I could use some help with a tedious task

[quisp]

I've playing political email ping-pong with the author of the following essay(he's the friend of co-worker) and I finally goaded him a real discussion instead of just photo-shoped pics and anonymous emails. He obviously took some time with this essay and I would like to do the same with the response.

Some of the Reagan references are a little before my time and I could use a little help. I know it's long and tedious so maybe you could offer a little insight into just a section, or even a sentence, I would appreciate it.

Here it is:

I may live in a state of confusion at times...but never delusion. Yes...Ronald Reagan did raise taxes in the mid '80s which was most unfortunate and forced upon him by a Democratic Congress. This tax increase nearly demolished the domestic boat industry and RV industry (I worked in the RV industry at the time). Due to the changes in the tax code it anyone who wanted to buy a boat over a certain size had to pay a ruinous excise tax, which ended up devastating the domestic boat industry since boats bought from offshore were not subject to the tax. Many companies went bankrupt and many workers (who the Democrats profess to love and protect) lost their jobs. The RV industry was devastated for several years due to many of the same changes in the tax code...again, businesses gone bankrupt and people out of work due to the Liberal war on "big business" and "the rich".

Also, Reagan's tax cuts in the early '80s resulted in RECORD revenues to the treasury. Let me repeat that...RECORD revenues. In fact, revenues doubled under the tax cuts. Why then, did we see big deficits when there record revenues? The answer is EXCESSIVE spending, not due to the tax cuts. Whether you want to argue whether the military buildup was worth while or not is certainly open to debate, but the fact stands that this buildup was directly responsible for the end of the cold war...a good trade in most thinking individual's judgement.

Also...a little known fact...President Reagan had a verbal promise form the Democrats in Congress (unfortunately he believed them), that for every two dollars in tax cuts, there would be a three dollar cut in overall spending (I'm not quite sure of the ratio, but it's close). What happened? The Democrats lied!!! While one may fault Reagan for signing these budgets, the fact is that Congress controls spending, not any President, Republican or Democrat has that control.

Then there is the Big Lie of 1992 by the Clinton/Gore team..."The worst economy in 50 years". People must have short memories...did they forget the Carter "malaise", the times of 21% interest rates and 11-12% inflation and unemployment? In '92 we had a very minor two quarter blip of a recession that was over by the time of the election...but
nooo...Clinton's lies carried the day. We might not have even had that minor recession if GHW Bush hadn't broken his promise no new taxes which, if not caused the recession, at least aggravated it.

Bill Clinton...now there's a man who would never tell the truth when he could get away with a lie...and get away with them he did. he was one thing though...lucky. He came into office at the beginning of a boom that even his tax increases couldn't stop. He drove his own party out of office and the Republicans forced some measure of fiscal discipline
he wouldn't have had with a Democratic Congress. Welfare reform was forced on him as was a cut in capital gains taxes which further fueled the economy. He took credit for everything good that happened and blamed others for anything bad, but then all Presidents do that. He and his people were just the worst examples of that in memory.

I was a Federal law enforcment officer in DC during those years and know a number of people in the Secret Service from when I was in the Academy, when I went to Secret Service School and from working with them on joint investigations. While the Secret Service officers are very dedicated and professional and don't talk to most people about what they do and things that happen, they do talk to others in the profession. Let's just say that Bill Clinton is a scumbag in their eyes, they have little respect for him personally, and it's a credit to their professionalism they do the job for him. They think even less of Hillary, who acts like royalty and treats them and members of the military like servents at best. Much of the embarassing things in the media about the Clintons during the '90s I knew about long before the public did, and I know of worse that has never been made public. Let's just say that we should all be glad he's out of office as he was an embarassment to the country and defiled the Presidency.

[trotsky]

1. Check on those tax increases.

The biggest one, IIRC, was in '86 - while Repubs still had control of the Senate.

You will find lots of info debunking Reagan Mythology at the late Steve Kangas' website - Liberalism Resurgent. Here is one mirror: http://home.att.net/~Resurgence/tenets.htm

[denverbill]

2. Just a short snippet.

"raise taxes...forced upon him by a Democratic Congress"

Tell him that the Democrats forced the tax cuts through also. Nobody 'forced' Reagan to do anything. He had an option to veto the tax increases and chose to sign them instead.

"Welfare reform was forced on him as was a cut in capital gains taxes which further fueled the economy."

This one references Clinton. Why is it that President's can have things forced on them so easily?

This guy needs to grow up and argue like a man. Neither Reagan or Clinton could do anything without the aid of the opposite party. Both cut taxes, both raised taxes, both did welfare reforms. Spending rose under both. Tax revenue rose under both.

Don't let him get away with saying Reagan cut taxes, but Congress 'forced' him to raise taxes, or the Clinton raised taxes, and Congress 'forced' him to cut them.