

The Windmills of Your Mind (not to be confused with Shakespeare's dagger of the mind)

http://preview.tinyurl.com/7jeyngu

Posted by: WalrusRex at June 13, 2012 10:44 AM (jUZRg)

203 Heh. I think "Disco Bush" is so evocative of the times. I thank whichever nameless moron that coined it.

Posted by: toby928© at June 13, 2012 10:44 AM (QupBk)

204 189I drove my uncle's VW Rabbit. No power steering, no power windows, stick shift a complete piece of shit in that awful green color.
Posted by: mpfs at June 13, 2012 02:40 PM (iYbLN) I bought a first year VW rodent. It spent more time at the dealer being warranty repaired than in my driveway. Sold it the month the warranty ran out. That car just about ruined VW in this country. Posted by: maddogg

I would think the VW Thing would have accomplished their complete demise.

Posted by: mpfs at June 13, 2012 10:45 AM (iYbLN)

205 Linda Lovelace broke new ground in the field of man pleasure.

Posted by: maddogg at June 13, 2012 10:45 AM (OlN4e)

206 My first car was a Datsun B210. The Atomic Roach, Jessss! I owned the hatchback version.

Posted by: toby928© at June 13, 2012 10:45 AM (QupBk)

207 Oh, I see people are doing the Old Guy/Gal Reminiscing thing. Okay:

I had a Maverick, which was fun and not expensive to buy (MSRP of my '75 was about $4K), run, or fix. I learned how to change oil and coolant and other things on mine. The first gas crunch, before Carter, didn't affect me much as I wasn't driving yet; and during the second I got off work at 9 am and hit the stations when the lines were shorter.

Cutty Sark Scotch: 5.75 a fifth. Regular gas: about 55 cents/gal. A full-size bag of taco Doritos: 79 cents. Six-pack of Bud or Pabst: $1.50-2.00.

Good stuff: There were fewer people on the streets and in grocery lines than we see today. And not everybody at the DMV and other "official" offices was a jerk. No traffic-light cameras. Radio wasn't all alike from one market to the next.

Bad stuff: TV shows. Horrible clothes. I always knew there'd be some use for polyester, and it keeps us warm today, but back then it was just plain hot to wear. And the big look for guys was the Porn Star look. Check out the Geico commercials with the Messenger dude, with his longish hair, mustache, and denim jacket. That was how a lot of guys dressed back then. Fact! Now you kids, OFF TH' LAWN!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 13, 2012 10:46 AM (exvgC)

208 My first car was a Datsun B210. Pretty sure it had a moped engine in it because one hill I traveled every day I had to get a running start, and get it up to about 65mph, and by the time I reached the top of the hill I was doing 25, with a line of cars behind me.
A friend purchased a brand new Datsun F10, even more economical than mine. The door was about 1.5 inches thick. Rolled it a month later rounding a corner. Posted by: Up, Up With People

My first car I bought on my own was a used Datsun B210, 4 speed in powder blue. I called it the "buzz box." It took me all over California. It was a great car but my husband sold it one day while I was at work.

Posted by: mpfs at June 13, 2012 10:46 AM (iYbLN)

209

Obama is an INCOMPETENT Chicago thug.

***

I see that Chicago has bested Mogadishu for the title Most Dangerous City on Earth.

Yes We Can!

Posted by: WalrusRex at June 13, 2012 10:47 AM (jUZRg)

210

Toby, I bought my condo in 88 at like 7.5% and then by 1992 it was at 13.25% and worth half of what I paid for it. I wasn't able to refi on that bitch for 14 years, but at least the interest came down.

Posted by: Jaimo at June 13, 2012 10:48 AM (9U1OG)

211 It's interesting to look at the outliers who are furthest off the line. The big ones are Reagan (who under-performed relative to the economy) and Nixon who over-performed. Does that mean Nixon was a much better politician because he exploited his economy best? Or Reagan was the worst politically? Or the press like Nixon best? Hopefully we can stop worrying soon about whether Obama will win or lose and start wondering whether he will under- or over-perform in his loss. I think he might under-perform because of ObamaCare.

