Some historical perspective for the youngsters:
1. In the late 1970′s gas was 40 cents a gallon, but you had to line up around the block to get it. In 2008 gas is 4 bucks because demand (think India and China) exceeds supply. We need new sources of energy, but that’s going to include nuclear and more drilling until the alternatives come on-line.
2. During the same period interest rates peaked at 19% and unemployment at 8 percent. You couldn’t find a job on the graveyard shift pumping gas. Today interest rates for mortgages and auto loans are about 6%. Unemployment just bumped 5.5%, but the statistic is a lagging indicator. Given the action by the Federal Reserve recently, it looks as though the recession (if it comes) will be shallow and short.
3. During the seventies inflation raged as the markets worked off the artificial excesses caused by Nixon’s wage and price controls. Today by any historical standard inflation is tame.
4. In 1979, the US was humiliated into impotence by Muslim radicals who sacked our embassy in Tehran and kidnapped the embassy staff. In contrast, under George Bush we marched into two Muslim countries and removed two of the most odious regimes in history. And we did it in a matter of months. AQ attempted to counter-attack in Iraq. They have lost.
5. US losses in Iraq are low by historical standards. Less than the 50K we lost in Vietnam over a decade. Less than the losses in the first two days following D-Day. Less than one hour’s fighting at Gettysburg.
And still we get the “narrative” from the Left that our nation is in the tank. Hardly. Not by any historical standard. Expect the Bush II presidency to rank along side that of Truman. History judges by more than the hysteria of the moment.
