Dad USED to be a die-hard Democrat, until Carter.
Carter had the USDA start PIK (short for Payment In Kind) as a way to rid the country of surplus corn and to raise the prices farmers received for their grain.
It worked like this: a farmer would set aside X acres that he would normally grow corn on, and in return, would receive 85% of what the average yield for those acres in grain. We normally shelled around 10,000 bushels of corn a year, so we got 8,500 bushels of grain.
In return, we had to let the fields we grow corn on lay fallow. We couldn't plant another crop on it, couldn't graze it, but we did have to mow it (didn't say we couldn't put what we mowed in the silo. LOL)
All this was an effort by the government to rid the market of surplus corn, and raise the price farmers received for it. In that aspect, it worked...BUT...
Hidden deep in the bowels of this program was a clause that read "if the price rises to or above $X.XX/bushel, the farmer had to PAY the government back for the corn he received".
SO, farmers were deprived of the use of their land for other uses other than growing corn, AND had to pay for the corn the government "gave" them to take their land out of use!
Gas went from $.55 to over $1.20/gallon, diesel from $.35 to $1.00, IF YOU COULD FIND IT! (as farmers, we didn't have that problem.) F'n UAW went on strike against International Harvester, drying up parts supplies and forcing IH into bankruptcy. (I hope every GD one of those UAW F'ers STARVED TO DEATH!!!)
We had a "misery index", a coal miner's strike, Arab oil embargo, OPEC, EPA, OHSA, catalytic converters, unleaded gas, wage and price controls, swine flu, and rumors of a coming "ice age" (since replaced with "global warming/climate change/whateverthehellitisnow").
And DUmmies think the government can run healthcare????
On top of that, I married and bought a house in 1979, interest rate was 19.7% Principal was $12,000, interest was $22,000 (total $34,000) over the life of the loan. (I refinanced in 1983 for 6.5% and saved over $15,000).