The purchasing power of the dollar under Truman fell 12 percent in four years (1949-1953).
The purchasing power of the dollar under Eisenhower fell 12 percent in eight years.
The purchasing power of the dollar under Kennedy/Johnson fell 23 percent in eight years.
The purchasing power of the dollar under Nixon/Ford fell 65 percent in eight years (gold convertibility went out the window in 1971).
The purchasing power of the dollar under Jimmy Carter fell 50 percent in four years.
The purchasing power of the dollar under Ronald Reagan fell 36 percent in eight years.
The purchasing power of the dollar under GHW Bush fell 17 percent in four years.
The purchasing power of the dollar under Bill Clinton fell 23 percent in eight years.
The purchasing power of the dollar under GW Bush fell 21 percent in eight years.
Overall, the purchasing power of the dollar has fallen 800 percent in the sixty years between 1949 and 2009. It takes $9 in 2009 to buy what $1 could in 1949.
People like Larry Kudlow who talk about "strong dollar" presidents "like Ronald Reagan" don't know what they are talking about.
We haven't had a single strong dollar president in the post-war period. All eleven have presided over inflationary (monetary) policies which have impoverished the American people.
For the 35 years between 1878 and 1913 the dollar ACTUALLY GAINED A PENNY in its purchasing power, when the dollar was fixed at $20.67 per ounce of gold.
The strong dollar presidents? Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt and Taft.
A different breed of men.
