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The First 100 Days: Reagan Pushed His Agenda of Tax Cuts and Less Government

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If Carter were to beat Reagan, America would have mirrored the average European nation today.
10 to 15% unemployment was viewed as normal.
.5 to 1.5% GDP growth would be considered boom times
Government meddling of healthcare
Government regulations stifling business like a straight-jacket
unprecedented levels of debt.
.... Wait thats what we have today... Oh thats right, Obama is Jimmy Carter's 2nd term.. So far he gave us European style economic crushing legislation, so we shouldn't be surprised that our economy mirrors that of a typical European country.

Corey of FL 3:32PM August 18, 2011

As Governor, Reagan cut numbers of inspectors on state projects. Men died when improperly supported trenches caved in on them. A young prisoner in a huge prison died because of Gov. Reagan's cuts. He was ordered to change a big glass bottle on a water cooler. The bottle broke. Pieces of glass cut an artery and he bled to death. There were no guards nearby and because of Reagan he died. Some of the freeway sections that collapsed in earthquakes were said to have weak concrete due to corruption not caught by inspectors. Gov. R. closed a lot of public health centers. His pals built their own and profited when they got Medicare and MediCal patients. The Far Right loved Reagan but he hurt a lot of people. I also helped recall him when his cuts to health care made a friend's boy wait for therapy. Time passed and the boy had to use a wheelchair instead of having a therapist exercise his body to be strong. She came to me crying, as time passed and Reagan's cuts damaged her boy's health and life.

aura dawn veirs of CA 2:50AM November 06, 2009

As Governor, Reagan was automatically a Regent of California's tax-constructed and operated Land Grant Colleges. He and other Regents, preferring church schools, imposed tuition for the first time. His banker pals made high interest student loans. We lack the skilled professionals who never attended because of him. Our recall failed because many notaries refused to notarize petitions free or charged up to $10 a page. Many of my carriers threw filled petitions away, being far from other notaries or not bothering to call me. Some county clerks closed offices to prevent petitions from being presented on time. Back then, every signature had to have the precinct number. Many didn't know it. At the last moment, we took thousands of petitions to county courthouses and filled in the numbers, but it was too late. A student borrowed my notes. His Masters dissertation led to making the precinct number not needed anymore. Reagan began privatizing and de-regulating. He did so much damage, it's impossible to say how horrific it was. Families with homes in foreclosure now are feeling effects of what that man did as governor & president, for his banker and corporate funders.

aura dawn veirs of CA 2:37AM November 06, 2009

FDR & Stalin were on friendly terms as WWII allies. FDR wanted peaceful coexistence. But Truman had anti-Red advisers & listened to them. He announced the Truman Doctrine, to "contain Communism." At the end of WWII., when Japan was already negotiating for peace, the Red Army obeyed the Yalta agreement to the letter and began to cross the Manchuria border to take Japan from its West. To prevent the USSR from having any say in post war Japan, Truman nuked two Japanese cities. That horrible act destroyed America's former good reputation. It opened the way for all phases of the Cold War. By the time Gorby took over, discipline maintained by Stalin was gone and religious advisers were influencing USSR policy--shifting it to capitalism. I haven't searched yet, but i think I''ll find Catholic or Orthodox Catholic advisers very close to those leading the "glasnost" movement. Reagan & the pope were on the cover of "Time," boasting they destroyed the USSR. it fell into the hands of the Russian Mafia who bought cheaply the vast amount of assets created by the planned economy. Americans must search to find information that is not revisionist about our former WWII ally.

auradawn veirs of CA 8:33PM September 19, 2009

On the East side of the Wall, goods were made in the nonprofit mode of communist socialism. They were much cheaper to residents living on that side. But on the West side were capitalists, dog-eat-dog, profiteers. Before the Wall went up, they surged to E. Berlin stores, stripped the shelves and rushed back to sell them at profit on the West side. Naturally, it was their greedy buy-up-all-this-cheap-stuff that CREATED SHORTAGES. That gave Cold War activists the excuse to say "Communism doesn't work. See, they can't provide consumer goods." In the same way, "Solidarity" was a fake Labor union. Led by Catholic Walesa, it was particularly strong at docks and distribution points. By calling strikes, it also CREATED SHORTAGES & that led to the same lie that "Communism doesn't work." Americans are still paying too much for daily needs like public utilities, because Congress let investors buy oil, coal, and mineral deposits, water sources, etc. in the Robber Baron Era. Private ownership is good for little bitty farms, or tiny shops, but a planned system, with most in public ownership is best.

