What was your experience of "Reaganomics"?

[Matsubara]

Did your parents like St. Ronnie Bonzo? Did you? Were you trickled down upon by the Reagan revolution?


When I was a kid and teen, my memories of Reagan were my dad DESPISING him - he was incensed that Reagan put a corrupt crony like Ray Donovan in charge of the Department of Labor where my dad worked, that he was trying to weaken enforcement of labor laws. He was FURIOUS when Reagan shut down the government forcing my dad to take weeks off without pay, all so he could force the congress to pass his agenda of tax cuts for the rich.

My mom kinda liked Reagan. She was a desperate social climber who wanted to fit in with rich white society. She started a small business in 1981 and like Reagan's patronizing praise of entrepreneurs. She did better than 90% of entrepreneurs - her business survived beyond the first year, but it never did any better than break even. Near the end of Ronnie's term of office, she sold off the business and bought herself a fancy car, divorced dad and left him to pay the SBA loans off. She latched on to a richer guy, because having that standard of living was ultimately most imortant to her...

The other kids in my mostly white, upper-middle-class school mostly liked Reagan, except the Mexican kids, who hated him. I always felt weird that I was one of the few anglo kids who didn't care for him, and whose family wasn't doing better under him.

Lastly I remember the Iran-Contra debacle. I remember thinking it was so odd that Reagan, North, and Bush had SOLD WEAPONS TO OUR TERRORIST ENEMIES to give money to thugs in Central America, and yet so few of the people around me were bothered by it. People were talking about how snappy and wonderful North looked in his uniform. :puke:


Reagan had a certain charm, a pleasant way about him. I remember that, but I never for a second thought he was a good president. He may seem one in retrospect when compared to POS Bush, but he was pretty bad, and without the 8 years when Reagan dismantled the government and neutered the unions, POS Bush could have never came to be.


What were your memories of those years? Was your family better off under Reagan? Did they like him?

[Xipe Totec]

1. 14.5% interest on my mortgage

Enough said.

[firefox_fan]

14. Geez... That's high...

[pitohui]

2. reagan single handed converted my entire extended family to democrats EOM

,

[MonkeyFunk]

3. My parents liked him

I hated him. But the "regular" people who liked him didn't do so based on his economics. They liked his personality and his anti-communism.

Like the Bush tax cuts, the average person didn't see any real benefit from the tax cuts.

[Bjornsdotter]

4. My parents

.....hated him and Bush, but it was nothing compared to my grandmother. She hated him, she wished daily that he would drop dead. She hated Nancy, she hated Bush, she hated Babs....if they had all died at the same time, my grandmother would have had a party.

I voted for Carter so it goes without saying that I wasn't a Ronnie fan. Yes we were effected by the "trickle down theory", only we called it "being pissed on."

Cheers

[ikojo]

5. I was in college during the Reagan years

I was trying to pay for it on my own. My mom didn't have any money to help me. My dad was on disability which, at the time, meant I could apply for SSI. I was taking a class that I knew I was going to fail. What I didn't know was that in order to continue receiving SSI I had to take at least 12 credit hours. I dropped the class I knew I would fail on the last day to drop classes, rather than get an F, which caused me to go below 12 credit hours.

Because I was under 12 credit hours I did not qualify for SSI. By the time the next semester rolled around the Republicans had done away with SSI for anyone over 18. Had I been eligible for SSI, that money would have enabled me to feed myself, buy books and pay for part of my tuition.

I LOATHED Reagan. My mom LOATHED Reagan. The night he won I STOMPED up to my room and said this country deserves what it gets electing that man!

[BeatleBoot]

22. Please see my post below - # 19

I was in High School and they made me go to college at night, on top of it!

I would study Geography in High School during the day, then take Econ 101 at nightwith a bunch of people 10 to 20 years older than me.

Do you know how weird it is sitting next to a 50 year old lady at the community college in Econ 101 when you're 16 years old wondering who will go to the junior prom with you?

Trust me this wasn't because I was advanced - it all had to do with Social Security Survivor Benefits.

When I graduated from High School I already had like 18 to 24 credits in college.

And there were like 6 other people in my High School class doing the same thing.

[rasputin1952]

6. Reagan was an actor, he was given a script and he went w/it...

He was a bad actor, and except for Earned Income Credit, his financial policies were devastating to the country, but the wealthy benefitted to a great degree.

