Orange County Register column: Living with the legacy

[question everything]

A look at O.C.'s economy during the Reagan era offers a window on how Reaganomics played out.

By JONATHAN LANSNER
The Orange County Register


(snip)


FUZZY MATH

But Reaganomics didn't completely add up.

The promise that the economic growth produced by tax cuts would make up for the initial drop in government revenues didn't materialize. The federal deficit nearly tripled under Reagan's watch.

The hope that the new affluence created by tax cuts would trickle down to the masses fell short. The ranks of Americans living in poverty grew by 15 percent in the 1980s.

Deregulation? Don't forget the Reagan era's aggressive takeover artists, the stock market crash of 1987 and the savings-and-loan crisis.

And talk about timing. A year and a half after Reagan left the White House, the nation was back in recession. In Orange County, that was the start of seven straight years of housing gains failing to beat inflation.

Like any bold experiment, Reaganomics could never have completely lived up to its lofty promise. Yet its essence endures as a crucial political mantra, so much so that in many ways it will get a new test this November. That's re-election time for another tax-cutting president with an aggressive foreign policy who also has watched the federal deficit balloon in size.

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http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=98918§ion=BUSINESS&subsection=BUSINESS&year=2004&month=6&day=9

[livetohike]

1. Wow! Coming from the Orange County Register this is a

daring article. The citadel of conservatism. It's nice to see this writer tell the truth.