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Rabbithoundjb
Posts: 4516
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:30 pm
Location: Rocky Mount, NC

polls

Post by Rabbithoundjb »

Quinnipiac or every how its spelled has Obama rated as wosrt president since ww11 and Reagan as best. Imagine that from a leftist poll, you know its getting bad.

bluemouse
Posts: 2533
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:35 am
Location: low country sc

Re: polls

Post by bluemouse »

Worst prez and best liar all in the same year what a clown.

Pine Mt Beagles
Posts: 7803
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 6:01 pm
Location: Pineville Ky

Re: polls

Post by Pine Mt Beagles »

What Republicans consider To be the Best...

Simply Pathetic.

Republicans,,,Do Every Every Thing They say They are Against ,then Blame Someone Else.
Regan ,,is the Perfect Example,,Of Republican Hippocracy.
Raise Taxes,Increase the Size of Government,Triple The National Debt.Kill Private Sector Jobs while Growing Government Jobs.
Starve the poor and Stuff the Elite.
The Republican Way.

Volume VI, No. 10,
October 1988

The Sad Legacy of Ronald Reagan

by Sheldon L. Richman
On August 2, 1988, President Ronald Reagan announced that he had changed his mind about the pro-union plant-closing bill. He had vetoed it three months earlier, but now let it become law without his signature after intense pressure from presidential nominee George Bush and former Treasury Secretary James Baker, now Bush's campaign chairman. Reagan claimed that only this action would enable him to sign a Congressional trade bill almost unequaled in its anti-consumer protectionism.

Ronald Reagan's faithful followers claim he has used his skills as the Great Communicator to reverse the growth of Leviathan and inaugurate a new era of liberty and free markets. Reagan himself said, "It is time to check and reverse the growth of government."

Yet after nearly eight years of Reaganism, the clamor for more government intervention in the economy was so formidable that Reagan abandoned the free-market position and acquiesced in further crippling of the economy and our liberties. In fact, the number of free-market achievements by the administration are so few that they can be counted on one hand—with fingers left over.


Let's look at the record:

Spending

In 1980, Jimmy Caner's last year as president, the federal government spent a whopping 27.9% of "national income" (an obnoxious term for the private wealth produced by the American people). Reagan assaulted the free-spending Carter administration throughout his campaign in 1980. So how did the Reagan administration do? At the end of the first quarter of 1988, federal spending accounted for 28.7% of "national income."

Even Ford and Carter did a better job at cutting government. Their combined presidential terms account for an increase of 1.4%—compared with Reagan's 3%—in the government's take of "national income." And in nominal terms, there has been a 60% increase in government spending, thanks mainly to Reagan's requested budgets, which were only marginally smaller than the spending Congress voted.

The budget for the Department of Education, which candidate Reagan promised to abolish along with the Department of Energy, has more than doubled to $22.7 billion, Social Security spending has risen from $179 billion in 1981 to $269 billion in 1986. The price of farm programs went from $21.4 billion in 1981 to $51.4 billion in 1987, a 140% increase. And this doesn't count the recently signed $4 billion "drought-relief" measure. Medicare spending in 1981 was $43.5 billion; in 1987 it hit $80 billion. Federal entitlements cost $197.1 billion in 1981—and $477 billion in 1987.

Foreign aid has also risen, from $10 billion to $22 billion. Every year, Reagan asked for more foreign-aid money than the Congress was willing to spend. He also pushed through Congress an $8.4 billion increase in the U.S. "contribution" to the International Monetary Fund.

His budget cuts were actually cuts in projected spending, not absolute cuts in current spending levels. As Reagan put it, "We're not attempting to cut either spending or taxing levels below that which we presently have."


The result has been unprecedented government debt. Reagan has tripled the Gross Federal Debt, from $900 billion to $2.7 trillion. Ford and Carter in their combined terms could only double it. It took 31 years to accomplish the first postwar debt tripling, yet Reagan did it in eight.


Taxes

Before looking at taxation under Reagan, we must note that spending is the better indicator of the size of the government. If government cuts taxes, but not spending, it still gets the money from somewhere—either by borrowing or inflating. Either method robs the productive sector. Although spending is the better indicator, it is not complete, because it ignores other ways in which the government deprives producers of wealth. For instance, it conceals regulation and trade restricdons, which may require little government outlay.

If we look at government revenues as a percentage of "national income," we find little change from the Carter days, despite heralded "tax cuts." In 1980, revenues were 25.1% of "national income." In the first quarter of 1988 they were 24.7%.

Reagan came into office proposing to cut personal income and business taxes. The Economic Recovery Act was supposed to reduce revenues by $749 billion over five years. But this was quickly reversed with the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. TEFRA—the largest tax increase in American history—was designed to raise $214.1 billion over five years, and took back many of the business tax savings enacted the year before. It also imposed withholding on interest and dividends, a provision later repealed over the president's objection.

But this was just the beginning. In 1982 Reagan supported a five-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax and higher taxes on the trucking industry. Total increase: $5.5 billion a year. In 1983, on the recommendation of his Spcial Security Commission— chaired by the man he later made Fed chairman, Alan Green-span—Reagan called for, and received, Social Security tax increases of $165 billion over seven years. A year later came Reagan's Deficit Reduction Act to raise $50 billion.

Even the heralded Tax Reform Act of 1986 is more deception than substance. It shifted $120 billion over five years from visible personal income taxes to hidden business taxes. It lowered the rates, but it also repealed or reduced many deductions.

According to the Treasury Department, the 1981 tax cut will have reduced revenues by $1.48 trillion by the end of fiscal 1989. But tax increases since 1982 will equal $1.5 trillion by 1989. The increases include not only the formal legislation mentioned above but also bracket creep (which ended in 1985 when tax indexing took effect—a provision of the 1981 act despite Reagan's objection), $30 billion in various tax changes, and other increases. Taxes by the end of the Reagan era will be as large a chunk of GNP as when he took office, if not larger: 19.4%, by ultra-conservative estimate of the Reagan Office of Management and Budget. The so-called historic average is 18.3%.

