March 14, 1980 – President Carter’s Address on the Economy +news of Allard Lowenstein shooting – CBS Radio – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
On this day in 1980, President Jimmy Carter unveiled a new anti-inflation program that he said would restore “discipline” to both government and American consumers, partly by putting the federal budget in the black for the first time in 12 years.
PresidentJimmy Carter: “I’ll take long-term efforts to improve the vitality of our economy and to increase productivity through tax reductions. But these tax reductions can only come after we have been sure that we can exercise and maintain the discipline of a balanced budget.
There are no quick answers to inflation. There are no easy answers. There are no painless answers to inflation. If so, they would have been carried out long ago. The American people are not going to be deceived on this issue. The projects that I’ve outlined will involve costs; they involve pain. But the cost is far less in taking action than it will be if we take no action.
I must tell you very frankly that the results will not be immediate. We can expect several more months of very high inflation. But toward the end of this year the inflation rate will begin to drop, I think drop substantially.
The hard truth is that there is no easy way. Americans must do this together.
The final point I’d like to make before I take your answers is that our Nation is strong and vital. We are similar to a superb athlete who has simply gotten out of shape. The American economy has an underlying strength and resiliency. With discipline and restraint and with a willingness to accept, perhaps, some aching muscles at first, our economy can perform again like a champion. In the fight against inflation what is at stake is more than material wealth, it’s more than material comfort; what is at stake is whether we as Americans, as a nation, as a people, will control our own destiny. In order to do so we must control inflation. And the Congress and I and, I believe, our entire Nation is determined to make this effort successful.”
Following the address there was a question-and-answer period where many topics, in addition to the economy were discussed.
Here is Jimmy Carter’s complete News conference of March 14, 1980. It begins with a bulletin regarding the report of a shooting in the office of former Congressman and political activist Allard Lowenstein. Lowenstein had been shot some five times and was undergoing emergency surgery.
