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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (51639)	6/4/1999 12:26:00 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

I thought some of you would find this response to a "cyber- pen- pal" interesting: You have asserted that Reagan's economic growth was predicated on the equivalent of public works, through the defense budget. But it is quite wrong to suppose that immense resources were devoted to the defense build- up. Defense already took up a healthy share of the budget, and yet was far less of the federal budget then entitlements, so an increase was a drop in the bucket, in terms of GDP. Since the tax cuts and deregulation were not especially targeted, it would be truer to say that his Administration unleashed the forces of capitalism. As I have before mentioned, essentially capitalism means a (largely) free market in capital, i.e., stocks, bonds, and lines of credit. Economic efficiency is immensely improved by allowing capital to flow where it produces the greatest return... You have asserted that there wasn't much difference between “Reagonomics” and the policies of those who preceded him. Rather, it was a dramatic change, which is why the Democrats fought so hard against it. The high unemployment to which you refer was a result of flushing inflation out of the economy during the first couple of years of Reagan's first term, before his policies had had a chance to work. After that two year recession, the economy hummed along very nicely, with low inflation and low unemployment, which are hallmarks of economic efficiency. And it is not true that his policies merely aided the wealthy. In fact, trickle down worked pretty well, and many people went up a notch in socio- economic class because of increasing prosperity... You have tried to tie Reagan's foreign policy to the desire to distract from the domestic front. Not only was there nothing especially to distract from, but the foreign policy imperatives were driven by a desire to counter Soviet adventurism. Reagan created the conditions that lead to the Soviet "peace offensive", and hence to Gorbachev. The desire to lull the United States back into strategic complacency kept Gorby in power, after it was seen that Reagan and Thatcher could work with him. And it was the policies of glasnost and perestroika, which were sold to the Politiburo as a way of reviving Soviet industry, and thus saving them from technological defeat in the Cold War (especially through the Strategic Defense Initiative), that lead to the downfall of the Soviet Union. All Reagan's doing, and all intentional...