I was unemployed, my company just closing its doors. I was watching Reagan speech on television. He said "Unemployment is not that bad. Look at all the job listings in the newspaper." I became a leftist at that very moment.
In the film "Raising Arizona", the character played by Nicohlas Cage, Hy, said "Everything was going pretty good until that somabitch Reagan got elected......"
Senator Patrick Moynihan, discussing how the national debt and budget deficit exploded under the Reagan administration, stating "the US borrowed $50 billion and threw a party." He didn't mention that a good chunk of the funds was stolen from Social Security and other entitlements.
During the Iran Contra crisis, the administration was up to its eyeballs in illegal activities and coverups. Reagan would probably been impeached if he wasn't at the end of his second term and so out of it mentally, he could not understand the consequences.
So, if the only goodness we received from the Neocon revolution of Reagan was cheaper TVs, cheaper washing machines, and the loss of American jobs overseas, we could have done better without electing "The Great Communicator."
Thank you for the reply, Rachel. We should probably unpack how the Cold War ended, if we mean the thawing of USSR/US mutual belligerence. We learned after the breakup of the Soviet Union that their economy was in shambles. Even today the Russian GDP is approximately one fifth of the USA GDP. A big reason for the failure of the economy was the expenditures for the military and defense.
When Reagan came into office his administration continued the myth of the Soviet behemoth being an imminent threat to the US. This threat was the justification for a massive military buildup which greatly increased the Federal debt and deficit coupled with a huge tax reduction for the ultra-wealthy. The Soviets could not match the US expenditures and lost the arms race. The Reagan administration out spent the Soviets and led to the breakup of the USSR.
At what cost? Demise of the US fiscal structure and continuous pressure on the US social programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, scientific research, and educational investments, to mention a few.
Two facts I found interesting are learning that Gorbachev's monthly salary equates to $400 US and the missed opportunity between Reagan and Gorbachev to mutual dismantling of US and Russian nuclear weapons. Both expressed the desire, but Reagan caved during the last discussions.
Our second and WORSE Gilded Age. We are ALL being taken advantage of by the Billionaires who are attempting (and so far succeeding) to take over our country and the world. The billionaires are all in Cahoots with Trump because he is doing exactly what they want him to do to take advantage of all of us and take over our lives for their benefit and NOT ours! For more on how we got here and how bad it really is - and it is BAD and getting worse by the day "Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism" by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison (also a documentary) and "Burned By Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power are Ruining Our Lives and Planet" by Chuck Collins. One solution - We MUST elect politicians who will take them on and shut them down and make them pay........ (Newsom and Klobuchar and others have to get on board with TAXING THE RICH!)
Back when… when video players were new for home use, the better choice for quality was a thing called beta max. VHS won the war. Now it doesn’t matter really or does it? Just an old first example that taught me a lot about how stuff works.
This was a great piece. In addition, the Republicans used cultural lightning rod issues to distract us from seeing that they were taking all the benefits of the economy.
This is such an important review of history. I think the biggest challenge now is to reverse the thinking that was planted and nurtured for almost 50 years and now has become the accepted way of thinking about the economy and the social contract.
This, along with your poster on socialism vs. social democracy are so helpful. I can't help trying to figure out how to get Democrats on board with the idea of regulated capitlism, since Cheeto and his compatriots will endlessly vilify this as communism. I've been looking around for project 2029 and found 2, but they are just getting started and don't seem especially progresssive. It seems crucial to me to have your ideas and those of other progressives added to the platform in a way that doesn't sound elitist (you don't), doesn't talk down to voters, reaches the few persuadables, and perhaps genuinely fuels the growing progressive movement. Any one have any ideas on how to get this up the chain or is that just the wrong approach?
Dear Rachel. The facts - and truth - can be ugly.
A few indelible memories about the Reagan years.
I was unemployed, my company just closing its doors. I was watching Reagan speech on television. He said "Unemployment is not that bad. Look at all the job listings in the newspaper." I became a leftist at that very moment.
In the film "Raising Arizona", the character played by Nicohlas Cage, Hy, said "Everything was going pretty good until that somabitch Reagan got elected......"
