Purple America

Remember back in the 1970s, when the headlines blared warnings about an economic disease plaguing the U.S. economy? It was called “stagflation.” It’s a rare economic affliction in which inflation is high, unemployment is rising, and overall economic growth is slowing, all at the same time. Five decades ago, it caused major havoc to the national economy because it’s a tough disease for the economic doctors to cure. And now, like the hockey-masked villain in those Friday the 13th movies that seems to never die, a number of economic experts fear that: “Stagflation is baa-aaack!”

The U.S. last experienced stagflation starting in 1973, which seems like a long time ago back when Tony Orlando and Dawn’s "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" was top of the charts. That's when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), run by Middle East oil-producing nations, imposed an oil embargo, cut production, and banned exports to the U.S. and other nations supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. That action caused oil prices to quadruple, leading to severe oil and gas shortages and long-term changes in energy policy.