Reaganomics lead to the longest and greatest growth in economic history.
but thanks for proving you're ignorant, and unteachable, again
He did 2 things.
He let it be known that aggression would be met with force. It wasn't a coincidence that the Soviet Army had a very bad time in Afghanistan and it started about the same time that Reagan and Company got serious about backing the rebels.
He also increased military spending. Colin Powell (who was a staffer with Casper Weinberger at the time) referred to it as something like, "We were done with our requisition list. We then moved on to our wish list. After that, we moved onto our dream list." That was in his autobiography "My American Journey". Soviet-style communism has an Achille's heel. There is an upper limit it can spend before the entire system grinds to a halt. They found theirs. Later after th Cold War ended, Powell wrote something along the lines of an aide of his saying (about the Russian fleet), "This fleet is going bye bye" meaning it could barely stay afloat. Hence Peristroyka (sp?), hence the coup, hence the end of the Soviet Union.
If you want to blame Reagan for the arguably more dangerous CIS and former Soviet satellite states; go ahead. But the biggest threat this nation ever faced was stared down by the leadership of one man; Ronald Wilson Reagan.
That alone qualifies him for his own mountain--screw Mt. Rushmore.
http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...ompared-to-this-great-man-14.html#post5569683
However, what you saw with Reagan's 8 years was that time period between spending on a credit card and the bill coming due in later administrations. No kidding there was growth. But the reasons are pretty obvious. It silly to give Reagan credit as being some sort of fiscal genius. Obviously he wasn't and it sat a dangerous precedent--every President after him looks at his enduring popularity and sees no problem running up the budget--hell Ronnie got away with it; right?