Are there similarities between Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama? Both are sincere and mean well. Many remember the economic pain of the Carter years. There is an inverse relationship between inflation and interest rates. A similar relationship exists between inflation and unemployment. The Carter presidency tipped over the economic cart into a paradoxical situation called stagflation, with high interest rates, high unemployment, high inflation and minimal economic growth.
I believe the Obama administration has tipped over the economic cart into the opposite paradoxical economic region of low interest, low economic growth, low inflation and relatively high unemployment (lukewarm recovery, more Americans no longer looking for work). We have the diametric opposite economic paradox to stagflation that I call stagnation.
The pain of stagnation will be felt if indeed we are beginning a new world recession in 2016. Unlike prior recoveries, the current 2008 recovery produced low-wage jobs so as people become unemployed, they will not have resources. The increase in federal debt results in limited governmental resources. The workforce is aging. We face many challenges to get the economic cart upright.
I believe Obama will be an activist for good, much like Carter. Maybe he will be more effective as an ex-president in solving some of our intransigent social ills.
I hope we can elect the right leaders to get the economy rolling again.
