after leaving office Carter made it one of his mission in life to outlive the Guinea Worm Disease. Which is a painful parasite. when he started the number of reported cases yearly was over 3 million that number has dropped to 20 in 2015.
South Sudan is the latest country to become free from this horrible disease.
Yesterday, the minister of health for the country of South Sudan announced that they had successfully put a stop to transmission of Guinea Worm Disease.
This means that they have achieved a 15-month period of no reported cases of Guinea Worm. Since the Guinea Worm has a lifecycle of about twelve months, fifteen months with no cases means that the disease isn’t coming back unless it is reintroduced from the outside
Time Magazine near the end of the Carter presidency.
Mar 24, 1980
As Jimmy Carter stepped before the television cameras in the East Room of the White House last Friday, his task was not just to proclaim another new anti-inflation program but to calm a national alarm that had begun to border on panic. Inflation and interest rates, both topping 18%, are so far beyond anything that Americans have experienced…
18% Interest, 18% Inflation, and unemployment on it’s way past 10%.
How do ya do that in JUST 4 years?
Current presidents would be tarred and feathered for doing that.
Yes there was, strange how that ended after he was gone.
AND, when people in a normal economy encounter higher gas prices, they spend less on something else. No net change in demand means no net change in inflation.
Only when people feel trapped, do they keep spending on everything. Heck even 18% inflation rates could not convince them to stop borrowing (at interest) and start saving (at interest).
Either the whole of America was doing something wrong, needlessly panic themselves out of savings, or someone else was doing wrong and they responded rationally.
Either way, the greatest generation retired on bupkis savings and paid very-inflated prices. It kinda sucked to be them.
“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, the dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 9.73% per year. Prices in 1980 are 45.0% higher than prices in 1976.”
Imagine that in the final years before you retire everything you will ever want to buy before retirement increases 45% in price.
Some who didn’t live through the Carter years fail to realize that he got hit with some pretty chaotic troubles.
Vietnam war bill came due.
OPEC
Rise of Islamic Radicals
The end of the WW2 baby boomer over the top growth.
Not giving him a pass on how he handled it.
Just a explaination of what he had to deal with over such a short time.
Reagan had 4 years to sit on the sidelines and come up with a gameplan while Carter was in office.
Jimmy was flying blind into uncharted territory.
