^That^ didn't even make sense. If Keynes would have been horrified at what's been done, then it isn't what he'd have proposed, and couldn't rightfully be called "Keynesian."
It is widely agreed that the American "Golden Age" was the 1950s. Keynesian policies built that.
Reagans policies broke the backs of the people, and their good credit: his policies and the social darwinism wrapped in gawd & the flag that sold them.
Now, after the results of Reaganomics brought us to the brink of disaster, you want to blame what worked BEFORE for what happened over the past 40-50 years, years during which those theories were abandoned.
And you're shocked that I call what you're saying bullshit. Shocked.
If you knew Keynesian economic fundamentals then you'd know that Keynes wouldn't have been on board with this continual and out of control deficit spending. Keynes saw deficit spending as short term solution to spur an economy during an economic downturn...spending that would then be made up when the economy recovered. What we've seen over the past forty years is ever expanding deficit spending at even the hint of a slowdown and no cuts or tax raises to make up for that spending when we do have a boom.
Reagan's policies created more wealth in this country than any President before or after him. I know that you Progressives don't like to admit that...just as I know that you don't want to take your share of the blame for what's going on now. Listening to you people rant about this topic you would SWEAR that not a single Democrat, liberal or progressive had been anywhere NEAR Washington in the past twenty years! Sorry, Barb...you guys have been steadily piling on entitlements and regulations for decades now. So when the bill comes due on all these Progressive "wish lists" like ObamaCare? Is THAT going to the fault of conservatives as well?
Right. That reagan was a great fiscal conservative. I have proven this to you over and over. He was a Keynesian, plain and simple, in the end.
So, lets look. He started by raising taxes. Big time. The ue rate went to 10.8% and the deficit increased. So, he had then created the worst unemployment since the great depression. Worst, me boy. Not just a bit bad. Well worse than the great republican recession of 2008.
Now, being a staunch fiscal conservative, he had promised that his tax decreases would spur business and thereby increase gov revenues, and also, as a result decrease unemployment. If you will remember, his opponent in the republican party had called that
voodoo economics. And, kind of went that way, me boy. Because the unemployment rate went UP, receipts went DOWN, and the deficit went up like a rocket. From about 2.6% of GDP to 6% of GDP.
Now, the problem with a democratic republic like the united states is that people choose their leaders. And, in the poles at that time, 2 years plus into the presidency, Reagan was about as popular as a fart in church. His poll numbers, me boy, SUCKED.
So, what does Reagan do??? Why he starts SPENDING. You know, Keynesian style. But he needed to finance his projects, and he did not want to increase the deficit. Had an irrational problem with that issue, like all republicans SAY they do. (In fact, in every case, the biggest deficit increases have happened during republican presidencies. Proving that famous belief voiced by Cheney, that deficits don't matter) So, he increased taxes 11 times to finance his stimulus spending. And, what do you know. The economy got much, much better. He waited until the economy got strong, then tried it all again. Another huge tax decrease. And created the great economic downturn that bush 1 faced. The one that cost him the election. You know, to that famous bad guy, in your circles, at any rate. Clinton, who raised rates and spent providing the best economy in this countries history.
Yup that reagan, he was a great fiscal conservative. Created more government than any president EVER. And he did not have to. He just loved spending. Never stopped.
So, me boy, anyone can call themselves a fiscal conservative. Cheap talk. Because for you, that simply means that you are posting from the bat shit crazy con web sites. ALWAYS.
What you can
not do is show where increases in the deficit have EVER hurt during bad economic times. Because, of course, they do NOT hurt. Done properly, they always, always, always help. Low aggregate demand creates depressions. Period. When you follow policies that increase unemployment, aggregate demand decreases. Period. And when you follow stimulative spending policies, you get increased aggregate demand. Always. And when you increase aggregate demand during downturns, you get improvements in employment numbers and improvements in the economy, as measured by gdp. Always.
JUST AS DURING THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION.
Now, I have proven this to you many times. But it does not seem to stick. Maybe your memory is short, so let me help you AGAIN. So you can go out to the bat shit crazy con web sites again and post MORE revisionist history.
The ue rate by the end of january of 1981, when reagan took office, was 7.4%. It had been dropping since July of 1980, when it had reached a high of 7.8%. Then, it went UP. (try to follow, oldstyle. the unemployment rate is BETTER when it decreases, and WORSE when it increases. Kind of like golf scores). After the great Reagan tax decreases, the unemployment rate went UP.
The highest rate for a single month is shared by November and December of 1982 with an unemployment rate of 10.8%
The year with the highest average unemployment rate was 1982 with an average unemployment rate of 9.71%
Historical Unemployment Rates in the United States
And tax receipts went DOWN. And Aggregate demand DECREASED. And the Reagan administration raised taxes, and spent stimulatively.
Then, and only then, did the economy do well. Because, as I have explained to you time after time after time, you can decrease taxes during GOOD ECONOMIC TIMES and have good results. Many presidents, including reagan in his middle and later years have done so.
Now, not that it was a bad thing in reality, but a bad thing in con terms, the deficit, which had not been over 4.2% of GDP since the great depression soared to 6.2% under reagan's policies. Panic city for cons. Here. You can actually find truth in the numbers, me boy.
Historical Federal Receipt and Outlay Summary
The nice thing about being a con is that you are capable of believing what you want to believe. It is so comforting to cons. And, by going to the bat shit crazy con web sites, and watching fox, you can get to feeling sooooo good. But you are existing, me boy, in a delusion. Come on out to the world of rational people some day, and look at facts instead of revisionist history. Reagan's economy was indeed good IN THE END. But only after using Keynesian stimulative policies.
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