auradawn veirs of CA 8:18PM September 19, 2009

"Reagan did not cause the fall of Russia and the end of the Cold War; poverty, corruption, and even MTV did because younger generations did not want to have anything to do with it. It was a thirst for freedom that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, not Reagn screaming 'tear down this wall!'"
Where do people get their history these days? Put the hookah down, friend, because MTV wasn't even available in the Soviet sphere until it fell. Poverty helped kill the USSR because they spent all of their money trying to keep up with the U.S. militarily - which they couldn't, because our economy allowed us to buy both guns AND butter. Gorbachev facilitated that "thirst for freedom" with Glasnost in 1988, when he realized that the USSR could not compete with a U.S. that was playing by Reagan's rules, and that a measure of freedom was necessary to jump-start their state-run economy. He didn't fully appreciate the tiger he had by the tail.
Reagan also cut the top tax rates by 150%, and somehow increased tax revenues, contrary to the media's consistent portraint. Did he spend too much? Yes, but not without the full advice and consent of Tip O'Neill and the Democratic House, and one of the things they bought was the utter defeat of the Soviets.

INTJ of NC 11:39AM May 28, 2009

I marvel at hyper-partisans who cannot even admit when their adversaries were successful.
I can grudgingly recognize that FDR kept the country from going Communist and successfully navigated us through WW2. Truman integrated the military and had the guts to fire McArthur when it was the unpopular - but right - thing to do. Kennedy got the top marginal rate reduced from a confiscatory 91%, conducted the Berlin Airlift and opposed Russian missiles in Cuba. Johnson (with considerable aid from Republicans) passed the Civil Rights Act. Clinton (also with considerable aid from Republicans) balanced the budget for the first time in 30 years. I don't support their overall body of work, but I respect what they accomplished.
If your ideology requires you to be so blind that you can ignore what Reagan accomplished, then you are too ignorant to discuss politics at all. In December 1980, we had 15% 30-year interest rates and 12.5% inflation. The top marginal tax rate was still at 70%. The Soviet Union - contrary to Ford's campaign assertion - dominated Eastern Europe, threatening nuclear war, and denying freedom to hundreds of millions. By December 1992, just before Clinton took over from Reagan's steward and successor, the mortgage rate was 8.2%, inflation was at 2.9%, the top marginal rate was 31% (but tax revenues were up, not down!), and the Soviet Union no longer existed.
The ignorant may believe what they wish - and convey it through profanity-laden tirades, to boot - but those are not coincidences.

INTJ of NC 11:16AM May 28, 2009

I see many talk about Reagan and the Cold War and the economy and yadda yadda. What he did was create great debt (and the trend contiues today), allow SUpply-SIde economics to become the staple of how we do business (constantly creating artificial economic bubbles that burst and leave us sinking), and help groups such as Al Quaida gain power in order to fight communists. I hate to tell you but Reagan did not cause the fall of Russia and the end of the Cold War; poverty, corruption, and even MTV did because younger generations did not want to have anything to do with it. It was a thirst for freedom that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, not Reagn screaming "tear down this wall!" Dude was highly, HIGHLY overrated as president. Not to mention the "War on Drugs" campaign that was a farce as it has been proven over and over that the Iran-Contra scandal, support of terrorists opposing Russia in the Middle East (same ones who came back later and blew us up mutiple times), and support of terrorists in South America were all supported by the crack explosion of the 80's. Dude was just a better actor than we gave him credit for.

T. Kels of TX 6:38PM April 28, 2009

Reagan was the dirtiest, most deceitful peace of sh** to stroll the ?White House. He started the economic attitude we have today...............bailout money paying millions in bonuses to execs. He precipitated receession from back in the 80's. If I could resserect him, just to shoot his a** dead again & pi** on his grave, I would!

Sleek Geek of WI 1:04AM April 16, 2009