Hannity Chooses Myths, Not Facts, In Remember Reaganomics

[JABBS]

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It's mythmaking. Hannity, presumably, knows his audience is either too young to remember Reaganomics first-hand, or is too partisan to be interested in the reality of Reaganomics. Worse, Hannity pretends that President Bush's economic program isn't grounded in the Reagan legacy of tax cuts to benefit the wealthy, and massive deficits.

[bryant69]

1. Well let's face it. The facts make it hard to support Reaganomics

Would you like to argue in favor of Reaganomics using facts?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[kentuck]

2. Exactly!

Bush put Reaganomics into overdrive with humongous taxcuts and deficits.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. What Baffles Me About This Revisionism. . .

. . .is that MANY theorists laughed at the Supply-Side theories BEFORE they were implemented. And since they were implemented, dozens of papers have been published that show these things, irrefutably:

1) The borrowed money in excess of lost revenues was nearly the exact same proportion as nominal growth.

2) Consumption fell by an amount nearly equal to increases in GS, meaning that per capita productivity went down.

3) The revenue curve based upon the rates of the 70's would have resulted in MORE revenue than was really taken in (countering the "taxes went down and revenues went up" canard.)

4) The economic drag effect on the equity markets was precipitated by upswings in bond rates caused by a need to make such investments more attractive when the market began to saturate at a given rate. Ergo, DEFICITS MATTER!

5) High deficits are provably correlated to inflation.

6) Gov't oversight of spending goes down when more of the money is borrowed, because elected officials have to "explain" less to constituencies. (The proportion of funds which provided no book value to the gov't went up EVERY YEAR bewteen 199=82 and 1991.)

Yeah, nice policy, that! Provably a failure and folks are still willing to defend it.
The Professor

[kentuck]

16. Excellent points, Professor!

How much more proof do they need??

[NewJeffCT]

17. But, but, but...

Reagan single-handedly defeated the Evil Soviet Empire with one hand tied behind his back - while blind-folded. At least that is what Sean Hannity told me.

Good points.

I graduated high school in 1985, so my Reagan era memory is not 100% reliable, but didn't the Reagan policies make the dollar very weak against foreign currencies, similar to Bush now.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Your Memory Is Correct. Your Analysis Is Flawed

There isn't any real sound econometric evidence that the economic policy directly ties to currency value. The dollar weakened as deficits went up but that was largely due to the late 80's retreat of monetary velocity which goes down as cash flow becomes slower. (It takes longer to borrow cash and distribute than to collect it and distribute.)

The cause and effect relationships of currency value to a given economic policy are tricky to identify. There is considerable bi-directionality in these relationships, so what correlates as a cause to a given effect in one set of dimensions can appear to be the effect in a different set of dimensions.

Add to all that the speculation side of currency markets and you have something that at time borders on chaos.

So, it may be that these policies are responsible and we can't prove it. Or it may be it's just a coincidence, but we can't prove that either. The other stuff has been proven in many published tomes, even a couple by me.
The Professor

[JHB]

20. It gets worse. An op ed in my paper today bashes Roosevelt. TEDDY Roosevelt...

...on the "grounds" that he was a "big government Republican" who "didn't understand" the economics of his day:

This is not a traditional biography but a much-needed effort to set the record straight on Roosevelt's economics and politics. In a sense, Powell is challenging TR to a debate that's about a century overdue.

Everybody knows Roosevelt was a force. Unfortunately, he was a force mainly for expanding government. Powell performs a service by pointing out the many misnomers and mistaken beliefs still prevailing about the economy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was not an era of monopolies and "robber barons" exploiting the little guy, but a time of great competition, innovation and widespread prosperity.

Powell shows that Roosevelt failed to grasp how the economy, markets and businesses work. TR railed against monopolies in various industries, for example, even as prices were falling in those industries. The author asks what too many fawning historians have not about Roosevelt's anti-business crusading: "What was the point of denouncing entrepreneurs who had done so much to make the economy grow, create jobs, lower consumer prices and raise living standards?"

Golly, could it have been politics? Powell says, "Roosevelt was a petty, power-grabbing politician with a big mouth." That's pretty strong stuff, but former President Calvin Coolidge concluded that TR "was always getting himself in hot water by talking before he had to commit himself upon issues not well-defined." One might add: issues not well understood by Roosevelt.
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-opkea185020334dec18,0,5031339.column?coll=ny-news-columnists

The columnist is Raymond J. Keating. From his bio: "Raymond J. Keating serves as chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council." Read: another ivory tower propagandist who lauds the free market while safely insulated from its harshest effects.

The book in question is "Bully Boy: The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt's Legacy" by Jim Powell, a CATO Fellow and another guy who makes his paycheck by only seeing bad things about government policies that help average people.


More proof that these guys aren't "conservatives", they're radicals as extreme as any Bolshevik, and want to do away with the entire 20th Century.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Well Stated. JHB

The free marketeers are nothing more than austrian school radicals who have minds that can only work in two dimensions. My comparison would be more akin to the anarchists of the late 19th century. They really want ZERO structure in the long run and just let everything run on autopilot. That would work fine if it wasn't for all those pesky humans.
The Professor

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. good point!

[sniffa]

3. it's about time someone confronted hannity with his bs

you shouLd seriousLy consider starting a bLog.
you couLd probabLy even promote it here on DU.

[meegbear]

11. BWAH-HAHAHAHA!

:rofl:

[JABBS]

12. sarcasm?

thanks buddy. appreciate the insight.

[RobertSeattle]

4. Sun rises in East, Sets in West

Hannity selectively choosing his "facts"?!!! Shocking!

:evilgrin:

[NewJeffCT]

5. The problem is that he spews so many falsehoods

It's hard to keep up with him. I heard Hannity either early this year or late last year on with Jerry Springer on AAR, and he starts spewing off all these "facts" on Reagan's tenure, and he was wrong from the get-go. I mean, he said "22 million jobs in 8 years" when those were Clinton's numbers. Reagan only created 16 million jobs in 8 years.

But, it was one falsehood after another, and Springer was more focused on Reagan's dealings with the Soviets, so didn't call Hannity on his lies about Reagan's economic failings.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. i think someone said if reagan used trickle down economics, bush uses mist down economics

whomever said that was very clever.

[JABBS]

14. LOL

I like that. :)

[IADEMO2004]

19. IA Sen. Harkin--trickle down explained

If the chickens are hungry you feed the horses more oats.

[JABBS]

22. LOL

:)

and yet the GOP swears by it. it hasn't worked three times now. all it's led to is a sluggish economy with high deficits.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. This is not news, all Reagan-worship is

based on BS.

[ComerPerro]

15. yeah, naturally. Because if you take away all the bullshit and lies

there isn't much left to worship

[BOSSHOG]

10. sean hannity, the man, the myth, the legend

"conservative" men want to be like him; "conservative" women want to have his baby. Domestic enemies of our constitution worship the man, the myth, the legend and all his lies. He is doing the only thing he knows how, lie and hate.

[ComerPerro]

13. Hannity is one of the most pathetic Reagan-worshipers out there