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Obama. I prefer Presidents who aren't suffering from Alzheimer's.
Well, he wasn't diagnosed with it until late 1994.
And considering the fact that the 1980s decade overall was very prosperous, and that the inflation dropped from 13% when he took office to under 5% when he left office, and that unemployment dropped several points to 5.5%, and that interest rates dropped from 20+% to under 12%, it looks like we could use another Reagan!
Especially considering the fact that the highest 5% wage earners were actually paying more (by percent) in taxes in 1989 (43.6%) than they were in 1979 (37.6%) and that the lowest 50% of wage earners paid 6.8% of taxes in 1979 and decreased to 6.1% in 1989.
(Source: Information Please Almanac, page 75; 1991)
I would choose Obama. But only by default b/c Reagan was such a horrible president.
The recovery in the early 80s was due to Carter appointee Paul Volcker...not Reagan's tax cuts.
Reagan cut taxes! He also signed 7 tax increases in his 8 years in office including the largest tax increase to date in our country's history.
Reagan's deregulation bent made the S&L scandal happen.
Reagan ordered the mining of Nicaraguan harbors during his little off the books wars thus casting the US as a terrorist nation in the eyes of the World Court...which is the main reason the US does not recognize the court's jurisdiction.
Reagan backed terrorist death squads in El Salvador and Nicaragua...for that alone the man deserves ignominy.
On his watch our country went from a creditor country to a debtor nation.
And finally, he traded arms with our enemies in Iran. An act of treason that was not pursued b/c the independent investigator who chose not to put the country through another impeachment trial.
"A few months ago I told the American people that I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that is true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not."
--Ronald Wilson Reagan, President of the United States
Yes, Iran-Contra was evidence of that. (Selling weapons to Iran-who took Americans hostage--remember?)
Selling weapons to Iran (actually it was Israel who passed them to Iran) and Iraq so they would cripple each other and no longer be a threat to Saudi Arabia. Carter also sold weapons to Iran, even several F-16s at a time when they were the latest in US fighter technology.
Must have been part of the deal after Reagan requested that the Saudis triple oil production to starve the Soviets of their primary revenue source.
The pieces all fit together quite nicely. Saudis sure are sneaky. Any coincidence that the Gulf War was also in the best interest of Saudi Arabia? Take a look at the Carter Doctrine if you do not believe me..
Quote:
Originally Posted by wehotex
Reagan's team was actually able to cut sky high interest rates, create credits for machinery investment to prime the pump. those sleights of hand are not available for Obama, since interest rates are already close to zero! just look at how much your savings account pays. reagan was also dealt a difficult hand that was not solved overnight. but at least, his team cut interest rates and there were still an abundance of manufacturing jobs in this country during his time. reagan was dealt the better hand.
Actually the idea was to increase interest rates to starve inflation. Reagan reappointed Volcker for the job. Rates reached 20% at their peak. Manufacturing was not exactly in its prime in the 70s and 80s. There was a large wave of outsourcing in the late 70s especially in the steel industry as well as other heavy industry sectors. Automakers took a huge blow during the energy crisis, and the railroad industry was still stagnant.
However, by the end of Reagan's presidency we had been on the largest peacetime economic expansion in US history, and had a revitalized transportation industry and a new emerging high tech sector that would later fuel the Dot Com bubble.
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