Ronald Reagan's 1961 Speech

[murra]

I was flipping through the radio in the car today when I came across what seemed like a Reagan clip. It turned out WBEN was airing the entire 10 minute segment unabridged. I tuned in, listened and realized how impressively insightful Reagan was almost 50 years ago.

 

I was able to find it on the internet here.

 

Just give it a listen, because he makes some points I have not exactly heard made from either side... such as the possibility of doctors losing practically all of their job associated freedom. It's just a nice taste of anti-government regulation and I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

 

Edit: I found a better link.

[Magox]

I was flipping through the radio in the car today when I came across what seemed like a Reagan clip. It turned out WBEN was airing the entire 10 minute segment unabridged. I tuned in, listened and realized how impressively insightful Reagan was almost 50 years ago.

 

I was able to find it on the internet here.

 

Just give it a listen, because he makes some points I have not exactly heard made from either side... such as the possibility of doctors losing practically all of their job associated freedom. It's just a nice taste of anti-government regulation and I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

 

Edit: I found a better link.

Good stuff, I had seen that a couple months ago. Amazing some of the stuff he says and how it applies to today.

 

I wish Ronny was around today, we could use a real leader like him.

[billsfan89]

Good stuff, I had seen that a couple months ago. Amazing some of the stuff he says and how it applies to today.

 

I wish Ronny was around today, we could use a real leader like him.

 

Yeah we need a real leader a guy who won't spend in record deficits Oh wait Regan pretty much set the standard for deficit spending. You can't just cut taxes and ramp up spending on defense and expect the budget to be balanced because you cut money form Welfate (We spend over half a trillion on our army and only 40 Billion on social and corporate welfare) but no cuts anywhere else?

 

Regan was a paper tiger not saying he was a terrible president at all but that he wasn't this great conservative leader and his idea of deficit spending hurt this country. He also did nothing to keep manfaucturing jobs from leaving this country either. Honestly we have been stuck in the 80's for the last two decades politically.

[murra]

Yeah we need a real leader a guy who won't spend in record deficits Oh wait Regan pretty much set the standard for deficit spending. You can't just cut taxes and ramp up spending on defense and expect the budget to be balanced because you cut money form Welfate (We spend over half a trillion on our army and only 40 Billion on social and corporate welfare) but no cuts anywhere else?

 

Regan was a paper tiger not saying he was a terrible president at all but that he wasn't this great conservative leader and his idea of deficit spending hurt this country. He also did nothing to keep manfaucturing jobs from leaving this country either. Honestly we have been stuck in the 80's for the last two decades politically.

 

It's spelled Reagan.

[Magox]

Yeah we need a real leader a guy who won't spend in record deficits Oh wait Regan pretty much set the standard for deficit spending. You can't just cut taxes and ramp up spending on defense and expect the budget to be balanced because you cut money form Welfate (We spend over half a trillion on our army and only 40 Billion on social and corporate welfare) but no cuts anywhere else?

 

Regan was a paper tiger not saying he was a terrible president at all but that he wasn't this great conservative leader and his idea of deficit spending hurt this country. He also did nothing to keep manfaucturing jobs from leaving this country either. Honestly we have been stuck in the 80's for the last two decades politically.

Ya, I guess that Inflation thingy he inherited from the 70's didn't play a role in economic policy in the 80's. I guess 13.5% Inflation rate was pretty insignficant by the time he stepped into office in 1980. Which of course many tough, unpopular decisions had to be made that effectively killed off the worst inflation we had ever seen here in the U.S which then led to one of the worst recessions we had seen since the great depression. It was tough, it led to high unemployment (temporarily) and reduced tax receipts which of course helped lead to deficits.

 

Ya, and I guess that Cold War thing was pretty insignificant to. Nevermind that it was the single largest threat militarily Post World War II on our homeland. I guess it wasn't that important to spend money on our defense and it was unjustified that 6.2% of the GDP came from defense spending.

 

How quickly we forget

 

But nevermind that during his presidency he created over 15 Million jobs, nevermind that under his presidency the inflation rate dropped from 13.5% to 3.2%.

 

Or that Reagan was the single biggest reason that led to the end of the 'Cold War'.

 

And as a result of the end of the 'Cold War', Defense spending went from 6.2% to 2.9% of total GDP. Ya, I guess the end of the Cold War didn't lead to reduced Defense Spending

 

Real median family income grew by $4,000 during Reagan's presidency after experiencing no growth in the pre Reagan years, and Real median family income experienced a loss of almost $1,500 in the post Reagan years.

