From: bis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Bis)
Subject: Re: Lets not blame Reagan for everything....
Organization: Bis Information Services
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 17:17:11 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.220028.2732@fid.morgan.com> joec@fid.morgan.com (Joe Collins) writes:
>In article <92254.152550MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> Norman St. John Polevaulter <MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>In article <1685EB8C1.MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu>, MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu
>>(Michael Edelman) says:
>>>Speaking of clueless! That's the centerpiece of the revisionist 80s
>>>history, isn't it? Reagan presided over the longest peacetime economic
>>>boom in the nation's history-> ergo we will assert it didn't really exist.
>>
>>"Well, if you'd let me write $300 billion in hot checks every year,
>> I could give you the illusion of prosperity too!"
>>   -- Lloyd Bentsen, '88 vice-presidential debate.
>>
>>We'll be paying for Reagan's alleged boom for the rest of our lives, thank you.
>
>Do some homework.....It was the longest peacetime economic boom
>in our history.

Yeah, just like the then-famous and now-notorious "Massachusetts
Miracle", right?  No, there never was any *real* boom, it was just an
illusion caused by borrowing outrageous amounts of money.  If you
payed attention to what you read, you'd see that this was Bentsen's
point.

>                If we wish to blame anyone for:
>1-Our high debt- blame ourselves for NOT kicking the tax/spend bums out of 
>                 the Democratic Congress

Nice try, but Reagan *cut* taxes in his first term and the debt
ballooned, so obviously there is no correlation.  Anyway, how can
taxing and spending incur a debt?  Think about it!  If you spend what
you tax, you don't have to borrow anything.  On the other hand, if you
cut taxes and increase spending, you have to borrow plenty, which is
what Ronnie did.

>2-Our recession- recessions/expansions are part of the natural cycle. This
>                 one is more difficult because we all splurged in the 1980s.

Exactly--we all splurged in the 80s, *especially* the federal
government!  And Reagan's policies made it easier for people like
Keating to splurge all they wanted.  Now we're paying for it.

Second, haven't you noticed anything bizarre about this "recession"?
Don't be so sure it's a regular part of the business cycle (which, if
I recall correctly, Reagan claimed no longer existed)--it certainly
doesn't *act* like one.  More likely, this is a slidedown from the
illusion of the 80s to the *real* economic situation, which was
ignored entirely under Reagan's administration.  Don't hold your
breath for a dramatic recovery.  If, as I suspect, this is a
depression and not a recession, and that this is a new economic
situation and not part of the business cycle, don't expect Slick
Willie to fix it.  Maybe having a president and Congress from the same
party will help somewhat, but I'm not expecting too much.

>3-The end of the Cold War - Thank you Ron. My son will grow up in a SAFER world

Communism doomed itself, and revisionists give Reagan the credit.
Splendid.  Furthermore, I'm not going to get into an extensive
discussion of international relations theory, but if you think the end
of the Cold War has made the world safer, you're an idealist like that
Fukeyama idiot.  The world was safer during the *peace* and
*stability* of the Cold War than it is now.

>4-The advance of Democracy - Thank you Ron.

The advance of jingoism - Thank you Ron.

>                  How about the Cuban Missle crisis, where we almost went
>to war with Soviets?

The Cuban Missile Crisis only served to show just how stable the Cold
War was.  The nuclear deterrent was SO strong that the Soviets backed
down even though it meant an MONUMENTAL political defeat.

>How about the broad decline in the power of unions, after Reagan fired the
>air traffic controllers back early in his first administration?

Yeah, how about it?  We're paying for it now.