NYcarbineer
Diamond Member
3. The economic benefits from Reaganomics:
a. The economy grew at a 3.4% average rate compared with 2.9% for the previous eight years, and 2.7% for the next eight.(Table B-4)
b. Inflation rate dropped from 12.5% to 4.4%. (Table B-63)
c. Unemployment fell to 5.5% from 7.1% (Table B-35)
d. Prime interest rate fell by one-third.(Table B-73)
e. The S & P 500 jumped 124% (Table B-95) Economic Report of the President: 2010 Report Spreadsheet Tables
f. Charitable contributions rose 57% faster than inflation. Dinesh DSouza, Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary May Became an Extraordinary Leader, p. 116
This is 100% myth. Not reality.
In reality the economic recovery that occurred in Reagan's era had almost nothing to do with any policy beyond the monetary policy of Volcker at the Fed.
Because Gold and the dollar essentially self corrected, and the monetary policy of the time was extremely conservative the economy benefited from a nearly perfect correction to the imbalances that caused the recession.
If an economy in recession with sound fundamentals benefits from correction to the causative imbalances a robust recovery is the norm, not the exception. That's the very definition of boom-bust cycles.
Extraneous tax policies etc had jack shit to do with it.
You can believe otherwise, you can erect fascinating rationales backed by studies, data, scholarly analysis and idealism but the reality is that Reagan was lucky after he was unlucky. His policies had almost nothing to do with causing or correcting the epic recession of his era.
And the same was true of Jimmy Carter.
Nixon on the other hand was generally responsible for the whole enchilada. He took the US off the gold standard. The rest was inevitable.
Economies come out of recessions because of the business cycle, which will do its thing whether presidents interfere or not.