ShaklesOfBigGov
Restore the Republic
Those who praise Ronald Reagan as a good president rarely, if ever mention his numerous (and very serious) failures. Rarely do we hear from them any mention of immigration AMNESTY, Briggs Inititative, Iran-Contra, the Lebanon Marine barracks fiasco, or the worst job growth and GDP growths since 1950.
To boot, the combination of significant tax cuts and a massive increase in Cold War related defense spending 91981-1988) resulted in large budget deficits, an expansion in the U.S. trade deficit, as well as the stock market crash of 1987, while also contributing to the Savings and Loan crisis. The ultimate cost of the Savings and Loan crisis is estimated to have totaled around $150 billion, about $125 billion of which was consequently and directly subsidized by the U.S. government. John Kenneth Galbraith called it "the largest and costliest venture in public misfeasance, malfeasance and larceny of all time."
In order to cover new federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion, and the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation. Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.
Trickle-Down Economics: Four Reasons Why It Just Doesn't Work | United for a Fair Economy
FDIC: The S&L Crisis: A Chrono-Bibliography
John Kenneth Galbraith, The Culture of Contentment. (Houghton Mifflin, 1992).
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/r...ebt_histo4.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004Jun8.html
Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio: History as Told through the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum: Lou Cannon: 9781891620843: Amazon.com: Books (see page 128)
Did Reagan's economic choices result in a downgrade of the United States' credit rating? Was there ever a discussion of multiple extended federal unemployment extensions that only results in driving the debt further while creating no real government revenue? Without the cost of those added extensions, this President began his legacy by adding $820 Billion to our debt through a stimulus bill. Does that mean we have forgotten those billions spent on: government incentives towards a Chevy Volt that failed to meet production goals, Solyndra ($528 Million bailout) ... Nevada Geothermal ($98 Million) .. Brightsource Energy ($1.4 Billion) .. First Solar ($2.1 Billion) ... then there is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at over $153 Billion. These few figures, as I'm sure there is more, puts in perspective the comparison of national debt that President Reagan added.