Mr Drucker says that modern government can do only two things well: wage war and inflate the currency. It’s the aim of my administration to prove Mr Drucker wrong.
– Richard Nixon
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That seems too good to be true – is it real?
It does sort of chime with my view that the effectiveness, efficiency and frequency of cock-ups of the occupation of Iraq ought to be judged by the standards of other multi-billion-dollar government projects.
Well, the Nixon administration was certainly pretty good at inflating the currency (by killing the Bretton Woods system of stabilised currencies Nixon basically caused the next decade of hyperinflation), and technically won the Vietnam war (though of course South Vietnam then fell because the US Congress blocked military aid to Saigon, thus sabotaging the peace agreement Nixon had negotiated).
Nixon presumably meant that he hoped to do a good job in other areas, like foreign policy, economic policy and environmental policy. He got involved in all of these, and screwed them up royally.
Drucker 2, Nixon nil.
Look on the bright side: Nixon also killed Keynesian economics by means of demonstration. Remember the “We are all Keynesians now” quote? Besides, the collapse of Bretton Woods had been predestined since the early 1960’s by the US balance of payments deficit.
I’ve never known anyone to disagree with Peter Drucker and win. R.I.P., P.F.D.!