In my memory, it was a time when ordinary worker's tax burdens increased, wages stagnated, and real estate inflation continued unchallenged.

The ones who came out ahead were financial speculators and defense contractors. The rest of us bit it.

Now the Clinton years were a paradise in comparison...

He really doesn't address good or bad except in the context that people need to
work on today's problems with today's ideas, quit living in the past.

as someone who has to communicate with a lot of those folk -

than Reagan did.

we were still in recession when clinton took office. few ppl i went to school with imagined they'd find a job beyond the retail or restaurant.

and suggested that they should have looked at the conditions that made such a strategy successful, and when other demand-side strategies might be more appropriate.

But yeah, this certainly isn't the time to lose ground and go back to Reagan's misguided and inflated (as in full of hot air) policies. If ever there was such a time.

Back in the day, the Reagan Administration waged a war against the poor. The mentally ill were thrown out on the streets, and aid to the indigent was slashed. There were lots of us who were no fans of Reaganeconomics! It was the first time I actually counted down the days until he no longer could be President! The next time I did that was during the Bush years! But I guess some folks have selective memories and only remember the good of St. Ronnie.

But those two he is writing about, they are like a lot of people who mistake 2012 for 1980, and select what they like.

Since all they have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

The righties claim that tax cuts caused the Reagan boom.

Actually they are talking about personal and corporate income taxes and leave out a big rise in payroll (Social Security and Medicare taxes) and so on net, overall, there wasn't that much of a tax cut.

But what there was was a huge increase in government spending. It was the principle contributor to Reagan nearly tripling the national debt (a 2.87 fold increase). So when the smoke clears, what we had was old-fashioned spend-side Keynesianism: lots of debt-financed government spending leading to a modest boom (in terms of overall real GDP growth).

So the next time some CONNEDservate goober tries to tell you that Reagan's tax cuts caused a boom, tell him, no, it was massive debt-financed spending increases that caused the boom, and emphasized that he nearly tripled the national debt.

They go to the schools, they drive on the roads, the houses are saved from burning, there's not a fucking bandit on every corner...

Yet people still claim it was only THEIR merit. And I have tried, but I can't find an explanation other than an inner racist which lets people think Rmoney is anything but a predator, or create a picture with that $pecimen as President.

Had a tech at the vet's office (have to put IV fluids into the kitty at home for a week or so, and the dog had his B vitamin) talking about economy, jobs being shipped out, and how "Rmoney knows how to fix it". I pointed out that he's part of the group that broke it, sent those jobs away, that O at least stopped the loss of jobs, helped create others, that Rmoney has no plan that he's acknowledged except taking money from the most vulnerable. At this point she shook her head "I just can't stand...Obama" "I can't stand his socialized medicine" where I pointed out that socialized medicine works better than what we have now in virtually every other country, that the gov administration costs about 4% vs insurance historical costs of up to 40%. Pointed out that 40 cents out of every dollar you paid for health care went into a few pockets of wealthy people instead of care for you and the health care bill lowered that a bit - to which she responded that she knows a guy in Spain who is old, and they cut care for the elderly because they're not "useful", so socialized medicine isn't good...

And on like that. I asked what the economic plan to revitalize is, she knows not, but is sure Mi$$ Rmoney can fix it.

On top of that, the receptionist thinks too many people get government money. Her husband friggin' retired from, and they had three kids, on the taxpayer's dime in the Air Force for 20 something years.

Now I have a headache.

Much of the office is like that, but the vet is good, and they give me a bit of a break. I could go away, but if Dems always do that, they lose any voice at all.

Maybe I can ease the mental pain I get when talking with these folks with drugs.