How did Ford and Carter try to fix economic problems and why didn't their plans work?

Answer 1

Gerald Ford was only President for two years to took over after President Nixon resigned as President on August 9, 1974 until January 1977. He also was only Vice President from 1973 to August 1974 after Spiro Agnew resigned. He faced the OPEC Oil embargo of 1974, which quickly raised the price of oil, gasoline, diesel, and home heating oil. He also was hit with 10% inflation due partly from the removal of the Gold Standard by the Nixon administration in 1971. This removal allowed the private bank known as the Federal Reserve to be able to print as much "paper" money as it deemed necessary, which caused (and causes) inflation (for more on this, see the "Weimar Republic"). He had little time to control the situation; his big speech in October was based on his initiative "Whip Inflation Now." This initiative was to have people grow more food and drive less to try to stop the trend of increasing prices.

Another perspective: Jimmy Carter took office as President in January 1977 after defeating President Ford 297 to 241 electoral votes. He was still fighting with oil prices, and his plan was to raise taxes on top income earners to 70%. This caused massive job losses and more inflation. In 1980, inflation was over 20%. Then he had to deal with American ships being pirated and, in 1979, the Iranian Revolution in which Americans were held hostage. He canceled his speech to Congress in March 1980 and later did a speech from the East Room to explain that his $15.8 billion deficit budget "was already obsolete" in only seven weeks. His campaign promises of federal fiscal responsibility were quickly gone.