Reagan doubled the debt, tripled Carter's deficits, and caused the S&L crisis by recklessly deregulating the financial system.
He exploded the Pentagon budget, but hid it from view w/the favorite Republican trick: emergency spending.
He convinced America that, despite Carter's warnings, we did not need to worry energy or Middle East dependency. He increased our support of Saudi Arabia, and poured money into Hussein's Iraq. We won't mention Iran. Reagan's failure to lead on energy may well be the greatest mistake any president has ever made.
His 1981 tax cuts were acknowledged to be a failure by his own his budget director, which is why he raised them 6 times thereafter.
Reagan's mistakes were less glaring because gas prices were insanely low and the boomers had entered their peak earning years, and a still vigorous entitlement system kept the social system in tact.
Under Reagan America went from the world's lender to the largest debtor nation. American families, who saw their once high wages & benefits get turned into tax breaks for the wealthy, began to accumulate massive debt.
Carter's Fed Chairman Volcker killed inflation by raising interest rates. Reagan hated Volcker for turning off the spicket, so he replaced him with the king of easy money: Alan Greenspan. Greenspan flooded the economy with liquidity for Reagan, Clinton and Bush in order to create artificial prosperity for each president.
Rather than balance the budget, Reagan chose to increase Defense spending well beyond the need for it. His "Star Wars" initiative was insane. Even Nixon told him that well placed Defense cuts could spare future generations from crippling debt. It was clear that Gorbachev wanted to unwind the Iron Curtain (which he eventually did), but Reagan's weapon's build-up delayed this because it gave power to Soviet hard-liners (who hated Gorby). In essence, Reagan prolonged the Cold War so he could use it as a context to expand military bases to vital labor & resource markets in the 3rd world, that is, the Soviet threat was the basis for pulling resource rich nations under America's protective wing. Problem is: we're still paying for Reagan's weapon's build up and military excess.
Reagan handed Bush 41 a big sloppy wet fart - deficits as far as the eyes could see, exploding debt, and a military colossus that was getting harder and harder to pay for. He handed future presidents a middle class without the wages to drive consumption. [Remember: Reagan's chief goal was to give business cheaper labor costs. This is why he busted unions and cut entitlements. He wanted to relieve capital from the burden of an expensive middle class] His policies meant the average consumer had lower wages and fewer benefits, which meant hard working Americans required more and more debt just to keep consuming and drive the economy.
America swallowed poison in 1980.
He exploded the Pentagon budget, but hid it from view w/the favorite Republican trick: emergency spending.
He convinced America that, despite Carter's warnings, we did not need to worry energy or Middle East dependency. He increased our support of Saudi Arabia, and poured money into Hussein's Iraq. We won't mention Iran. Reagan's failure to lead on energy may well be the greatest mistake any president has ever made.
His 1981 tax cuts were acknowledged to be a failure by his own his budget director, which is why he raised them 6 times thereafter.
Reagan's mistakes were less glaring because gas prices were insanely low and the boomers had entered their peak earning years, and a still vigorous entitlement system kept the social system in tact.
Under Reagan America went from the world's lender to the largest debtor nation. American families, who saw their once high wages & benefits get turned into tax breaks for the wealthy, began to accumulate massive debt.
Carter's Fed Chairman Volcker killed inflation by raising interest rates. Reagan hated Volcker for turning off the spicket, so he replaced him with the king of easy money: Alan Greenspan. Greenspan flooded the economy with liquidity for Reagan, Clinton and Bush in order to create artificial prosperity for each president.
Rather than balance the budget, Reagan chose to increase Defense spending well beyond the need for it. His "Star Wars" initiative was insane. Even Nixon told him that well placed Defense cuts could spare future generations from crippling debt. It was clear that Gorbachev wanted to unwind the Iron Curtain (which he eventually did), but Reagan's weapon's build-up delayed this because it gave power to Soviet hard-liners (who hated Gorby). In essence, Reagan prolonged the Cold War so he could use it as a context to expand military bases to vital labor & resource markets in the 3rd world, that is, the Soviet threat was the basis for pulling resource rich nations under America's protective wing. Problem is: we're still paying for Reagan's weapon's build up and military excess.
Reagan handed Bush 41 a big sloppy wet fart - deficits as far as the eyes could see, exploding debt, and a military colossus that was getting harder and harder to pay for. He handed future presidents a middle class without the wages to drive consumption. [Remember: Reagan's chief goal was to give business cheaper labor costs. This is why he busted unions and cut entitlements. He wanted to relieve capital from the burden of an expensive middle class] His policies meant the average consumer had lower wages and fewer benefits, which meant hard working Americans required more and more debt just to keep consuming and drive the economy.
America swallowed poison in 1980.
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