On this day: U.S. President Ronald Reagan Was Born le 6 Février 1911
Louis la Vache sometimes puts aside posts about France to mark anniversaries of people Louis admires, such as Winston Churchill and Dietrich Bonhöffer. On this day, le 6 février 1911, another of Louis' heroes was born: Ronald Wilson Reagan.
Ronald Wilson Reagan became le XLème Président des États-Unis (1981–89). He is noted for his conservative Republicanism, his fervent anticommunism, and his appealing personal style, characterized by a jaunty affability and folksy charm. The only movie actor ever to become president, he had a remarkable skill as an orator that earned him the title “the Great Communicator.” His policies, along with those of Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul, brought about the demise of Soviet communism. His small-government conservatism and tax cuts unleashed an economic boom that has lasted, with only two small dips, for twenty-five years.
Louis has only a limited amount of time today for posting, so he will end this post about Reagan at this point and will give you a more extensive history of this great man later. In the meantime, Louis encourages you to see his earlier post (linked above) on the anniversary of President Reagan's death.
posted by Louis la Vache at 2/06/2006 05:16:00 PM
2 Comments:
Louis, come on, an "economic boom"?!!
During Reagan's 8 years in the White House, the total federal deficit grew from $900 billion to $3 trillion and there was a continuous decline in long-term investment, which is the only thing that could have made his "trickle-down" economics work. In 1981 the Federal Reserve had to raise interest rates to counteract the inflation caused by tax cuts. In 1982 unemployment in the US went above 10% for the first time since the Depression. Also during Reagan's presidency, the US went from being the world's biggest creditor nation to being the biggest debtor and tripled its national debt.
Reagan was a maverick and his economic policies failed completely.
I am not a democrat, by the way. I am against any politician that messes up the economy.
On the surface of it, most of what you wrote is correct. Reagan made some tough calls, but he did it for a reason, and he did it counter to standard political advice. He took some short term hits to achieve longer-term goals, and took the political heat for it.
A far better explanation for those reasons is given by Peter Robinson in "How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life." After the initial rate surge, the Federal Reserved began dropping the rates. Inflation was checked. In any case, the rates were lower than during the Carter years where they reached a high of 22%.
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