05-11-2020, 03:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-11-2020, 03:34 PM by Eric the Green.)
(05-11-2020, 02:18 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(05-11-2020, 11:54 AM)David Horn Wrote:The Democrats have been pumping money into the economy, the global economy and the global institutions on a full time basis ever since FDR took office and the Democratic party voted to change the rules and skewed the courts to make it possible for them to do it long term. FDR did a good job keeping the radical factions within the Democratic party in line/ under control with his record use of the veto which kept America together during the years of the Great Depression.(05-11-2020, 11:22 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(05-11-2020, 10:24 AM)David Horn Wrote: Reagan was borrow and spend. This is supposed to be antithetical to conservatives, but apparently it's OK if it's your guys doing it. With the sole exception GHWB, every Republican since has followed suit.
And GHWB is the sole Republican who caused more recessions than he fixed. Unlike Democrats, Republicans are able to realize when their policies are destructive, and to change them. Austerity was one of the policies that was destructive and had to be abandoned.
Are you serious? Reagan ran his game plan successfully, but let's not pretend it didn't impact GHWB. And his son GWB did the same, but hit a wall while still in office. Pumping money into the economy in good times is a recipe for disaster. We're about to see how much of a disaster Trump has created by handing money to his friends and punishing everyone else. His off-the-charts tax cut is still out there, creating havoc. The rich and large corporations aren't needing any help. It's everyone else.
Like I've mentioned, FDR doubled down on the change that Hoover was forced to make during the early years of the Great Depression. I'm sure that you are familiar with the Hoover Dam. We had a major economic problem during the 70's (post LBJ/Vietnam era) that needed to be addressed/fixed. A big government problem that couldn't be fixed the old Democratic way because the old Democratic way of doing business and years of tossing billions upon billions at all kinds of people problems was starting to cause problems. So, how many years will it be before big government believers admit that the government is broke and the era of big government being looked to solve our problems has to end?
There was a recession in 1980, and it cost Carter. So did his endless crisis with Iran. That crisis also caused the second great gas shortage/gas price hikes (the first caused the recession of 1973-75), and that more than anything else was responsible for huge inflation and the resulting recession. But Carter was something of a would-be Republican, a centrist Democrat. He did NOT use the old Democratic way, which his primary opponent Ted Kennedy wanted to use, but was more concerned about keeping taxes and the deficit low. He could not handle the recession, therefore, and it cost him and the Democrats. We have not had a real Democrat elected president since LBJ. And he sabotaged his own presidency.
Americans are easily fooled. Reagan was a charming actor, a great communicator and an effective, macho-sounding candidate. He was a very clever sloganeer. When he said "government is the problem," he fooled a lot of people. Who likes the government? It's an easy target. When he asked the people if they were better off now than they were 4 years ago, many had to say no. It's tough to beat the innate ability of a candidate as shown by a 22-6 horoscope score. But a great candidate does not equal a great president, as we see again now on full display.
Reagan only fixed the economy for the wealthy. The Saudis buoyed him up with lower gas prices. Otherwise, his trickle-down economics didn't work any better than Carter's waffling. How many years will it take before trickle-down believers admit that neo-liberalism is a sham, has never worked, and never will?