Reaganomics
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Reaganomics (a portmanteau of Reagan and economics attributed to Paul Harvey[1]) refers to the economic policies promoted by United States PresidentRonald Reagan during the 1980s. The four pillars of Reagan’s economic policy were to:[2]
- reduce the growth of government spending,
- reduce income and capital gains marginal tax rates,
- reduce government regulation of the economy,
- control the money supply to reduce inflation.
It certainly looks like Reaganomics MUST be defined as the complete set of four items – the four pillars. Ignoring any one of the pillars during the application of Reaganomics seems like a candidate for disaster. So, as a composite, one should describe Reaganomics as: (1) reduce the growth of government spending AND (2) reduce income and capital gains marginal tax rates AND (3) reduce government regulation of the economy AND (4) control the money supply to reduce inflation.
It appears that it could be extremely unwise to pick and choose a subset of the four pillars, in an attempt to manage a major country’s economy.
It could be damaging or even kill an economy if those four steps are not treated as a transaction. If any step in the transaction fails, the transaction should be rolled back. Had that been done, Regan and the rest of the neocons, likely, would not have successfully crashed America’s economy. But then again, dealing honestly with those four steps would have been “out of character” for the neocons.
Throughout the rein of the neocons(starting in the 80s), a subset of Reaganomics appears to be just what was executed. The neocons, starting in the 80’s seems to have had major difficulties with pillar # 1. The way the neocons handled pillar # 1 seems to be a defining characteristic of the neocons. And they differed from the Centrist Republicans, the Conservative Republicans, Liberal Democrats and Centrists Democrats.
The neocons were in a class by themselves in the category of GROWTH in spending of America’s hard-earned dollars. The below graph shows how America’s spending grew or declined during the administration of many of its Presidents. Spending, compared to earnings, ought to show the proper relationship. There should be some acknowledgement that spending ought to be aware of earnings.
Note where the graph line is colored red and look at the administrations representing that red color. Where the graph line is colored red, Reaganomics pillar # 1 is being stressed.
Note Bill Clinton’s fight to turn the “red line” to a “black line”. Notice what the neocons did to the color of the line after impeaching Bill Clinton for failing to tell the truth about improper touching.
The below graph shows how America’s administrations managed America’s resources:
National Debt Graph: Bush Goes for WWII Stimulus
Note the run-up in debt starting in 1942. That’s equivalent to $10 trillion today. That pulled the economy out of the great depression and into high gear to win World War II.
One might need to be a WITCH DOCTOR versed in VOODOO in order to make Reaganomics work. The latter-day neocons did not prove to be too adept at doing much of anything and should have been the last ones on earth to “go for broke” with what has been called “VOODOO ECONOMICS”.
