A Half Dozen Reasons Why Trump Isn't the Second Coming of Reagan

[Dan '82]

https://app.hedgeye.com/insights/55622-6...nomic-boom

Quote:
 
We're Entering a New Reagan Boom--NOT!

Trump first dazzled American pop culture with his gaudy hotel logo and celebrity interviews in the 1980s. In fact, the Donald still looks like a slightly older version of an ‘80s yuppie—a me-first “master of the universe” sporting everything but the power suspenders. So is it so far-fetched to think that he might overhaul today’s economy by turning back to that 1980s magic?
 
Many policy pundits are hailing the idea, so much so that you might think that the “Again” in “Make America Great Again” is a direct reference to the Gipper’s success in slaying inflation, downing the USSR, and building a 600-ship navy. Even notable leaders of the original “supply side” revolution are remaking their appearance in (or near) the Trump coterie: Art Laffer, Larry Kudlow, Stephen Moore...


https://app.hedgeye.com/insights/55622-6...nomic-boom

[FLBones]

We need to end Reaganomics. Taxes need to be raised on the wealthy. They can afford it. And the minimum wage should also go up to 15 an hour. Corporations are raking up record profits but are being stingy with their money. They too can afford it.

[David Horn]

Setting aside whether the Gipper actually deserves credit on his watch, the facts on the ground are dramatically different today.  We don't have stagflation, rather a case of inadequate demand.  Lowering taxes on the rich is more akin to adding kerosene to a roaring blaze -- not that this will eliminate the possibility of GOP tax cutting, of course.

If it's gong to be tax cuts, then just issue rebates to everyone for some amount.  It's not perfect, but most of it will be spent.

[Eric the Green]

A half-dozen reasons why Trump IS the second coming of Reagan-- and it's not good!

Being compared to Reagan is not a compliment. Reagan was one of our worst presidents.

Not that they are exactly the same; by no means. Trump seems worse. What he says could incite trouble between groups. But what he does could get us into even worse trouble. Trump is less stable, and that's a problem for foreign affairs as well as at home.

In many ways, Trump's imitation of Reagan is horrific. Mostly because we can't afford Reagan policies now.

1. We can't afford to ignore climate change and promote the use of fossil fuels. This is just the wrong time to imitate Reagan on this issue. We could be at a tipping point where climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible.

2. We can't afford more wasteful spending on the military, and enormous tax cuts. This will further increase inequality at a time when we've had 36 years of Reaganomics-driven inequality already. We can't afford more debt, although Trump proposes to bring back Reagan's policy of exploding it.

3. We can't afford more cuts to health care and social programs, and a flat minimum wage. This will further increase poverty. Continuing this Reagan policy will raise the cost of living and decrease jobs at the moment when we need to keep the economy from falling into another recession.

4. We can't afford more deregulation. This will put our economy at risk again when our recovery has already been too weak.

5. We can't afford to continue and exaggerate Reagan's race-baiting and dog-whistling. Racial tensions are already too high. More shootings of unarmed blacks, more cries for law and order, more violations of our civil rights, and more deportation threats, will only increase the divisions that have been tearing us apart since Reagan's time as president and as governor of CA and booster of Goldwater.

6. We can't afford endless corruption and conflicts of interest because of our new CEO of America Inc.. This too continues the legacy of one of the most corrupt and business-enabling presidents in history, Ronald Reagan. Reagan's cabinet as well as himself were involved in more scandals than Nixon's or anyone's. And Trump's appointments would seem to put us on the road to imitate Reagan in this respect as well. Trump's ties to foreign investments and governments could put our interests and our freedom at risk. And Trump promises to become Dick Cheney on steroids by abusing and concentrating power; and to become Richard Nixon on steroids too in this respect, along with Nixon's constant lies and war on the press.