My step-dad rawly discussed politics, although he always voted and was a keen true patriot; my mom, was involved w/the R right into being in some R organizations, but I think Reagan soured her on the GOP...bush definitely has. She was an Eisenhower R, not a neo-con. I recall her talking about McCarthy and how so far to the right he was, "that the country better watch out if people like him came close to gaining power"...I wonder now if she were a prophetess.

I had a good job in a hospital during the latter Reagan years, and took a hit in my 401(k) when the market collapsed under him, and the S&L debacle showed where de-regulation was taking us.

The "all boats rise in the tide" carp, left many boats swamped, and "trickle down" was really "gush up".

All things considered, Regan was a disaster for this country. It should be remembered that IRaq is directly attributed to him. The bombing in Beirut, and the subsequent removal of the Marines in Lebanon were directly responsible for the first WTC bombing, as bin-Laden and crew saw the bail out in Lebanon as an act of capitulation. All bin-Laden needed after that was a target and a means of delivery...he found both quite readily. Then seizing upon Clinton's travail's w/an insane R congress, came the Cole, and eventually WTC 2 on 9-11.

Regan was no Teddy Roosevelt, he talked a lot of crap, and didn't back anything thing up, his presidency was an illusion.

Assessment: Grade B actor; Grade D president.

[monktonman]

7. Loved him

Especially when my mom and dad were laid off from their jobs.
Was really cool to have to move out of our house and into a crummy little apartment.
Was especially cool when we had to sell the family car.
The kids in the neighbohood used to make fun of me cause we couldnt afford to eat name brand food and had to opt for no-frills store brand crap.
I remember when Raygun got shot....I was filling out the application for my first social security card. Had to start working when I was thirteen in order to help pay for food. (my dad told me it would help build character, but I remember hearing my mom cry cause I was starting work that young) I've never seen my dad so happy as he was at the idea of Ronnie being dead.

I remember how sad everyone was when they found out he was gonna live.
Then there was poppie......
Then there was Clinton! The nineties were fucking AWESOME!!!!!!
Then there was shrub....... now I feel like my Dad.

[NAO]

8. My dad started out liking him, but saw what he was up to

He liked Ray-gun because of the cowboy/John Wayne/old fashioned persona that Reagans's handlers crafted for him.

When he saw tax breaks for the rich and budget cuts at the VA Hospitals, he saw the whole "Mourning In America" scenario.

My mom really liked Carter, so she always resented Ray-gun.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Greatly accelerated Two Americas....

From 80-89, the salaries of the 20k-50k crowd went up 44%. The salaries of the $1 million+ crowd went up 2,184%.

http://www.politicalindex.com/wrong1.htm

[MrSlayer]

10. I was a teenager in the 80's.

I really didn't care about politics, Reagan or Reaganomics except that I knew from the D.R.I. song that they were killing me and you. I wasn't affected by it at all really, my dad always had a job and I always had pocket money and vacations and stuff.

My parents liked him.

[baldguy]

11. I was in HS

I asked Dad, "How can you cut taxes & increase spending and expect to balance the budget?"

His answer - gleaned from RW talk radio - was "You can if you do it right."

And as we all know, Reagan didn't do it right. He inherited a $22 billion deficit from Carter, and left a $220 billion deficit to Bush Sr - who made it $350 billion.

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. Read this today, and I think it bears posting here

"None of us really understands what's going on with all these numbers."

—Confession by Reagan's budget manager, David Stockman, in a 1981 Atlantic Monthly article, in which he says Reagan's campaign plank of "supply-side economics... was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top (income tax) rate," and says of Reagan's tax-reform bill, "Do you realize the greed that came to the forefront? The hogs were really feeding." After the article appeared, Stockman was invited to lunch at the White House, and said afterward: "My visit to the Oval Office for lunch with the President was more in the nature of a visit to the woodshed after supper... He was not happy about the way this has developed — and properly so." A 1982 report by the Congressional Budget Office showed that taxpayers with less than $10,000 in earnings lost an average of $240 as a result of Reagan's tax bill of the previous year, while those with more than $80,000 in earnings benefited by average gains of $15,130.

[Thothmes]

13. Reagan

Was in the Navy during his administration. If I remember correctly he buttered my bread pretty well, in comparison to Nixon, Ford or Carter.

[BeatleBoot]

15. Being Able To Write-Off Credit Card Debt on Your Taxes - STUPID!

Everyone at work back then (except me, of course)was driving Chevy Fieros with "Yuppy!" bumper stickers.

And running up their credit cards like there was no tomorrow, because Reagan let you write off your credit card debt on your tax return....just like mortagage interest...

