The anti-tax revolution which was institutionalized under Reagan is the main reason the US is experiencing a protracted crisis.
The goal was explicitly stated as "Starve the Best". The theory was that if you deprive the federal government of money (to make room for tax cuts to the wealthy), the resulting crisis will dry up the money for government programs and regulation. We are currently in the crisis phase.
However, the proponents of this theory missed something big.
Consumer demand was supported for 70 years with the Keynesian model along with a massive infrastructure of Labor and trade policies which protected the wages of middle class consumers. The Reagan Revolution got rid of all of this in order to make room for giving more money/resources to the wealthy. Even Social Security and Medicare boosted consumer spending, that is, when the parents are not bankrupting their children with medical costs, those same children have more money for consumption.
A right-winger might respond: who cares about consumption? Answer: you do. When people buy things, the capitalist has to innovate and add jobs to soak up that buying power. When people don't have money to buy things, the capitalist is forced to cut jobs.
Reagan convinced us to get rid of all the demand centered policies which out more money in the wallet of middle class pockets. Once we did this, there was an increased need for credit. This is why America underwent a massive expansion of household credit starting in the 80s. Eventually, the credit system blew-up - and now we have zero demand. Consumers simply don't have enough buying power to justify the addition of jobs. Of course the Republicans say we can fix this with tax cuts to the wealthy. This won't work because the problem is not on the supply end. This isn't supply side problem. It's a demand problem.
In the 70s, the problem was inflation - so there was a justification for a supply side solution. That is no longer the case.
And let's not even talk about the danger of the "Self Made Myth". We should take a picture of these people in front of the Hoover Dam. They can all sing the chorus "I built my fortune with my own two hands." ******* morons. Every nickel they've ever made can be traced to the technological efficiencies created by the modern industrial state - which was paid for by the public.
Profit has never come from one place. It come from a partnership between government and the market players. Commercial aviation - and all the profits made therein - comes straight out of government funding. Boeing depended heavily on the Pentagon budget. The 80s consumer electronics boom came directly from technology developed by the Cold War NASA/Pentagon. Government provides so many industries with direct R&D along with endless subsidies. And don't kid yourself about what the private sector wants. When a business gets big enough it goes straight to Washington to beg for money and regulatory help. Business craves Washington. Big finance would be nothing without FDIC support - which allows them to take risks on the public's nickel. Big Pharma invested trillions into the Bush congress in order to get 100% of Bush's medicare spending. Indeed, Eli Lilly paid every GOP congressmen on the planet for the right to sell drugs at above-market costs to seniors. Congress basically awarded them a monopoly. And now they're fleecing the public dry.
The private sector isn't represented by John Gault. They LOVE government. They crave Big Brother's subsidies and bailouts. They have paid to fix nearly every large market in the USA. And... what do they do with their profits? They invest into think tanks, mass media, Rush Limbaugh et al ... who use their bullhorn to scream "socialist" at anyone who challenges their ownership of the status quo.
God ******* help us. Republicans don't get it. There is no government. Government is owned by an uber-private sector which has emptied every market of competition, including health care and energy. If you challenge their control of Washington and markets, they scream "fascist, socialist, marxist, gay terrorist illegal alien baby killer." We can't fix it until Republican voters learn to question their information sources. They are in bed with Big Government Conservatism. They don't hate government as much as they think they do. To the contrary, they have been used by concentrated wealth to take over government - and they don't see it.