Regulation

For all the administration's talk about deregulation (for example, from the know-nothing commission which George Bush headed), it has done little. Much of what has been done began under Carter, such as abolition of the Civil Aeronautics Board and deregulation of oil prices. Carter created the momentum and Reagan halted it. In fact, the economic costs of regulation have grown under Reagan.

Some deregulation has occurred for banks, intercity buses, ocean shipping, and energy. But nothing good has happened in health, safety, and environmental regulations, which cost Americans billions of dollars, ignore property rights, and are based on the spurious notion of "freedom from risk." But the Reagan administration has supported state seat-belt and federal air-bag requirements. This concern for safety, however, was never extended to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules, which, by imposing fuel-efficiency standards, promote the production of small cars. The shift to small cars will cause an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 highway deaths over the next ten years.

Bureaucracy

By now it should not be surprising that the size of the bureaucracy has also grown. Today, there are 230,000 more civilian government workers than in 1980, bringing the total to almost three million. Reagan even promoted the creation of a new federal Department of Veterans' Affairs to join the Departments of Education and Energy, which his administration was supposed to eliminate.

Trade

The Reagan administration has been the most protectionist since Herbert Hoover's. The portion of imports under restriction has doubled since 1980. Quotas and so-called voluntary restraints have been imposed on a host of products, from computer chips to automobiles. Ominously, Reagan has adopted the bogus fair-trade/free-trade dichotomy, and he was eager to sign the big trade bill, which tilts the trade laws even further toward protectionism.

Results

Reagan's fans argue that he has changed the terms of public-policy debate, that no one today dares propose big spending programs. I contend that the alleged spending-shyness of politicians is not the result of an ideological sea-change, but rather of their constituents' fiscal fright brought about by $250 billion Reagan budget deficits. If the deficit ever shrinks, the demand for spending will resume.

This is the Reagan legacy. He was to be the man who would turn things around. But he didn't even try. As he so dramatically illustrated when he accepted the plant-closing bill, there has been no sea-change in thinking about the role of government.

Sheldon Richman is now editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education. Send him mail or comments

If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered

bluemouse
Posts: 2533
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:35 am
Location: low country sc

Re: polls

Post by bluemouse »

Darn pinemooch you just can not see the light. Obabbler has been faking it for five years and if he had another five he would still would not make it, as they say fake it to you make it. Two biggest losers of the day obabbler and pinemooch. Keep up the clown work pinemooch everybody needs the laughs as your hero kills america along with the middle class.

littlewoody
Posts: 2144
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:06 pm
Location: MICHGAN

Re: polls

Post by littlewoody »

I remember Reagan everyone was working he didn't blame his short coming on someone ! Pm don't skip your aa meeting u need help ! ;)
TheJohnBirchSociety

Pine Mt Beagles
Posts: 7803
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 6:01 pm
Location: Pineville Ky

Re: polls

Post by Pine Mt Beagles »

To Bad Obama,,can't Run with as Clinton's Running Mate.

You guys Take food from your own children to give to your Wealthy Politicians.

No reason to take anything you guy's say serious.


And by the way,,,,,,Regan was one of those big Hollywood Actors you Guy's Say you Hate So Much ,,You Know Like Nugent.

If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered

bluemouse
Posts: 2533
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:35 am
Location: low country sc

Re: polls

Post by bluemouse »

You take food from working people to sit on your sorry butt. Clinton dont need obabbler she is obabbler in a dress. Another liar that will tell idiots what they want to hear to get elected. Being so poor them clintons, you just have to believe everything they say right pinemooch.

Rabbithoundjb
Posts: 4516
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:30 pm
Location: Rocky Mount, NC

Re: polls

Post by Rabbithoundjb »

Pathetic PMB to dependent to care about his fellow man or the coutry.

Pine Lakes
Posts: 1311
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:26 pm

Re: polls

Post by Pine Lakes »

Pine Mt Beagles wrote:To Bad Obama,,can't Run with as Clinton's Running Mate.

You guys Take food from your own children to give to your Wealthy Politicians.

No reason to take anything you guy's say serious.


And by the way,,,,,,Regan was one of those big Hollywood Actors you Guy's Say you Hate So Much ,,You Know Like Nugent.
Now that right there folks is funny! I actually feed my children well. I also invest in their future the best I can for 2 reasons. One being I love them and 2 being that it will continue to become more difficult for them if liberals like Obama and his administration are voted into office. It's an uphill battle for us working folks because you dependents reproduce in greater numbers than us thereby giving you an advantage at the polls and you have no moral compass and will only vote for selfish reasons, ie to keep from as much responsibilty and independence as possible. So truth be told, it's folks like your sorry backside that are taking food from children and giving it to the wealthy politicians that have you bent over the table. You amaze me with your stupidity Rufus. What happened to you?

clarkkennels4951
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:07 pm

Re: polls

Post by clarkkennels4951 »

Fox News said Obama 33 bush 29 Nixon 27 present

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Alabama John
Posts: 2116
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2002 5:56 pm
Location: Pinson, Alabama

Re: polls

Post by Alabama John »

Everyone liked Reagan.

Lets not forget he raised the construction loan percent to above 20% and bankrupted a lot of contractors. He did that to lower our debt, but it hurt a lot of subcontractors and suppliers as well. I saw many businesses go out that never recovered that had been in business for 3 generations.

Interesting looking back that out of all that were hurt financially, they all thought it was helping our country so it had to be done.

Good thing to remember on this July 4th.

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