Reagan's Top Economist Says GOP Misled the U.S. and Tanked the Economy

Submitted by PRWatch Editors on

Reagan toastLost in the 24/7 news cycle has been a July 31, 2010 opinion-editorial by David Stockman, former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan. Stockman was closely tied to the development of the Reaganomics ideology, but now he points to massive failures by Republicans, while they were in power, to assure that financial accounts were balanced in government, international trade, on the ledgers of central banks and in the affairs of private businesses and households. Stockman excoriates modern Republicans, and particularly Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for claiming the party's current economic doctrines are rooted in traditional GOP financial philosophy. He points to a list of misguided Republican actions that have led the country to economic disaster: the runaway growth of public debt resulting "not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party's embrace ... of the insidious doctrine that deficits don't matter if they result from tax cuts," the neocon's sky-high inflation of the military budget, the "warfare state," the removal of traditional restrictions on leverage and speculation by the financial sector which led to a "vast, unproductive expansion of our financial sector," and the steady sending of jobs and production offshore. Stockman charges that Republicans have strayed so far from their ideological roots that they have "made a mockery of party ideals" and led the country into adopting policies that crippled the economy.

Main Source: 
MarketWatch, August 10, 2010
Topics: 
Right Wing
Banking
Economy
Politics

Comments

Citizen69 replied on

Its about time someone from the great Regans circle came right out and said it. These "New Republicans" will not be happy till we're the third world nation.

James Watt replied on

Criminal:

* Iran-Contra treason.
* Lied about it.
* Likely encouraged Iran to keep US Embassy hostages until he was into office.

Fiscal:

* Supply-side economics.
* National debt tripled.
* $12 billion trade surplus --> $100+ billion trade deficit.
* Deregulated savings and loans, precipitated huge economic crisis.
* Tax raiser.
* Taxed the poor, cut taxes for the rich.
* SDI "Star Wars" boondoggle.
* Military spending increased to match imaginary spending in USSR.
* Deregulation caused oil bust.
* Broke air traffic control union.

Social:

* Gutted social welfare.
* Dismantled the mental healthcare system.
* Release of mental patients without recourse, homeless population up.
* Ignored AIDS crisis.
* Abstinence-only sex education.
* Strengthened ATF, banned automatic weapons, blamed Democrats for it.
* Privatized the prison industry and made incarceration a profitable industry.
* Increased spending for War on Drugs.
* National drinking age of 21.
* Underfunded NEA.
* EPA Superfund grants manipulated to help Republicans in local elections.
* Deregulated kids' tv, initiated 22 minute toy ads.
* Killed energy programs.
* Crack in the ghettos. (? Due to support for Contras and Noriega?)

Foreign:

* Wars all over Central America, incl Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras.
* Promoted Iran-Iraq war.
* Sent Marines into Beirut, abandoned mission after terrorist bombing.
* Broke detente with USSR until Gorbachev personally made things better.
* Backed Contras in drug running schemes.
* Supported right-wing dictators and movements everywhere, including:
* Apartheid regime in SA.
* Marcos regime in Phillipines.
* Saddam Hussein and Baathist regime in Iraq, even after Kurds gassed.
* Taliban in Afghanistan.
* Manuel Noriega in Panama.
* Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

Concepts:

* Welfare queens.
* Trees cause pollution.
* Ketchup as a vegetable.

Appointments:

* 30+ convicted appointees.
* Ed Meese at Justice, porn freak.
* James Watt at Interior, idiot, corrupt. (believed Christ would return after last tree died on earth)
* William Casey at CIA, religious nut, strikes into Uzbekistan. (? Uzb part of USSR, maybe mean Afghanistan?)
* HUD a corrupt mess in general.
* Politicised CIA.
* Robert Bork to SCOTUS (failed), segregationist and asshole.
* Antonin Scalia, same but he got in.

Personal:

* Unfit to serve due to Alzheimer's disease by term's end.
* Horrible excuse for a human being in general.
* McCarthyite.
* Backed Moral Majority.
* Pardoned Robert Walker, who went on to kill his wife.
* Started presidential campaign at racist murder crime scene in Philadelphia, MS.
* Laid wreath and made speech at SS cemetery in Germany.
* Vietnam War a "noble cause."
* Helped start right-wing noise machine, by promoting myth of liberal media and destroying Fairness Doctrine
* Hated sex, made Ron Jr. feel like a sissy and quit ballet.
* Believed in astrology and used it to run government.
* Innovated "talking points" cue cards.
* "I don't recall" to weasel out of press questions.
* Confused movies with reality.
* "Outlawed Russia forever, started bombing in five minutes."

I love to refer to his fiscal record as 'cutting the deficit in triple'.

And when you mention Contra and Central American wars you should also mention the phrase 'death squads': They were Ronald Reagan's 'freedom fighters' (his words) who slaughtered and raped thousands of innocent peasants.

Afghanistan: He helped build, train and finance what later became the Taleban and Al Qaida.

Personal: When the Gipper's Alzheimer's became obvious Nancy got more and more involved in day-to-day government business. Her chief advisor: An astrologer.

Also, during the McCarthy era Ronald Reagan was ratting on untold numbers of his fellow actors, his FBI informer code name was Confidential Informant "T-10". As president of the Screen Actors Guild, mind you.

Completely gutting funding for college grant programs. reagan is almost entirely the reason US students now go into astronomical debt to attend college.