Senator Patrick Moynihan, discussing how the national debt and budget deficit exploded under the Reagan administration, stating "the US borrowed $50 billion and threw a party." He didn't mention that a good chunk of the funds was stolen from Social Security and other entitlements.
During the Iran Contra crisis, the administration was up to its eyeballs in illegal activities and coverups. Reagan would probably been impeached if he wasn't at the end of his second term and so out of it mentally, he could not understand the consequences.
So, if the only goodness we received from the Neocon revolution of Reagan was cheaper TVs, cheaper washing machines, and the loss of American jobs overseas, we could have done better without electing "The Great Communicator."
Indeed!!! I’ll give him ending the Cold War though because he did that even though the far right pushed him to be a hardliner
Thank you for the reply, Rachel. We should probably unpack how the Cold War ended, if we mean the thawing of USSR/US mutual belligerence. We learned after the breakup of the Soviet Union that their economy was in shambles. Even today the Russian GDP is approximately one fifth of the USA GDP. A big reason for the failure of the economy was the expenditures for the military and defense.
When Reagan came into office his administration continued the myth of the Soviet behemoth being an imminent threat to the US. This threat was the justification for a massive military buildup which greatly increased the Federal debt and deficit coupled with a huge tax reduction for the ultra-wealthy. The Soviets could not match the US expenditures and lost the arms race. The Reagan administration out spent the Soviets and led to the breakup of the USSR.
At what cost? Demise of the US fiscal structure and continuous pressure on the US social programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, scientific research, and educational investments, to mention a few.
Two facts I found interesting are learning that Gorbachev's monthly salary equates to $400 US and the missed opportunity between Reagan and Gorbachev to mutual dismantling of US and Russian nuclear weapons. Both expressed the desire, but Reagan caved during the last discussions.
Our second and WORSE Gilded Age. We are ALL being taken advantage of by the Billionaires who are attempting (and so far succeeding) to take over our country and the world. The billionaires are all in Cahoots with Trump because he is doing exactly what they want him to do to take advantage of all of us and take over our lives for their benefit and NOT ours! For more on how we got here and how bad it really is - and it is BAD and getting worse by the day "Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism" by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison (also a documentary) and "Burned By Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power are Ruining Our Lives and Planet" by Chuck Collins. One solution - We MUST elect politicians who will take them on and shut them down and make them pay........ (Newsom and Klobuchar and others have to get on board with TAXING THE RICH!)
And Reagan created the Social security disaster that we are now beginning to experience. I wrote about this months ago to virtually no response. You can read it here:https://nhoffman.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/201510404?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fhome%3Futm_source%3Dmenu
Sure did!!!
Excellent explanation as always.
Thank you so much!! ❤️
We get bullied into these disasters. The smarter among us rarely prevail.Great article. thanks.
That’s been a hard lesson for me to learn 😢
Back when… when video players were new for home use, the better choice for quality was a thing called beta max. VHS won the war. Now it doesn’t matter really or does it? Just an old first example that taught me a lot about how stuff works.
This was a great piece. In addition, the Republicans used cultural lightning rod issues to distract us from seeing that they were taking all the benefits of the economy.
This is such an important review of history. I think the biggest challenge now is to reverse the thinking that was planted and nurtured for almost 50 years and now has become the accepted way of thinking about the economy and the social contract.
I still can’t believe people accepted taxing Social Security! We paid taxes on that money when we earned it.
Brilliance. Thank you!
Excellent Reaganomics 101 Gilded Age explainer.
On a related note: neoliberal oligarchs luv them some AI. AI is beginning to steal jobs, so perhaps AI should be paying income and payroll taxes.
Dear Rachel,
This, along with your poster on socialism vs. social democracy are so helpful. I can't help trying to figure out how to get Democrats on board with the idea of regulated capitlism, since Cheeto and his compatriots will endlessly vilify this as communism. I've been looking around for project 2029 and found 2, but they are just getting started and don't seem especially progresssive. It seems crucial to me to have your ideas and those of other progressives added to the platform in a way that doesn't sound elitist (you don't), doesn't talk down to voters, reaches the few persuadables, and perhaps genuinely fuels the growing progressive movement. Any one have any ideas on how to get this up the chain or is that just the wrong approach?