sethnintendo said:
You keep loving Reagan but was the economy that great in the 80s? I don't know as much considering I was just growing up then. I do know the 90s were pretty decent economic times but still not best. I know for fact Reagan started driving up debt during the 80s. His plan was cut taxes for rich brackets mainly and increase military spending to outspend Russia in the Cold War.
"When charted in dollars, in Chart 4.01, the total accumulation of federal debt looks huge. Looking back over the last century, the debt back in 1900 doesn’t really register. But by charting accumulated debt as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Chart 4.02, you get a look at government debt compared to the size of the economy at the time."
" Starting at 45 percent of GDP in 1941 federal debt zoomed, reaching almost 119 percent of GDP in 1946 after the end of the war, with state and local debt adding another 7 percent. For the next 35 years successive governments brought down the debt, but then came President Reagan. He increased the federal debt up to 50 percent of GDP to win the Cold War. President Bush increased the debt to fight a war on terror and bail out the banks. President Obama increased the debt to fund a plan to revive the economy in the aftermath of the Crash of 2008, peaking at 120.6 percent of GDP, federal, state and local in 2014. Debt is expected to decline as percent of GDP in the near future."
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/debt_deficit_history
You keep touting Reagan like his Voodoo economics was a miracle for the US economy. I'm just not seeing it. You can't cut taxes along with social programs but then pump up the defense budget. Driving up the military budget won't offset the cuts in social programs. Basically, Republicans want to increase the size of government military wise but slash social programs that many Americans rely on. Doesn't seem right in my book. They also say oh there is so much fraud in welfare, food stamps, etc... Sure there is but you know what I believe the US military has way more fraud. If you want to save some money don't increase the military budget. Give it a full audit and get rid of all the bullshit waste projects that we have or have done with private contractors wasting untold billions.
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Nowhere I'm saying it was a miracle. I don't even like Reagan, he over spent on military, favored riches, poverty increased (a little, but in an economy growing a lot) and Wall Street started to go wild, I consider him as the root of many current problems. But you are wrong about questionning the growth, or seeing it with only the debt metric, or only as a laughable voodoo. He got the economy from a -0.5 growth to a 4% GDP growth on average for 8 years, created 21 million jobs, median income increased, he did took care of Japan unfair competition, and really, new companies flourished. Before he started his economic reform, USA growth perspectives were gloomy, the competitivity was decreasing. That's why nobody really dared to undo the "voodoo", Bush Sr. included, Obama included. So I believe it's a fair example in my reply to "These old con economic policies haven't worked in the past and they won't work in the future." It worked on the economic side, and it could have been a lot better with more control of the debt, or at least investment in infrastructures and schools rather than military. Any president in the next 28 years was in charge of doing better.
About debt, he was indeed first to have high level of debt, but every president is responsible for his share of debt. And it's not specific to USA. But, and that's a point I agree on with Trump, if debt increases, at least you have to see some results, it has to be an investment. I based my numbers on wikipedia, because most debt sites have a politic agenda, but Reagan generated 2 billions $ debt, Bush Jr 6 billions, and Obama about 8. For Obama it's hard to compare, because he started with an ongoing war, very high debt level, and a major financial problem (but we can't say he did a wonderful job). But Bush, really, for 6 billions you got a failed war, a financial crisis, more problems, and that's pretty much it.
So yeah, tax cuts, infrastructure spending, get money back with better deals (China, military base, etc.), get rid of tax loopholes, review the spending, tax Chinese imports and get back the money from offshore seems like a very good plan for me.