President of the U.S., 1974-1977; Republican Rep. (MI)
Remove farm acreage limitations, to keep inflation down
Recent hikes in the prices of food and petroleum, I pointed out, were key factors in the spiraling inflation rate. If farmers could produce more food, supermarket prices would drop.
But farmers couldn't do it all themselves so I asked Congress to remove all the remaining acreage limitations on cotton, peanuts and rice.
Source: A Time To Heal, by Gerald Ford, p.194
, Oct 8, 1974
Dems prefer to fight unemployment; GOP fight inflation
Since FDR, the Democratic Party's philosophy has been that unemployment is a more serious problem than inflation. They've wanted to simulate employment, increase the federal budget--and the deficit as well--and then gamble with the impact that their
actions will have on the inflation rate. In one sense, that's understandable. Congress, controlled by Democrats for 4 of the last 42 years, has always contended that it could "do something" about unemployment much more easily--and with greater public
relations impact--than it could remedy inflation. Republicans, for their part, have always considered inflation to be public enemy #1. We have denied the charge that if you tackle inflation you're going to increase unemployment. Our position has been
that you can reduce inflation and unemployment at the same time. The more progress you make in winning the battle against inflation, the more confidence the private sector acquires, and the more it expands; and expansion means the creation of new jobs.
