Nixon and New Federalism
Nixon was mainly a foreign policy president.  His domestic policy focused on turning federally funded social programs over to the states.  He called this program New Federalism.  He believed many of the Great Society's programs were to costly.  As a result, he instituted revenue sharing, which is sharing federal tax money, with the states so that they could fund social welfare.

Nixon's other big economic problem was inflation, which was on the rise due to the Vietnam War.  Nixon also wanted to balance the budget, which means spending no more money than what was generated through taxes.  But, the economic problems of America worsened as unemployment rose and the country's gross nation product declined.  Despite a 90 day wage freeze to get the economy under control, inflation continued to be a problem throughout Nixon's, Ford's, and Carter's presidencies.

Ford and the Oil Embargo
The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) placed an embargo on the United States in 1973 as a result of the U.S.'s support of Israel.  This resulted in gas prices more than doubling and inflation rising to a high of 10%, which placed the country in the worst recession since World War II.

Carter and Stagflation
Inflation and continued rising unemployment were the focus of Carter's domestic policy.  The term stagflation was used to describe the inflation and the stagnant economy.  These problems were worsened by federal social welfare programs that increased taxes.  The federal government was also forced to make millions in loans to Chrysler Corporation and Lockheed Aircraft to keep each from going bankrupt and laying off thousands of employees.  This did nothing to help an already poor economy.

Reagan and New Federalism
Reagan reinstituted the idea of states handling more of the cost for social programs, and for reducing the size of the federal government.  He also wanted to cut taxes for businesses and high income individuals with the idea that they would reinvest the saved tax money into the economy by hiring more workers and purchasing more goods and services, thus stimulating it.  This was called supply side economics, or Reaganomics, and was meant to end inflation.

Reagan also wanted to balance the budget.  He attempted to do this through deep cuts in social welfare programs.  But, his increased spending in the area of national defense actually caused a bigger budget deficit.  The federal government was also forced to bail out farmers who where suffering due to a worldwide recession.  Surplus crops drove prices down, so Reagan's government paid farmers not to grow crops, hoping for prices to increase.  This never happened and many farmers lost the homes and farms when they could not repay government loans.

During the Reagan presidency, America also suffered from a large trade imbalance.  This is when a country imports more goods and services than it exports.  This also contributed to the increase in the national debt.

Bush and “No New Taxes”
The budget deficit caused President Bush to go back on a campaign promise to not raise taxes, which he did in 1990.  A growing recession of the economy and rising unemployment resulted in Bush being voted out of office in the 1992 election.

Clinton and the .com Bubble
President Clinton took over the presidency during an economic slump, but soon manage to climb out due to increased free trade through NAFTA and the bull markets of the 1990's caused in part by the start up of hundreds of .com businesses.  The economy took an upturn due in part to many companies starting a business on the internet.  Initial Public Offerings (IPO) of these company's stock sent the stock market higher than it had ever been.  Unfortunately, many of these companies not only had no market, but many had no product.  The .com bubble burst costing many investors millions of dollars.

Free trade expanded during Clinton's presidency with the passage of NAFTA. The North American Free Trade Association was created by the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 1993.  Its purpose was to provide free trade between the three nations, by eliminating trade barriers like tariffs.  Many feared a loss of America jobs as companies moved to Mexico where is is less expensive to do business.  Instead, Mexico has faced problems due to the influx of inexpensive American products.

Bush and Corporate Fraud
George W. Bush's administration has been forced to respond to corporate fraud which has cost investors millions. Corporate accounting procedures have come under fire as the Enron Corporation faced scrutiny over fraudulent bookkeeping practices which resulted in investors losing millions and the company going bankrupt.  Martha Stewart, CEO of Martha Stewart Omnimedia is under investigation for insider trading in the ImClone Inc. scandal.  Insider trading is making stock exchanges based on knowledge not available to the general public.  These and other corporate scandals have caused investors to lose confidence in the stock market resulting in the beginnings of a new recession.