But, it looks like, although Trump is like a box of chocolates, that's exactly the things we're gonna git, and it's what the people decided upon-- deliberately and knowingly. The fault is in ourselves; not in our stars; the pollsters and even the astrologers could not agree on whether we were going to go down this dangerous road or not. The people (especially in the rust-belt and upper mid-west) decided this close election on Nov.8, particularly the "late deciders" of which there were quite a few this time.

[Odin]

(11-30-2016, 12:22 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: The average schmoe is losing what little wealth they still have as the Deflation Monster ravages the countryside.

Where's William Jennings Bryan when we need him?

[Eric the Green]

(11-30-2016, 12:22 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:

(11-30-2016, 12:00 PM)David Horn Wrote: Setting aside whether the Gipper actually deserves credit on this watch, the facts on the ground are dramatically different today.  We don't have stagflation, rather a case of inadequate demand.  Lowering taxes on the rich is more akin to adding kerosene to a roaring blaze -- not that this will eliminate the possibility of GOP tax cutting, of course.

If it's gong to be tax cuts, then just issue rebates to everyone for some amount.  It's not perfect, but most of it will be spent.

I agree. We need overtly inflationary tactics now more than ever. The average schmoe is losing what little wealth they still have as the Deflation Monster ravages the countryside.

As I see it, there's little hope, given Trump's appointments and what it says, that we can call for any helpful policies now. It was bad enough for the last 6 years. Now we've got 4 more even worse years, with no-one in charge who can offer up any policies that would be helpful to the people, on this issue or any other.

Organization and resistance is our only recourse.

[Anthony '58]

We will be lucky if the income tax isn't replaced with a national sales tax after the Republicans get a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate in 2018 as "the map" strongly suggests they will.

EMTALA will also be repealed (following a relentless Fixed News/Nazimax blitz about how it is bankrupting rural hospitals, especially in the South), in addition to a national right to work law, and privatization of both Social Security and Medicare, leading to a humanitarian crisis among the elderly after the Crash of (October) 2019 wipes out all the privatized assets.

[justpassingthrough]

1. Trump is a Prophet, Reagan was a Civic.
2. It's the 4T, the 1980s were 3T.

Only two reasons needed.

[pbrower2a]

1. Reagan did not trust authoritarian Great Powers except when the right thing was in the obvious best interests of those authoritarian Great Powers.

2. Reagan did not demonize or vilify his opponents. He might get something from them some day out of a shared interest on some issue, Politics was still give and take, and not simply an effort to shut out the Other Side. He could say a kind word, even if such was hypocritical. This said, hypocrisy is the norm even among good people. This said, the only people not hypocrites are either saints or people proud to be bad. Real saints are rare, and people proud of their own wickedness are more dangerous than crocodiles.

3. Reagan knew about politics as the President of the Screen Actor's Guild and as Governor of California. Before 2016 Donald Trump had no involvement in politics except to shoot off his mouth. This inadequacy by Donald Trump still shows.

4. Reagan had the appelation "The Great Communicator". OK, Clinton didn't fall short by much, and Obama is better. A second-tier screen actor of the late 1930s and early 1940s (which is a compliment when one considers such superstars as Jimmy Cagney, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Harry Morgan) that he could never displace as a star -- and he knew it, he could deliver a line well and make it meaningful and natural. I've seen Barack Obama do stand-up comedy at the White House Journalists' Dinner... and he was good at it. Really-good stand-up comedians often become good screen actors.

5. Reagan had to know that he was not a 'natural' success as an actor. Nobody is. All hone their craft or surely fail. Law, as both Clinton and Obama learned, is drama. Let's put it this way about Obama: had he gone the judicial route instead of through electoral politics, he'd be the last person you would want hounding you as a prosecutor. or watching your criminal case as a judge if you are a criminal. But know well: even if I see Obama as an intellectual Superman who could do just about anything that he committed himself to doing, I recognize that he knew enough to consult the experts in the field who knew a little something that he didn't.