Conservatives have always hated college because education at it's very core is a 'liberal' idea; learning, knowledge, and spreading information is a 'liberal' concept. reagan used the conveniently partisan study that claimed 'college grads will make $1 million in their lifetime' and decided that this is a perfect excuse for the US government to no longer pay to educate people too much. this served two purposes, it insures the future of the republican party because more education means = democratic voting tendency, and because it handled billions and billions of dollars directly to private banks aka campaign contributors and friends who now created burdensome loans for students to put themselves into indentured servitude, creating lifelong wage-slaves and pseudo-wealthier consumers.

Anonymous replied on

Wow, biased much? I suppose the opposite of all this is much better? Balanced is the way to go. The opposite of this is just as bad. That means being a far left liberal is just as bad a far right conservative.

Anonymous replied on

The right is much worse than the left ever could be. In this country, left wing policies create a strong middle class. Right wing policies are destroying it.

Patrick Goetz replied on

The truth hurts. Or the truth has a well known liberal bias. In either case, balance is for scales. But I'm looking forward to your balanced view on Pol Pot.

Anonymous replied on

Criminal:

- Did not become involved with Iran contra (good for well, everyone)
- Did not encourage Iran to withhold hostages until his term (good for hostages and Iran)

Fiscal:

- Did not engage in supply side economics (Good for the consumer)
- Tripled the national surplus (Would be pretty stellar)
- $100 billion trade deficit > 12 billion trade surplus (Good for international economics)
- Made sure loans and savings stayed regulated (REALLY good for domestic economics, would avoid current economic crisis)
- Tax lowerer (Good for conservatives)
- Taxed the rich, cut taxes for the poor (Good for poor people)
- Never had the star wars debacle (Good for not wasting tons of money on useless shit)
- Never increased military spending to compete with the USSR (Good for the economic and political stability of both of our nations)
- Never deregulated oil industry to cause oil bust (Good for gas-purchasing consumers, which is almost every American)
- Negotiated with air traffic control union (Good for labor relations)

Social:
- Saved welfare (Good for poor people)
- Expanded healthcare system (Good for NOW)
- Made sure mental patients were kept in facilities and not released into the streets (Good for cities and city dwellers like me who are SURROUNDED by crazy homeless people)
- Dealt with the AIDs crisis (Good for everyone)
- Comprehensive sex education (Good for teen pregnancy rates and STD prevention)
- Strengthened ATF and banned automatic weapons and OWNED it (Good for integrity)
- Kept the prison system public (REALLY good for the incarcerated population and for those who have conflicts with the police)
- Decreased spending on the War on Drugs (Good for free thinking people)
- National drinking age kept at 18 (Good for young people)
- Over-funded NEA (Good for artists)
- Never manipulated EPA supergrants to help republicans win elections (Good for people who dislike fraud)
- Kept children's TV regulated (Good for parents who want their kids to learn)
- Saved energy programs (Good for the environment and the economy)
- No crack in the ghettos (Good for everyone, but especially poor minorities)

Foreign

- No wars in Central America (Good for foreign policy)
- Promoted peace solution for Iran and Iraq (Good for foreign policy)
- Never sent Marines into Beruit (Debatable)
- Upheld detente with USSR, allowing Gorbachev time to make things better (Good for stability of USSR's government, and foreign relations)
- Hunted down contras and stopped their drug running schemes (Good for anti-drug crowd/ foreign relations)
- Did not support right wing dictators (Good for free thinking people)

Concepts

- People on welfare need it (truer than Americans think)
- Trees don't cause pollution (true)
- Ketchup is not a vegetable (Also true)

Appointments

- No convicted appointees (Good for people who don't want convicts in the government)
- That nullifies the appointments...
- HUD was not a complete mess (Good for poor people)
- Made sure the CIA acted without alternate motives (Good for liberty)

Personal

- Resigned when alzheimer's cropped up (Good for integrity/ health)
- Was a great human being (Well, that's obviously interpretation)
- NOT a Mccarthyite (Good for liberty)
- Opposed moral majority (Good for people who don't like parental advisory stickers)
- Did not pardon Robert Walker (Good for Robert Walker's still living wife)
- Started presidential campaign in a hospital where someone was giving birth on the exact opposite point of the globe from Philadelphia MS (Good?)
- Did not lay a wreath or even attend an SS ceremony in Germany (Good for everyone)
- Opposed Vietnam (Good for free thinking individuals)
- Made sure right wing noise machine never gained ground (Good for intellectuals in BOTH parties)
- Loved sex, helped his son come out without pressure (Good for gay community and kinky people)
- Thought astrology was stupid and never gave it merit (Good for rational, free thinking individuals)
- Never developed talking points (Good for debate process)
- Answered questions directly (Good for everyone)
- Had a clear grasp on reality (Good for everyone)
- Friendly towards Russia (Good for foreign relations)

So, this is pretty overwhelmingly positive when you look at the opposite, don't you think? This Bizzaro Reagan would have gotten my vote in a heartbeat!

Instead, 30 years later, we have a collapsed, crime-ridden Russia, a shitty economy, we're still debating healthcare, Latin America has been recovering from the toxic-shock of Cold War for two decades, taxes are higher on poor people, there's less jobs to go around, there's more religious zealots, the conservative party no longer represents its true constituency and politicians debate in sound-bites to get their point across.

All this crap started with Reagan's awful excuse for a presidency.

Anonymous replied on

where are your sources for all these claims?

Anonymous replied on

I can attest that everything that this guy said is true and was a part of evening news. I can remember Peter Jennings and Dan Rather talking about every one of the points here and I do recall their predictions for the harm that would come from it. Their predictions are true.

Anonymous replied on

I was in college during those years. He describes them accurately.

Anonymous replied on

College - the institution where 99% of the professors are leftists using their teaching podium as a platform to indoctrinate the young and naive into the very thought processes you have so eloquently displayed...enough said.

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