Back then, I lived on cash - check to check - and watched those Fieros break downon the highway and laughed my ass off so hard.

Reagan thought that credit spending would help the economy. It did in the short term, then Bush the Smarter dealt with the ensuing Reagan/Bush recession.

And then, of course, we had Gulf War I in order to get everyone's attention off the economy before Bush the Smarter's re-election.

Except the flag waving back then lasted like 3 days. And no one bought Bush's bullshit.

THE END.

[GeorgeGist]

16. Pissed on ...

in a warm and fizzy way.

Which reminds me of a meeting I attended in NOLA. We were evicted early because St. Ronnie was comin to town to speak on the evils of drugs. As I left the conference hall I couldn't help but notice the cases and cases of liquor and the bar being set up for Ronnie's guests.

[EFerrari]

17. The commercial realtors in our area got t-shirts

"We survived Reaganomics!"

[Glimmer of Hope]

18. "Just say no!" That is all I remember.

[BeatleBoot]

19. Social Security Survivor Benefits Taken Away!!!!!

My Mom died when I was 4 years old and I received Social Security Survivor Benefits (as did everyone else) until the age of 18.

When I was in tenth grade High School, the Counselor called me to the office to tell me that Reagan cut out that benefit and that if my family still wanted the benefit that I would have to become a full-time college student.

The new Reagan law stated that you could still receive the benefit if you carried at least 12 credit hours at college.

We didn't have a lot of money and my Dad said, "no". But I did it anyway.

At night, after a full day's study at high school, I commuted to the local community college, taking 12 credit hours each term, so my family could still receive the benefit. For 1 year. Worked part time too, captain of the football team, etc.

I have a big salute for St. Reagan and that's a hearty: Fuck you!

'Tis why I am a Democrat.

[OHdem10]

20. Reagan gave us the America we have today

The Trade Policies Gatt, etc started and every President
since has added to them. GWB is doing his best to put
us in a two tier ditch and tie it with a ribbon.
Truly Mission Accomplished. A Society in which a small
group at the top do very very well an d then there
are the rest of us.

[yes2truth]

21. I did better economically under Reagan than anytime since

We all have to eat, and I earned more money when Reagan was President than I did prior to him or since.

[Cleita]

25. Interest rates on CDs went as high as 18%. Unfortunately most

of us didn't have a minimum of $10,000 savings to invest in them. People who did made lots of money, but like most Republican plans they help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

[uppityperson]

23. My family's business went under, my country sold weapons to terrorists &lied about it.

Social services declined, mentally ill on the streets. Ronnie was an actor who could project a kinglike look, making people swoon. Too bad many did not notice their decreasing income, increasing outgo, debt piling up. He made my parents into Democrats. I was appalled when he was shot, how could anyone do that and use a 22? I learned to keep my mouth shut quickly.

Ronnie was an idiot. His handlers are still in power. My family never recovered.

[Cleita]

24. Homeless people arrived in my neighborhood for the first

time with St. Ronnie. Never mind the dogs pooping and peeing in the alley. Now it was also human feces and urine. It had a big effect on me because it became hazardous to walk down the street just to get the bus to go to work. Being panhandled, accosted by people who needed their meds and were substituting Jim Bean instead, as well as looking at the human misery slouched in the doorways in the morning before the business owners chased them away before they opened for business.

This was twenty seven years ago and nothing meaningful has been done to address the problem of homelessness permanently.

[moondust]

26. Campaign promises.

Cut taxes, balance the budget, "rebuild" the military, whatever your hearts desire...

It was pure bullshit and I assumed everybody knew it because it was so obvious. Wrong.

[NV Whino]

27. Bankruptcy.

[Matsubara]

28. Let's not forget Ronnie DOUBLED the SS Payroll tax...

...which was supposed to make SS solvent for the baby boomers.

But if that had been the real plan, the government wouldn't have looted that trust fund every year since to make the deficit look smaller, and SS would be solvent into the indefinite future.

But looting the trust fund was part of the plan from the beginning, so that the fund would be insolvent when the baby boomers retired, and they could finally do what they always have wanted to do since the 1930s - slash, privatize and essentially destroy social security, which they see as a form of wealth distribution from the haves to the have-nots, and that is something they CANNOT abide by.

[Patsy Stone]

29. I learned in high school that ketchup was now a vegetable.

And he screwed up my student loan something fierce! Bastard.

[RPM]

30. Pittsburgh in 1983 - 24% unemployment

Fuckin' love Reagan.

Asshole.