BIDEN’S PATHETIC INFLATION PLAN. On Oct. 8, 1974, amid a dramatically worsening economy marked by skyrocketing inflation, President Gerald Ford unveiled a plan he called “Whip Inflation Now.” To fight inflation, the government made millions of WIN buttons and encouraged people to carpool to conserve gas — this was after the Arab oil embargo — and to grow their own food. The campaign was a disaster, alternately ridiculed and hated. Most of all, it didn’t work. Alan Greenspan, who was a top Ford economic adviser, called it “unbelievable stupidity.”

Ford had only been president a couple of months, having taken over after Richard Nixon resigned over Watergate. Two years later, Ford lost his bid to be elected president on his own.