"Reagan inherited a terrible economy and turned it around"

[cthulu2016]

1) Reagan did not inherit a terrible economy. I do not blame Reagan much for the early 1980s recession because it was induced, intentionally, by Paul Volker, to combat inflation. But the economy was vastly better on inauguration day in 1981 than it was a year later. The brutal Reagan recession began, happened and ended entirely on Reagan's watch.

2) Reagan did not combat the 1981-1982 deep recession by cutting government or the deficit. He cut taxes sharply while increasing government spending... an ironically Keynesian approach. Again, Reagan increased the economic footprint of government, and rather dramatically. The Reagan military build-up caused spending to hit 23 percent of GDP in the mid 80s. (It was 18 percent under President Clinton.)

3) Reagan doesn't deserve blame for the 1981-1982 recession, and deserves no real credit for the recovery, except insofar as he exploded the deficit which does have stimulative effect... except Republicans insist it does not, so by Republican standards Reagan do less than nothing. The Fed raised interest rates like 10 percent to stop inflation, and then cut rates the same amount when the economy ground to a halt. It was a planned and closely managed monetary policy recession. If Reagan fixed it then he also caused it. If he didn't cause it then he didn't fix it.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Reagan tripled the national debt

An awesome feat, really. It was actually under $1 trillion when he arrived; $2.7 trillion when he left.

Just one of the many infuriating things about the GOp. They put us on this road, and no one was more profligate than their patron saint.

[russspeakeasy]

3. The fucker was crazy going in, while he was there, and

to the day he died....He did die didn't he ? Hard to tell.

[RagAss]

2. Reagan fucked my generation over !!!!!

[Initech]

4. Correction: Reagan not only fucked our generation over but the next several.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. The economy was growing when Reagan took office.

[Egalitariat]

6. Clinton too. I think people on both sides of the aisle look silly when they attribute

the economy to the head of one of our 3 branches of government.

[reformist2]

7. I'll say this... Democrats need a coherent message with respect to the Reagan Years.

Sadly, Reagan Derangement Syndrome prevents an objective analysis of what was good and bad about them.

[LWolf]

8. I don't think I want to know who that quote came from.

Either someone didn't live through the Reagan years, or someone has a selective memory.

I struggled through the Reagan recession. It's one of many things I hold RR responsible for.

In 1982, having been laid off and desperate to find a source of income, I got a local paper at 5AM, searched through the classifieds and presented myself at a local kennel at 7AM to submit an application to be a kennel cleaner for minimum wage.

They turned me away, explaining that they'd already accepted 90 applications.

[cthulu2016]

10. It is hard to blame Reagan for *causing* that recession

It started in July, 1981, and there was no federal policy change that could have caused it or contributed to it. It was done by the Fed, and on purpose. The fed decided to try shock therapy, trading higher unemployment for lower inflation.

Now, the government attitude toward the suffering that existed in 1982 (whatever caused it) is another matter, and I have no trouble blaming Reagan for that.

I was living in DC, which was homeless capital of the nation at that time. It was horrible!

[moondust]

9. Whatever it was,

it happened before millions of jobs were moved offshore, meaning there were still a lot of jobs around, both old and newly created, to pull the economy out of slump.

That has all changed due to massive offshoring starting mainly with Reagan. The idea of a "cyclical recession" may be obsolete in today's global economy. New jobs are now often created offshore, which may be okay for investors but it doesn't help Americans who need jobs. What used to be considered a "slump" may now be the new normal.

If offshoring was ever going to be stopped, the best time to do it was before it became a common practice. Of course Reagan would never consider such a thing.