The last time it was this hot in Columbia, Reagan was president https://t.co/XBELqUsTqm
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) February 24, 2017
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One question: Can he be president again? Please?
bradwarthen.com
All The News That Gives You Fits
Troubling polling news: Less than 30% of Republicans believe that legal immigrants should be able to freely criticize the president:
https://twitter.com/DavMicRot/status/835275637493547013
Ronald Reagan was a good salesman but very bad for the country. His legend lives on despite what his era set about. He almost tripled the national debt from $906 B to $2.6 T (286%). His claim was that voodoo economics would shrink the deficit. It went from $78B to $256B. His economic growth was done on a credit card, public and private. He oversaw the demise of the work ethic (making money by hook or crook was rampant and encouraged). He led the demise of a sense of community in our country – “greed is good;” mega-mergers and corporate takeovers exploded. The increased concentration of wealth did not spur business startups but mainly buying other companies, selling out their workforces and inflating stock prices while the Fed lowered interest rates to combat deflation and job losses. Gas and energy guzzling resumed with OPEC’s back broken by previously-set conservation measures. Respect for law and rules was replaced by the “just don’t get caught” mentality.
He was a master of feel-good politics – even had the labor department start counting military jobs in the workforce numbers which artificially lowered the bottom line unemployment rate by 1/2 percent in one month. Our rampant materialistic milieu began in earnest as our culture was propelled toward a “you are what you own” mentality. Many of us fell for it, and we may all fall because of it if we don’t develop much better public values. Sadly, I think President Reagan meant well.
Harry, I was never a fan of Reagan, to say the least. Which adds force to what I said (if only in my own mind). My saying “please, can we have a Reagan again” underscores just how awful our current situation is.
Of course, I think Reagan helped nudge us along toward the problems we have today, with his demonization of government as the problem.
But nevertheless, he was at the head of a professional, competent administration that knew what it was doing. He was one of that set of people who were qualified for the position. A set that to a greater or lesser extent includes every president we had before, and everyone who came close to being president — until Trump.
There’s the universe of people that a thoughtful voter would consider for the presidency — and everyone who held the job up to January 2017 fits in their universe — and then there’s what we have now…
In the words of Reagan, there he goes again. I’m adopting the Doug Ross rule – I’m going to just discuss bad stuff not style issues. There will be plenty of that soon enough.. so far the failed military raid, unnecessary trauma to select people over immigration concerns and even greater chaos at the VA will have to suffice.
Well, y’all do that — but Doug has a yuge tendency to dismiss the importance of words, brushing them aside as mere style, not substance.
He misses the fact that when you’re president of the United States, words are what you DO, and they matter enormously..
“He misses the fact that when you’re president of the United States, words are what you DO, and they matter enormously..”
Well, they don’t. And they haven’t. But you keep believing that.
It’s trite, but true – actions speak louder than words. Obama SAID he was going to close Guantanamo. He didn’t. Because all he had was words. He SAID he was going to make health care affordable. Failed.
Words are just that.
Didn’t quite get Gitmo closed thanks to much obstruction but did reduce the popution. Uninsured at record low.
Is bud talking about the “failed military raid” that was planned under Obama’s administration and executed on the first moonless night in January which just happened to be under the Trump administration? That “failed military raid”?
“He almost tripled the national debt from $906 B to $2.6 T (286%). His claim was that voodoo economics would shrink the deficit. It went from $78B to $256B. ”
And not one mention of Obama’s numbers. $1.5 Trillion in added debt over 8 years would have been a good year under Obama.
These ain’t 80’s dollars. George W inherited a balanced budget and increased the debt by 77 %. Obama inherited a financial crisis and 1.2 T budget deficit and moved it down by more than half while halving unemployment. Debt under Obama increased by 78% with the trend going down.
Neither Bush nor Obama had much to do with the economy during their tenure. They don’t set spending or borrowing policy and do not control interest rates. Or do you give Trump credit for the current record DOW levels?
There are so many variables involved that to try and assign blame or credit to anyone is pure folly.
The president is THE most important factor in determining the health of the economy.
Well, that settles it then. I’m convinced by your analysis.
The first six to eight months of any presidency are already set. but they make a difference over 8 years if they aren’t wholly obstructed by Congress or stymied by FED policy. I think much of the current rise in the DOW is Trump related. If his tax policies are implemented, the DOW will likely rise (be inflated) tremendously, but debt growth will accelerate and middle/low income workers will suffer. Stock market levels are not the best indicator of economic health. All bets are off if we get into another war or large troop military action.
Obama’s first term is pretty instructive. He was able to push through his stimulus and auto bailout. Unemployment from Ws recession didn’t peak until late 2009. So the full impact of Obamas policies didn’t occur for about a year. Since then smooth sailing for the economy with sustainable job growth (without inflation) and declining annual budget deficits. Trump gets his year, then we’ll have a better idea of the effect of his policies.
How much money was pumped into the economy by the Federal Reserve under Obama’s watch?
So Harry, we won’t go with dollar figures, we will just go with “more debt than all previous Presidents before him combined”.
The FED moves when the economy freezes or overheats. The monetary stimulus the FED added was the main thing keeping the economy growing (Europe under austerity was going down for years). It was needed because there was no fiscal stimulus under Obama after the stimulus package (2009). Back to my point, Reagan inherited a 908 Billion national debt. When he left, it was 2.6 Trillion. Did he add more than all his predecessors? Over one and a half times. Did Obama? No. He came in with 10.02 Trillion. 8.1 trillion of that was added under Republican presidents. He left with almost 19.9 Trillion almost doubling, but not quite. Bush 1 added 56% in 4 years. Clinton pushed it up 39% in 8 years. Bush 2 increased it 1.76% in 8 years after inheriting a budget surplus, At least he didn’t double it and neither did Obama. Sometimes oft repeated memes need to be checked against facts, so that they don’t become “alternative facts.”