The Facts of Reaganomics

The economy under President Reagan was a time of lower income taxes especially for the rich, higher payroll taxes on working families, runaway federal deficits and borrowing and an increasing trade imbalance. The seeds of today's financial crisis was sown during Reagan with the deregulation of the financial industry. In October 1982, Reagan signed into law a bill that lifted many restrictions on the savings and loan industry. Some seven years later, after Reagan was out of office, the S&L industry was on the receiving end of the largest bailout(at the time) with American taxpayers footing the bulk of the $160 billion tab. Hmmm...I don't recall conservatives calling anyone a socialist then.

The 1980's also saw America lose manufacturing jobs. This was attributed to a number of corporate takeovers that created widespread layoffs and the beginning of blue collar jobs being sent overseas. The 80's also saw America move from being the largest creditor nation to be the largest debtor nation. (Reagan disciple George Bush continued this trend)

The Reagan era also saw a nation of savers was encouraged to live beyond one's means(hmmm..sound familiar to W.) An explanation for this is that people could not save and had to overextend to survive. This is illustrated by the fact that the gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans grew dramatically. (again sound familiar)

While federal spending grew under Reagan, the bulk of that was on defense. Domestic spending was cut, particularly for infrastructure, environment, education and aid to cities. All of this contributing to the problems we face today.

As you can see Reaganomics was a failure. The scary thing is that Republican members of Congress are still espousing the tired old principles of Reaganomics. The same principles which has led to the corporate greed and Madoffs of the world to rip off hard working Americans. You see Republicans have continued to perpetuate the myth of the greatness of Reaganomics and refuse to acknowledge that it was a failure.

Next: What would Reagan do with "The War On Terror"