Quote:
Originally Posted by sortie
I always assumed that the Berlin wall came down after the Soviet Union could no
longer afford to maintain the situation. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan coupled
with the US grain embargo(imposed by Jimmy Carter) both starved and financially ruined
the Soviet Union until it finally collapsed and thus ending the cold war.
But hey, if you'd like to credit Reagan's "Evil Empire speech" for doing all that then....ok.
Oh yeah, Regan deregulated the stock market and banking and the market
has been crashing every few years since. Can you say "World financial crisis" with
a straight face while applauding(Regan) probably the dumbest fucking president to ever
live besides Bush #2?
Bush #1 followed Regan and almost immediately did the unprecedented move of
extending unemployment benefits to double it's length and even extended it again
because of massive unemployment.
Oh how quick a Republican can forget.
What a joke. |
Jesus, thats the best liberal spin I have have ever heard
During Jimmy Carter's last year in office (1980), inflation averaged 12.5%, compared to 4.4% during Reagan's last year in office (1988). Over those eight years, the unemployment rate declined from 7.5% to 5.3%, hitting highs of 9.7% (1982) and 9.6% (1983) and averaging 7.5% during Reagan's administration.
During Reagan's presidency, federal income tax rates were lowered significantly with the signing of the bipartisan Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth recovered strongly after the 1982 recession and grew during his eight years in office at an annual rate of 3.85% per year. Unemployment peaked at 10.8% percent in December 1982?higher than any time since the Great Depression?then dropped during the rest of Reagan's presidency. Eighteen million new jobs were created, while inflation significantly decreased. The net effect of all Reagan-era tax bills was a 1% decrease in government revenues when compared to Treasury Department revenue estimates from the Administration's first post-enactment January budgets. However, federal Income Tax receipts almost doubled from 1980 to 1989, rising from $308.7Bn to $549.0Bn.
During the Reagan Administration, federal receipts grew at an average rate of 8.2% (2.5% attributed to higher Social Security receipts), and federal outlays grew at an annual rate of 7.1%.
Reagan also revised the tax code with the bipartisan Tax Reform Act of 1986.
Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986
Too bad no one has enforced that
End of the cold war
By the early 1980s, the USSR had built up a military arsenal and army surpassing that of the United States. Previously, the U.S. had relied on the qualitative superiority of its weapons to essentially frighten the Soviets, but the gap had been narrowed. After President Reagan's military buildup, the Soviet Union did not further dramatically build up its military;the enormous military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture and inefficient planned manufacturing, were a heavy burden for the Soviet economy. At the same time, the Reagan Administration persuaded Saudi Arabia to increase oil production, which resulted in a drop of oil prices in 1985 to one-third of the previous level; oil was the main source of Soviet export revenues. These factors gradually brought the Soviet economy to a stagnant state during Gorbachev's tenure
We havn't had a good leader since