 

And 8 of the 10 most important key economic variables examined, the U.S economy performed better during the Reagan years than during the pre and post Reagan years.

 

Nevermind that the American economy grew by more than a third in size, producing a $15 trillion increase in American wealth. Every income group, from the richest, middle class and poorest in this country, grew its income (1981-1989)

 

Consumer and investor confidence soared.

 

Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute stated that "no act in the last quarter century had a more profound impact on the US economy of the eighties and nineties than the Reagan tax cut of 1981." He claims that Reagan's tax cuts, combined with an emphasis on federal monetary policy, deregulation, and expansion of free trade created a sustained economic expansion creating America's greatest sustained wave of prosperity ever.

 

But hey, let's not have the facts get in the way of the truth right?

[KD in CA]

Honestly we have been stuck in the 80's for the last two decades politically.

 

Thank God Obama is here to lead us out of that mess and into an era of fiscal responsibility.

[billsfan89]

Thank God Obama is here to lead us out of that mess and into an era of fiscal responsibility.

 

Not saying he was going to do that but we can't keep doing the things we did in the 1980's our country just can't sustain that for very long and tens of trillions of dollars debt is the proof of that.

[billsfan89]

Ya, I guess that Inflation thingy he inherited from the 70's didn't play a role in economic policy in the 80's. I guess 13.5% Inflation rate was pretty insignficant by the time he stepped into office in 1980. Which of course many tough, unpopular decisions had to be made that effectively killed off the worst inflation we had ever seen here in the U.S which then led to one of the worst recessions we had seen since the great depression. It was tough, it led to high unemployment (temporarily) and reduced tax receipts which of course helped lead to deficits.

 

Ya, and I guess that Cold War thing was pretty insignificant to. Nevermind that it was the single largest threat militarily Post World War II on our homeland. I guess it wasn't that important to spend money on our defense and it was unjustified that 6.2% of the GDP came from defense spending.

 

How quickly we forget

 

But nevermind that during his presidency he created over 15 Million jobs, nevermind that under his presidency the inflation rate dropped from 13.5% to 3.2%.

 

Or that Reagan was the single biggest reason that led to the end of the 'Cold War'.

 

And as a result of the end of the 'Cold War', Defense spending went from 6.2% to 2.9% of total GDP. Ya, I guess the end of the Cold War didn't lead to reduced Defense Spending

 

Real median family income grew by $4,000 during Reagan's presidency after experiencing no growth in the pre Reagan years, and Real median family income experienced a loss of almost $1,500 in the post Reagan years.

 

And 8 of the 10 most important key economic variables examined, the U.S economy performed better during the Reagan years than during the pre and post Reagan years.

 

Nevermind that the American economy grew by more than a third in size, producing a $15 trillion increase in American wealth. Every income group, from the richest, middle class and poorest in this country, grew its income (1981-1989)

 

Consumer and investor confidence soared.

 

Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute stated that "no act in the last quarter century had a more profound impact on the US economy of the eighties and nineties than the Reagan tax cut of 1981." He claims that Reagan's tax cuts, combined with an emphasis on federal monetary policy, deregulation, and expansion of free trade created a sustained economic expansion creating America's greatest sustained wave of prosperity ever.

 

But hey, let's not have the facts get in the way of the truth right?

 

How many manufacturing jobs did we loose as a result of those policies? Oh yeah not to mention deregulation that led to the savings and loan crisis. Oh maybe the Cold War was one by an economic collapse in Russia rather than a ramped up spending on military programs many of whom were never going to work (Star Wars).

 

When you cut taxes and increase spending and deregulate the banks of course more money is going to be pumped into the economy the point is that you can only do it for so long before you see the bad side effects (Deficits, boom and bust bubbles in the newly deregulated industries, and loss of manufactureing jobs).

 

So to give the Gipper such worship just isn't accurate. He did things to create a surge in the economy for a certain period of time but once you have the surge there is a down side. Free Trade gave us cheaper goods but now a lot of people who use to make the older goods are now unemployed and now we have a huge gap in between service jobs and manufacturing jobs.

 

Deregulation leads to things like the sub prime crisis. Federal Monetary policy? Huge deficits are good Monetary policy?

