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- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!menudo.uh.edu!sugar!tghost!unkaphaed!popec
- From: popec@unkaphaed.gbdata.com (William C. Barwell)
- Newsgroups: alt.fan.dan-quayle
- Subject: Re: the real Reagan record
- Message-ID: <kmZeuB2w165w@unkaphaed.gbdata.com>
- Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 03:02:19 GMT
- References: <D2150056.iq447c@erics.infoserv.com>
- Organization: Unka Phaed's UUCP Thingy, Houston, TX
- Lines: 77
-
- erics@infoserv.com (Eric S. Smith) writes:
-
- >
- > <DURRETT@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> writes:
- >
- > > From 1977-1980, inclusive,
- > > Jimmy Carter was in office! At the very least, I would think we would
- > > agree that Carter had a different philosophy in this regard than Reagan.
- > > This is very likely a good example of lying with statistics. What we
- > > really need to address the issue properly is the same statistic for the
- > > period 1982-19<latest available>.
- >
- > I doubt that one year of the Carter administration made any difference
- > in terms of something like average family income over the '80s, if that's
- > what you're trying to say.
- >
- > [...]
- > > My suspicion
- > > is that the perceived failure(whether real or not) of so-called
- > > trickle-down economics is due largely to the fact that we financed it
- > > by running up the debt, thus sucking much of the money which should
- > > have financed investment in productive jobs at low overhead(i.e., more
- > > goods/jobs/services per dollar invested) into $600 toilet seats,
- > > (what I perceive to be needless) research into SDI, and other weapons
- > > development. It was a wasted opportunity, and now we will pay for it.
- > > When Reagan took office, the US debt was (just) under $1T, and increasing
- > > at a rate of 5-10%/year. Now it's $4T, and increasing at 10%/year. I
- > > don't know by how much the GNP grew, but I suspect it wasn't 300%.
- >
- > I think you are entirely correct.
- >
- > > What clearly happened was that the ReaganBush administrations didn't
- > > believe in supply-side economics, because if they did, they didn't
- > > practice it. It's kind of like believing in safe sex, but dying of AIDS
- > > because you couldn't be bothered to use a condom.
- >
- > I think Reagan believed in trickle-down economic (I'm not sure Bush
- > believed in *anything*), and certainly Reagan's economic advisors did,
- > until it was clear that it was a failure. The problem was that in practice
- > it just didn't work. Politically, they were unable to make spending
- > cuts in entitlement programs because too many people depend on them,
- > and they were unwilling to make cuts elsewhere like the defense budget,
- > because Reagan had promised a strong defense. It was incredibly naive
- > to believe that Reagan could deliver his triad of campaign promises:
- > increase defense spending, cut taxes AND balance the budget. Yet many
- > people believed what they wanted to hear.
- >
- > > *We* may get lucky,
- > > though. We might be able to bail ourselves out of it. But I'm not
- > > holding my breath.
- >
- > Oh, things aren't that bad. It's possible to recover from this situation,
- > but anyone who expects everything to be fixed in four years will be
- > disappointed.
- >
- >
- > -----
- > Eric Smith
- > erics@infoserv.com
- > CI$: 70262,3610
- >
- >
-
-
- No quite the opposite, Reagan believed in Reaganomics, David Stockman did
- not. Some of Reagan's people did, some did not.
- Read Stockman's book "the Triumph Of Politics" for details. An amazing
- book. Tells how Reaganomics failed and why. It is must reading.
- Even if it sometimes lies by ommision. (For instance, it leaves out all
- mention of 'the New Federalism', even when germane to the topic.0
-
- Pope Charles.
-
- --
- popec@unkaphaed.gbdata.com (William C. Barwell)
- Unka Phaed's UUCP Thingy, Houston, TX, (713) 943-2728
- 1200/2400/9600/14400 v.32bis/v.42bis
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