Posted by: Dave at June 13, 2012 10:48 AM (OMNfZ)

212 Compare Carter unemployment to Obama - http://preview.tinyurl.com/78wzb4u

Remember that the misery index included interest rates...that's one reason why the government is hell-bent to keep them low.

Posted by: Laughing in Texas at June 13, 2012 10:49 AM (dL9LY)

213 I knew Obama was another Carter in 2007. I knew Carter was a Carter in 1975.

Posted by: Oldcat at June 13, 2012 10:49 AM (z1N6a)

214 Speaking of 70's pron, true story: about twenty years ago I made the mistake of eating greasy original recipe KFC as I watched "Behind the Green Door."

It was a couple of years before I could eat chicken again.

Posted by: Kensington at June 13, 2012 10:49 AM (MBmtt)

215 A six pack of Bud was 2 bucks. A OZ. of bud was 20 bucks..... Those were the days!!1!!

Posted by: Racefan at June 13, 2012 10:50 AM (6Bmop)

216 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 13, 2012 02:46 PM (exvgC)

My first boyfriend took my Mom's maverick and tuned it up, put in new spark plugs, and changed oil etc. I suppose it was an attempt to impress me. Do boys do things like that anymore?

Posted by: Long Island at June 13, 2012 10:52 AM (kzp9t)

217 kbdabear - Oh hell yes, I remmber that SNL skit about the bris in the back of the car. We all laughed until we cried. The show really was funny and groundbreaking back then. My family was all a bunch of clowns, we had every comedy album in history - I grew up on the Smothers Brothers, Allan Sherman, The "First Family" album parodies of the Kennedys, Tom Lehrer, David Steinberg, and all the great Jewish comedians like Milton Berle and Jan Murray. SNL was Must-See TV in my house.

Posted by: rockmom at June 13, 2012 10:53 AM (qE3AR)

218 Does that mean Nixon was a much better politician because he exploited his economy best? Or Reagan was the worst politically? Or the press like Nixon best?

No, what it means is that RR inherited a much worse shit bag than Nixon did. it usually takes a couple of years for the impact of the economic policies put ijn place by congress and a President to actually take effect.

Romney is going to have a massive hole to climb out of and it will take a few year for things to actually seem to start getting better.

Of course you will never hear about it from the MFM.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 10:54 AM (YdQQY)

219 It would be interesting to see what this chart looked like if you subtracted out the payroll tax cut from the disposable income figure. I suspect it would be much more like Carter/2010 Midterm.

Posted by: Jaydee at June 13, 2012 10:54 AM (E5DLT)

220 The Atomic Roach, Jessss! I owned the hatchback version.

Posted by: toby928Â© at June 13, 2012 02:45 PM (QupBk)

----

Yep, mine was a hatchback, automatic. It didn't go much faster than 55, and even that the engine sounded like it was redlining.

Posted by: Up, Up With People at June 13, 2012 10:54 AM (iYvMQ)

221 While we're on the subject, I popped up a pic of my Z here.

Safe link, obviously.

http://www.280z.us/

I'll do more with the site when I have time.

Posted by: Bea Arthur's Dick at June 13, 2012 10:55 AM (dM1NM)

222 I will never forgive Reagan for the 85 MPH speedo or the third eye tail light.

Posted by: Clutch Cargo at June 13, 2012 10:55 AM (Qxdfp)

223 Bea, that was dream car a 280Z

Posted by: Long Island at June 13, 2012 10:57 AM (kzp9t)

224 217 . . . My first boyfriend took my Mom's maverick and tuned it up, put in new spark plugs, and changed oil etc. I suppose it was an attempt to impress me. Do boys do things like that anymore?
*
*
I'm not sure they know where to add oil nowadays. Until fairly recently I still changed my own oil -- recycling it of course (in the '70s and '80s you could dump the old black oil in a weed-choked lot) -- and still check my fluids and stay on top of maintenance. I rode too many buses in the '60s and '70s. A car is too valuable to me to neglect it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 13, 2012 10:59 AM (exvgC)