[Magox]

How many manufacturing jobs did we loose as a result of those policies? Oh yeah not to mention deregulation that led to the savings and loan crisis. Oh maybe the Cold War was one by an economic collapse in Russia rather than a ramped up spending on military programs many of whom were never going to work (Star Wars).

 

When you cut taxes and increase spending and deregulate the banks of course more money is going to be pumped into the economy the point is that you can only do it for so long before you see the bad side effects (Deficits, boom and bust bubbles in the newly deregulated industries, and loss of manufactureing jobs).

 

So to give the Gipper such worship just isn't accurate. He did things to create a surge in the economy for a certain period of time but once you have the surge there is a down side. Free Trade gave us cheaper goods but now a lot of people who use to make the older goods are now unemployed and now we have a huge gap in between service jobs and manufacturing jobs.

 

Deregulation leads to things like the sub prime crisis. Federal Monetary policy? Huge deficits are good Monetary policy?

Way to ignore the facts

[Fingon]

Yeah we need a real leader a guy who won't spend in record deficits Oh wait Regan pretty much set the standard for deficit spending. You can't just cut taxes and ramp up spending on defense and expect the budget to be balanced because you cut money form Welfate (We spend over half a trillion on our army and only 40 Billion on social and corporate welfare) but no cuts anywhere else?

 

Regan was a paper tiger not saying he was a terrible president at all but that he wasn't this great conservative leader and his idea of deficit spending hurt this country. He also did nothing to keep manfaucturing jobs from leaving this country either. Honestly we have been stuck in the 80's for the last two decades politically.

Wait, how is Reagan responsible for the deficit spending during his presidency? If you looked at his proposed budgets, you would see that the deficit would have been a mere fraction of what it actually was. You can blame the democratically controlled congress for the debt.

[billsfan89]

Wait, how is Reagan responsible for the deficit spending during his presidency? If you looked at his proposed budgets, you would see that the deficit would have been a mere fraction of what it actually was. You can blame the democratically controlled congress for the debt.

 

Ronald Reagan has said him self that his greatest regret as president was the deficits. He not the Congress spent wildly and recklessly on the military (Yeah the cold war was important but we were out spending the Soviets during the 50's 60's and 70's and we weren't winning the war) The Soviet Union would have collapsed had we only out spent them on the military 3 to 1 instead of 5 to 1. The Soviet economic collapse and the fact that countries like Poland were breaking away from the Iron Curtain due to bad economies is what led to their downfall.

 

Reagan's greatest triumph was as another poster mentioned was reducing inflation (Paul Volcker and the Fed also helped out with this but during the 1970's inflation was running rampant) he also oversaw a big economic boom (Although it wasn't as big as the 1960's/1950's boom and was about as big as the 1990's boom with both being better in certain areas) but the poverty level remained the same and savings declined. It wasn't the fact that we were working on a Death Star that was never going to be built.

 

Reagan's decisions of military build up and tax cuts are what led to deficits and the idea of deficit spending is what kept the Republican Congress of the 1990's and 2000's to keep spending in deficits and now the Dems are continuing the practices they encouraged in the 1980's.

[Fingon]

Ronald Reagan has said him self that his greatest regret as president was the deficits. He not the Congress spent wildly and recklessly on the military (Yeah the cold war was important but we were out spending the Soviets during the 50's 60's and 70's and we weren't winning the war) The Soviet Union would have collapsed had we only out spent them on the military 3 to 1 instead of 5 to 1. The Soviet economic collapse and the fact that countries like Poland were breaking away from the Iron Curtain due to bad economies is what led to their downfall.

 

Reagan's greatest triumph was as another poster mentioned was reducing inflation (Paul Volcker and the Fed also helped out with this but during the 1970's inflation was running rampant) he also oversaw a big economic boom (Although it wasn't as big as the 1960's/1950's boom and was about as big as the 1990's boom with both being better in certain areas) but the poverty level remained the same and savings declined.

 

Reagan's decisions of military build up and tax cuts are what led to deficits and the idea of deficit spending is what kept the Republican Congress of the 1990's and 2000's to keep spending in deficits and now the Dems are continuing the practices they encouraged in the 1980's.

Yet, if you look at the budgets that Reagan submitted to Congress, you will see that they are far lower in cost. I don't see how you can blame the deficit on him, when he advocated much less spending than what congress actually approved.

[Wacka]

I forgot who it was, but the head of the Ways and Means Committee would declare Reagan's budgets DOA every year when he submitted them. Gram-Rudman was working until Congress decided to ignore it.

