Talk:History of the United States (1980–1991)

message: It is a point of doctrine in the Democratic party that every Republican president is the harbinger of another Great Depression. See e.g. recent talking points from the Kerry campaign, Gore campaign speeches of 2000, Ann Richards's convention speech of 1992. The comparison between, say, the current unemployment rate of 5.4% and the depression rate of 25% is totally misleading, and such political propaganda does not belong in a Wikipedia article. Gazpacho 02:04, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: "most severe recession since the Great Depression"

message: The "Changing demographics and the growth of the Sun Belt" section contains various references to trends and events which occured after 1988, the closing year this article is supposed to represent. I would move to the post-1988 article topics such as
* gentrification and renewal in inner cities, a topic more apropos to the 1990s. The crack cocaine epidemic of the late 1980s for instance was a severe blow to crime, which did not turn until poverty, investment, population, and other indicators also did so in the  mid-1990s in most major cities. The riots in Los Angeles and in Crown Heights are often cited symbolically, if not statistically, as the nadir of those cities' development. While some improvements that postdate those events had their root in decisions that predate them, e.g. the Wilson/Kelling broken windows thesis was published in 1982, it remains that their full implementation came after this period, e.g. Bratton was not appointed until 1990 by Dinkins. Other signatures of urban redevelopment like the development of Camden Yards also postdate this era.
* political developments in the Sunbelt. Pete Wilson, generally the scapegoat for Republican unpopularity among California minorities, did not become so until his 1994 reelection campaign; in 1988 he was merely Cranston's unremarkably moderate Republican counterpart. Indeed, political observations of the Sunbelt described the Bush's election as evidence of a GOP "lock" on the Electoral College. The theory of the lock in fact may deserve an article of its own, but its calculation always began with California-- and again the reversal of the party allegiance of the Pacific states in presidential elections did not occur until well after the period in question ended.
Also, some details I think could be sent to Reaganomics and Reagan Administration, and we can add a few from elsewhere. Since there is no specialized article for them, we also ought to mention health and science events, such as the space shuttle (the Challenger accident being particularly ntoable for its cultural impact on the school-aged generation) and AIDS, intellectual trends such as the dramatic expansion of deconstruction, and possibly notable cultural events such as the yuppie phenomenon or the rise of video games.
-choster 23:41, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Post-1988 commentary

message: I removed the line about the 80's recovery being stimulated by defense spending as opposed to domestic spending in contrast to the Great Society. This is just not true when you take the spending in the context of the overall economy. This site contains historical budget data. If you look at the period fiscal years 1962 - 1969, military spending is never lower than 7.4 per cent. of gross domestic product and goes as high as 9.3 per cent. Domestic discretionary spending during that period ranged from 2.5 to 3.6 per cent. of GDP. On the other hand, in the period from fiscal 1981 to 1989, defense spending ranged from 5.6% to 6.2% of GDP: always lower than the 60's levels. Domestic spending (discretionary only) started at 4.5% and dropped to 3.6% by decade's end. There's no way that defense spending, alone, can be considered the sole fiscal element of the 1982-1988 economic expansion. Ellsworth 21:34, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Recovery - source of economic stimulus.

message: This article seems to be focused on Reagan and his administration only. Even the dates line up with his presidency (who decides on the delineation?) The article needs major expansion. I know more happened in the 1980s in the U.S. than just Reagan and his policies. Civil Engineer III 12:19, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Reaganism

message: The move of this content from :History of the United States (1980–1991) is incorrect and a corruption of the pattern of US articles.  These articles cover periods of US history by important dates, not by decade or any other mechanical measure.  The important date here is 1991: the end of the Sovient Union and the Cold War. A cutoff of 1989 has no significance whatever.  Hmains (talk) 05:30, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: unjustified move

message: There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:History of the United States (1776–89) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you.  —RMCD bot 01:00, 2 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move discussion in progress