6. Trump is unteachable. He acts as if he needs no coaching from anyone, and that he is perfect as he is. That happens when one's arrogance overpowers one's talent. Others might have to butter up his ego when he feels that he is simply unlucky and not simply incompetent or inadequate. What Donald Trump says is more like what a grade-school bully says toward someone helpless for the time. Trump has an arrogance that no President has had in a very long time. Arrogance is no substitute for competence.

[Kinser79]

(12-01-2016, 08:03 AM)Odin Wrote:

(11-30-2016, 12:22 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: The average schmoe is losing what little wealth they still have as the Deflation Monster ravages the countryside.

Where's William Jennings Bryan when we need him?

I doubt William Jennings Bryan's prescriptions would solve the issue of debt driven deflation. Furthermore we need sound money now more than ever. I doubt that a man who made the "Cross of Gold" speech would support a return to the Gold Standard or any other metallic standard. After all he was a Greenbacker.

Back onto topic:

1. Ronald Reagan was an actor who played the part of President perfectly
2. Donald Trump doesn't bother with playing the Part he does Presidential type things cause he's Large and In Charge (I couldn't find a rhyme with 'Yuge')
3. Ronald Reagan tackled stagflation.
4. Trump has to battle deflation.
5. Ronald Reagan left the Democratic Party because he became conservative and libertarian leaning
6. Donald Trump left the Democratic Party because they became left wing lunatics.

[Classic-Xer]

(11-30-2016, 12:00 PM)David Horn Wrote: Setting aside whether the Gipper actually deserves credit on his watch, the facts on the ground are dramatically different today.  We don't have stagflation, rather a case of inadequate demand.  Lowering taxes on the rich is more akin to adding kerosene to a roaring blaze -- not that this will eliminate the possibility of GOP tax cutting, of course.

If it's gong to be tax cuts, then just issue rebates to everyone for some amount.  It's not perfect, but most of it will be spent.

How much are you thinking? Republican/Independent votes aren't as cheap for the blues to obtain or as easy for the blues to receive as Democratic votes are these days.

[Classic-Xer]

(08-18-2018, 05:57 PM)justpassingthrough Wrote: 1. Trump is a Prophet, Reagan was a Civic.
2. It's the 4T, the 1980s were 3T.

Only two reasons needed.

Trump seems more like a Nomad to me.

[Classic-Xer]

(08-19-2018, 01:37 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(12-01-2016, 08:03 AM)Odin Wrote:

(11-30-2016, 12:22 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: The average schmoe is losing what little wealth they still have as the Deflation Monster ravages the countryside.

Where's William Jennings Bryan when we need him?

I doubt William Jennings Bryan's prescriptions would solve the issue of debt driven deflation.  Furthermore we need sound money now more than ever.  I doubt that a man who made the "Cross of Gold" speech would support a return to the Gold Standard or any other metallic standard.  After all he was a Greenbacker.

Back onto topic:

1.  Ronald Reagan was an actor who played the part of President perfectly
2.  Donald Trump doesn't bother with playing the Part he does Presidential type things cause he's Large and In Charge (I couldn't find a rhyme with 'Yuge')
3.  Ronald Reagan tackled stagflation.
4.  Trump has to battle deflation.
5.  Ronald Reagan left the Democratic Party because he became conservative and libertarian leaning
6.  Donald Trump left the Democratic Party because they became left wing lunatics.

I think Reagan left the Democratic party because the party was infiltrated and largely controlled by closet communists.

[David Horn]

(08-23-2018, 02:00 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(08-18-2018, 05:57 PM)justpassingthrough Wrote: 1. Trump is a Prophet, Reagan was a Civic.
2. It's the 4T, the 1980s were 3T.

Only two reasons needed.

Trump seems more like a Nomad to me.

Hey, if you want him, you got him.  

[David Horn]

(08-23-2018, 02:09 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: I think Reagan left the Democratic party because the party was infiltrated and largely controlled by closet communists.

Reagan spent decades shilling for GE.  That he decided to join the business party is far from surprising.