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The inevitable result was the summer of double-digit dis content, followed by Stage II. Announcing it, Carter conceded that the tom-toms reverberating from the Oval Office in the past had signaled anything but a determined anti-inflationary policy. The regulators who he now suggests are out of control are Carter appointees. The budget that he says is too big is a Carter budget. But the good news is that the President pro fesses at last to recognize the problems and to have learned from past misjudgments.
With Stage II, Carter may not have bitten the bullet, but at least he bit the aspirin. The much debated new program is harmless enough, and it may give the President some time and space to do what needs to be done: cut the bloat in the budget, reduce costly regulation, encourage the Federal Reserve Board to let the money supply grow only slowly and steadily. That, and only that, can slow the price spiral.
The question is whether, after all the what-ifs and might-have-beens, Jimmy Carter has the will and the courage to fight not only the surface symptoms but also the root causes of inflation. — Marshall Loeb