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So Reagan wasn't a monster by any stretch - he was much better than Dubya... But he was still mostly for the affluent... just like most Republican politicians.
I lived the Reagan era. When I graduated from college during the Reagan era, there were lots of jobs waiting for me. Reagan made a lot of us college graduates very rich with very high starting salaries.
I lived the Reagan era. When I graduated from college during the Reagan era, there were lots of jobs waiting for me. Reagan made a lot of us college graduates very rich with very high starting salaries.
You and I just have very different views of the world.
I graduated just before Reagan became president - and I had lots of job offers then too. I didn't get rich, but I surely had an above average income...
But I saw that a lot of friends and family did NOT benefit much from his economic and tax policy - and I would not just rate Reagan on how I personally did during his years - but on how those around me and how the average American did...
Actually - I remember Reagan quite well - and at first I thought he was a good president...
You have to understand, those were very depressing days to be an American... Our hostages had been in Iran for over 440 days - and we couldn't do crap to free them... We had one failed rescue mission that ended in tragedy for the troops who flew in...
See GHWBush about that. You may recall that he played a role in keeping them hostage at the end of the Carter administration.
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Originally Posted by mrbob
We were in a national 'malaise' back then - not confident of ourselves, the future wasn't looking very positive. Mortgage interest rates were over 20% at one point.
Carter had them reflecting actual inflation.
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Originally Posted by mrbob
Then along comes someone who made us feel that our best days were yet to come.. He lowered taxes across the board - which at the time felt good - but the deficits started creeping constantly upward - which we didn't really worry about back in the 80s... And he did play a major role in defeating the Soviet Union - he upped military spending and forced them into bankruptcy..
And us, as well. See deficit spending.
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Originally Posted by mrbob
It wasn't until the years later that it became apparent that his policies benefited mostly the rich - not too much tricked down back then - but a heck of a lot more trickled than today... We were doing a little better as wage earners...
However there were some warning signs - especially when he fired every one of the striking air traffic controllers - the union busting mentality started then... And the tax cuts were disproportionately aimed at the top - but the top wasn't quite as greedy then as it is now - CEOs only made about 30-40 times the average workers pay... so we did share in some of the bounty of a growing economy...
But in retrospect, the seeds of NeoConservatism were sown with Reagan -
and a lot of former Republicans (like me) feel like they were 'had' - big time..
So Reagan wasn't a monster by any stretch - he was much better than Dubya... But he was still mostly for the affluent... just like most Republican politicians.
He was a senile old coot who was manipulated by those around him.
Ultimately, he was at fault for his own policies.
I remember that during the Reagan years, interest was up to 10% - great for the well-to-do and very bad for people who needed loans.
Actually, interest rates were much worse during Carter... they were double that...
It took Paul Volker - probably the unsung hero of the Federal Reserve - to stick with at the time very unpopular monetary policy for several years in order to finally squeeze inflation from the economy..
You and I just have very different views of the world.
I graduated just before Reagan became president - and I had lots of job offers then too. I didn't get rich, but I surely had an above average income...
But I saw that a lot of friends and family did NOT benefit much from his economic and tax policy - and I would not just rate Reagan on how I personally did during his years - but on how those around me and how the average American did...
In the Reagan years, our newspaper had pages and pages of Job Ads.
Now, the job ads are a trickle. There were jobs in every sector, the biggest in technology, engineering and nursing. There was even talk of the shortage of people filling the jobs.
All one had to do was get a job and off one went. People were switching jobs a lot too because they wanted the next higher step salary quickly.
It was the best time for a college student to graduate. There was even a race among us as to who would earn $1 million by the age of 21.
My friend won because he opened up his own business but he made it beyond 21 though. haha
I was in the states at the time.
He was manipulated every way from Tuesday.
I look at his administration a lot differently from what you do.
I was out of the country from 75-77 and have only been in the states for 1 year of the bush maladministration.
Can the missiles actually strike the target at an acceptable rate? Last I heard the missiles had to be "told" where to strike - the reason Clinton wanted to stop funding the project. I don't the bush administration to tell the truth about the missile defense system. I hope Obama does abandon this system.
Francis Fitzgerald in her book, Way out there in the Blue shows how Reagan managed to get billions in funding by exploiting the fears of the American public. We were not attacked with missiles on 9/11.
The arms race was some made up story so Reagan could blow billions. He told you the west was an unwilling participant in the arms race for our own safety. The USSR had supremacy over our military up until the first meeting. Reagan was playing chess with them but watching them and how they reacted to our build up of defenses....However they were the ones installing puppet governments and funding communist regimes. This was the longest war in our history but get's very little factual information because it wasn't bang, boom shoot em style military tactics.
Reagan used money, freedom of religion (propaganda), the build up of our military and last but not least SDI. He was gawked at by all the experts who today still say it's useless and we don't need it...almost 30 years later. Wouldn't even a 5% success rate be better than 0% in a nuclear war?
"Since the dawn of the atomic age, we've sought to reduce the risk of war by maintaining a strong deterrent and by seeking genuine arms control. "Deterrence" means simply this: making sure any adversary who thinks about attacking the United States, or our allies, or our vital interest, concludes that the risks to him outweigh any potential gains. Once he understands that, he won't attack. We maintain the peace through our strength; weakness only invites aggression."
Reagan SDI speech.
The USSR was willing to do whatever it took to survive and thrive against the west. Mutual destruction was the only thing that kept anything from ever happening war wise long enough for their unbalanced out of control military industrial complex to implode.....they had decades worth of time ahead of us in preparing for it. Reagan's moves although they looked offensive on the front were purely defensive. "For all their swagger the USSR had a budget the size of California's." Where 50% of their national income went into building the military industrial complex.
I was in the states at the time.
He was manipulated every way from Tuesday.
I look at his administration a lot differently from what you do.
I was out of the country from 75-77 and have only been in the states for 1 year of the bush maladministration.
Let's just agree to disagree..
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