Whip inflation then

Greg Mankiw makes a derisive aside about the 1970s WIN program. But if you look at the speech Gerald Ford gave in announcing it, you'll find some pretty good ideas (such as restraining federal spending and reevaluating the need for various regulations) along with some less good ones (subsidizing mortgages). Wearing buttons might seem a silly request, but note that Ford asks it to emphasize the program's voluntarism and non-bureaucratic emphasis. As I've said in the past, the Ford administration gets less credit than it deserves.