[Cheeseburger_in_paradise]

Ronald Reagan has said him self that his greatest regret as president was the deficits. He not the Congress spent wildly and recklessly on the military (Yeah the cold war was important but we were out spending the Soviets during the 50's 60's and 70's and we weren't winning the war) The Soviet Union would have collapsed had we only out spent them on the military 3 to 1 instead of 5 to 1. The Soviet economic collapse and the fact that countries like Poland were breaking away from the Iron Curtain due to bad economies is what led to their downfall.

 

Reagan's greatest triumph was as another poster mentioned was reducing inflation (Paul Volcker and the Fed also helped out with this but during the 1970's inflation was running rampant) he also oversaw a big economic boom (Although it wasn't as big as the 1960's/1950's boom and was about as big as the 1990's boom with both being better in certain areas) but the poverty level remained the same and savings declined. It wasn't the fact that we were working on a Death Star that was never going to be built.

 

Reagan's decisions of military build up and tax cuts are what led to deficits and the idea of deficit spending is what kept the Republican Congress of the 1990's and 2000's to keep spending in deficits and now the Dems are continuing the practices they encouraged in the 1980's.

 

 

Here is why you are stupid (I'm sure this doesn't cover everything). (1) Congress has the purse strings, not the President. (2) The Soviets were spending a huge percentage of their GNP (way beyond us) trying to keep up. (3) Don't try to explain the ECONOMIES of countries behind the former Iron Curtain (The smartest Economists on earth can't even agree about how ours works). (4) Military spending during the 80's helped working Americans, and no one else (duh).

 

Before you head back to your own planet, understand this: The tax base during the 80's grew. Thank you Ronald Reagan for the the vision and the leadership. God help us now.

[billsfan89]

Here is why you are stupid (I'm sure this doesn't cover everything). (1) Congress has the purse strings, not the President. (2) The Soviets were spending a huge percentage of their GNP (way beyond us) trying to keep up. (3) Don't try to explain the ECONOMIES of countries behind the former Iron Curtain (The smartest Economists on earth can't even agree about how ours works). (4) Military spending during the 80's helped working Americans, and no one else (duh).

 

Before you head back to your own planet, understand this: The tax base during the 80's grew. Thank you Ronald Reagan for the the vision and the leadership. God help us now.

 

The tax base grew true BUT it increased at the same rate it did from 1974 to 1981 (1974 to 1981 24.1 percent 1982 to 1989 24.4 percent) I am not disputing this at all also family income on average grew but the poverty level remained unchanged (Now not saying that's bad middle class and upper class growth is hugely important). What I am disputing is the notion that Reagan's deficits were fueled by the Congress. Reagan never submitted a balanced budget and he never used veto power.

 

Reagan was a mixed bag. He let deficits run wild yet he curbed inflation. The household income rose yet the poverty level stayed the same. The tax cuts didn't fund themselves they didn't dramatically increase tax receipts (only a .3 percent increase in tax receipts). The deregulation led to Wall Street rising yet it led to the savings and loan crisis and led to a culture that fueled the sub prime crisis (More so Clinton's fault than Reagan).

 

He opened up free trade which led to cheaper goods however many Americans lost jobs as a result of the manufacturing job base going overseas. I am not some bleeding heart liberal who hates Reagan and loves Clinton I think both were mixed bags I simply see the good and the bad.

[Booster4324]

Here is why you are stupid (I'm sure this doesn't cover everything). (1) Congress has the purse strings, not the President. (2) The Soviets were spending a huge percentage of their GNP (way beyond us) trying to keep up. (3) Don't try to explain the ECONOMIES of countries behind the former Iron Curtain (The smartest Economists on earth can't even agree about how ours works). (4) Military spending during the 80's helped working Americans, and no one else (duh).

 

Before you head back to your own planet, understand this: The tax base during the 80's grew. Thank you Ronald Reagan for the the vision and the leadership. God help us now.

 

Did it grow in the 90s? How about for Bush II?

[Magox]

Did it grow in the 90s? How about for Bush II?

Booster, if the 'Cold War' hadn't ended, there would of been better than a decent chance that Clinton would have had to of spent much more than 3% of GDP on Defense; Where as during Reagans presidency they spent 6.2% of GDP on defense. So, we shouldn't forget that.

 

The other thing that we are not taking into account is that when Reagan took office, unemployment was up close to 7.5%, and as a result of the inflationary mess that Carter had left him, interest rates went through the roof and had to go through a very painful recession that led to nearly a 11% unemployment.