225 I will never forgive Reagan for the 85 MPH speedo or the third eye tail light.

Posted by: Clutch Cargo at June 13, 2012 02:55 PM (Qxdfp)

Actually that was from the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that was first started and signed into law by Richard Nixon.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 11:02 AM (YdQQY)

226 Long Island,

Yeah. I love it, still. Had the engine rebuilt by a guy who builds engines for landspeed racers on Bonneville.

It's a heavy car, 4-speed, but it's so smooth at high speeds.

I won't admit the top speeds, but there's a stretch of I-84 between the Tri-Cities (WA) and the Columbia River where one can go as fast as one wants.

Posted by: Bea Arthur's Dick at June 13, 2012 11:03 AM (dM1NM)

227 BTW, Nixon was probably the most liberal Republican President in modern times.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 11:04 AM (YdQQY)

228 223 I will never forgive Reagan for the 85 MPH speedo or the third eye tail light.
Posted by: Clutch Cargo at June 13, 2012 02:55 PM

I liked Smashing Pumpkins better!

Posted by: kbdabear at June 13, 2012 11:06 AM (Y+DPZ)

229 Do boys do things like that anymore?>>

My daughters still bring their cars to me to repair and they both know more about cars than their useless boyfriends. So no.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at June 13, 2012 11:08 AM (tf9Ne)

230 Damn right there's nothing funny about Obama. The last three years feel like they were written by Sophocles.

Posted by: Big Fat Not So Meanie Anymore (with Fewer Calls to Overthrow the Government) at June 13, 2012 11:10 AM (Ec6wH)

231 I can change the oil in my car and my wife's car, do minor things on them. But the kinds of things I used to do on the old cars can no longer be done on new cars with $100K worth of computerized diagnostic equipment and a garage full of special tools.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 11:11 AM (YdQQY)

232 with OUT damn it.

Posted by: Vic at June 13, 2012 11:14 AM (YdQQY)

233 Wolfus Aurelius @208 Spot on with one exception "... And not everybody at the DMV and other "official" offices was a jerk ..." Civil servants, with damned few exceptions, have been surly, rude, and lazy since at least the days of the Roman Empire. Plus Ã§a change, plus c'est la mÃªme chose.

Posted by: Grumpy the Younger at June 13, 2012 11:31 AM (jts1f)

234

Posted by: Richard Head at June 13, 2012 01:21 PM (e8kgV)

235 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at June 13, 2012 01:47 PM (Xb3hu)

236 How bad were the Crater years? I worked in a factory that had to turn off the heat during winter, We made automotive trim. Union strikes and bad economy along with high gas prices slowed the Auto factories to idle and we went idle too.
Even though we were not Union.
Yes, it sucked during that administration.

Posted by: HEP-T at June 13, 2012 03:11 PM (vk13U)

237 We had Comrade Jerry Brown AND Carter at the same time.....and now we have Comrade Jerry Brown AND Ob+mao at the same time. Californians are well and truly fucked critters.

Posted by: torabora at June 13, 2012 04:28 PM (ujZ5D)

238 I was nine when Carter was president, and remember the suckage.

Posted by: MauserMedic at June 13, 2012 04:38 PM (sM7HU)

239 234 Wolfus Aurelius @208

Spot on with one exception "... And not everybody at the DMV and other "official" offices was a jerk ..."

Civil servants, with damned few exceptions, have been surly, rude, and lazy since at least the days of the Roman Empire. Plus Ã§a change, plus c'est la mÃªme chose.
*
*
Oh, there were plenty of jerks, and naturally they were in the majority. But they hadn't conquered every office completely.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 14, 2012 07:31 AM (exvgC)

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