Reaganomics Pros And Cons

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States of America, and, in my opinion, is highly overrated. He has been called the patron saint of conservatives, and the savior of the Republican Party. Reagan has been lifted on a pedestal because of the illusion of security and safety he presented in the final years of the Cold War. While Reagan did provide a figure of strength in a time of crisis, both of his terms in office were plagued with failures. In the following I will cover the shortcomings of the Reagan Administration starting with the failed economics policies, and the spike in unemployment. I will also cover the extreme ignorance of issues facing the American public, specifically AIDS. Then I will cover the Cold War years; a topic that cannot be avoided. I will finish by touching on the education system during Reagan’s reign, and environmental issues of the day.

Reaganomics

I will begin by examining the economics of Reagan’s rule. In my research for this paper, I have found many misconceptions that the Reagan Administration saved the economy of the country. The economic policy was known as trickle-down, or supply-side economics, more commonly referred to as Reaganomics. To put it in basic terms, Reaganomics included large tax cuts for the wealthy. The large tax cuts, paired with a large increase in military spending, lead to a massive debt for the country.

Reagan increased military spending by 35%, and tripled the national deficit (American Experience, 2013). Upon entering the office of President, Reagan faced a national debt of $900 billion. When he left the debt was over $2.8 trillion. To add insult to injury, a number of military projects were not finished, or were not used. Case in point; the Star Wars projec...

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.... Including the support of The Taliban, which would later come back to devastate many lives.

Reagan ignored the failing education systems in America, and stripped many clean energy projects of funding. If he had not done this, we may have been many years further advanced in making green energy a viable reality.

As you can tell from this reading, I find President Ronald Reagan to be highly overrated. It is always easy to judge through a proverbial window, and I would never wish to serve as President of the United States. While I do not agree with many of the policies that the Reagan Administration put into place, the country did not self-destruct under his rule. In the end, I believe that every person who takes the mantle of The President of the United States of America wishes to leave the country better than before. I personally do not feel that Regan did that.