Pros And Cons Of Reaganomics

514 Words2 Pages

Reaganomics lives on. Former president Ronald Reagan's dramatic economic policies are influencing U.S. and world growth — and government action — more than 20 years after he pushed his radical plan to slash taxes, increase defense spending and cut social programs through a divided Democratic Congress.Reagan steered the country toward free markets and away from government controls. Despite a still-raging battle about the wisdom, and success, of his agenda, many current economic debates, both here and abroad, play on themes sounded in the Reagan era. • President Bush's tax cuts are direct descendents of Reagan's policies, which made tax reduction the central tenet of growth. Critics say the Bush administration's tolerance for high deficits, and debt, …show more content…

business growth, globalization and worker angst have roots in the Reagan administration. But the former president imposed import restrictions on Japanese autos and other goods, and increased farm subsidies despite free trade rhetoric, complicating today's trade talks. • Union officials trace the decline in labor clout partly to Reagan's 1981 decision to fire striking federal air traffic controllers. Liberal groups say a 20-year trend toward rising income inequality was hastened by Reagan's policies. In the end, supporters see a president who made some of the most important changes in the 20th century — liberating the economy here and in emerging countries abroad and unleashing historic growth — though he failed to cut the size of government and control spending. "He brought to the fore the whole notion of free market economics," says Arthur Laffer, the economist behind the supply-side theories that formed the basis of Reagan's policies. "What Reagan did as much as anything, was to convert the Democrats as a more conservative, pro-growth party." Laffer's supply-side theory holds that revenue falls off if tax rates climb too high and people have less incentive to

Open Document