 

But as a result of his reduction of income and capital gains tax rates, which led to a doubling of tax receipts in his second term, free trade policies which created more wealth, contributed more to our GDP and control of the money supply that significantly reduced inflation from 13% to 3%, the U.S had never experienced such a sustained period of prosperity and led to 96 straight months of growth, which is a peace time record, and most importantly he didn't preside or induce any bubbles during his tenure .

 

It was these policies that laid the foundation for prosperity in the U.S for many years to come. By the time he left office, despite some of the lost manufacturing jobs, the economy added over 15 Million jobs. Inflation was muted. Real incomes, not just for the rich, but for the middle class and poor rose at an average of $4500, and the Defense spending reduced significantly due to the end of the 'Cold War'.

 

Where as Clinton presided over the Dot Com Bubble, which luckily for him burst in 2000, which of course he got to rake in all the benefits of the bubble before it had burst.

 

Clinton also in 1992 enacted the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 which required Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to devote a percentage of their lending to support affordable housing increasing their pooling and selling of such loans as securities.

 

In 1995 he wrote into law the New Community Reinvestment Act which encouraged community groups and lower income earners to complain to subprime mortgage lenders and regulators by allowing community groups that marketed loans to collect a brokers fee; Fannie Mae was able to receive affordable housing credit for buying subprime securities. Fannie Mae was also easing the credit requirements to encourage subprime mortgage lenders to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit was not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.

 

 

by 1998 homes prices in some major cities were rising as much as 10% annually.

 

But the big one for me is the Repeal of Glass-Steagall Act which allowed Depository Banking institutions to partake in riskier investments, allowed them to invest in unregulated MBS, which in my view exasperated the whole Debacle that we just went through.

 

Clinton also let Osama get away, which he had the opportunity to get him, and there is a real distinct possibility that if they would of gotten to him, 9/11 may have never occured.

 

Clinton was able to reap the benefits of his disastrous policies because they didn't unfold or burst for many years later, after his presidency.

 

When historians look into his economic policies, it will be quite evident that his legacy will be tarnished.

[Gene Frenkle]

You asshats should know better than to badmouth the great leader. You might as well start talking schitt about Jesus Christ himself. Frakkin heathens!

[Wacka]

The tax base grew true BUT it increased at the same rate it did from 1974 to 1981 (1974 to 1981 24.1 percent 1982 to 1989 24.4 percent) I am not disputing this at all also family income on average grew but the poverty level remained unchanged (Now not saying that's bad middle class and upper class growth is hugely important). What I am disputing is the notion that Reagan's deficits were fueled by the Congress. Reagan never submitted a balanced budget and he never used veto power.

 

Reagan didn't veto because the dems had enough votes to override his veto Also he'd have to veto the whole budget. there is no line item veto in the Federal system.

[billsfan89]

About the notion that Reagan was powerless against the Congress in terms of the budget. The Dems in 1981-1983 couldn't over turn a veto 435 seats in total 290 required for an override the Dems had 242 seats with 1 independent well short of an override. In 1983 to 1985 the Dems increased their seats to 269 still short by 21 votes (No independents). In 1985 to 1987 the Dems had 253 seats once again short of an override.

 

My point is its not like Reagan fought tooth and nail for the budget to have smaller deficits. He didn't use veto power (Yeah I know no line item veto but veto the whole thing and resubmit it in its original form at no point during his presidency did he have a Congress that could override his veto). If deficits are so important (And now that Obama is in charge the right seems to think so) why did he not even try once to veto the budget even if it was just a token gesture to show that he didn't like what they were doing or submit a budget that didn't include deficits and show that it was the Congress creating them.

 

To me I see the good and the bad with Reagan some choose to only see the good and than see the bad as a pragmatic necessary evil. Its just that the guy wasn't perfect and his policies aren't always the best way to go at all times although some times our country does need those kind of policies.

 

The curbing of inflation his biggest accomplishment the loss of manfaucturing jobs (Something I believe that will hurt this country big time in the next 30 years) his biggest failure. I feel a lot of people overrate the job his tax cuts did (As I pointed out before tax receipts from 1974 to 1981 increased 24.1 percent where as in 1982 to 1989 tax receipts increased 24.4 percent). I also think that the military build up wasn't what won the Cold War it was something that looked nice but had only a lesser effect than what it was perceived to have.

 

Like I have said before I just see the Good and the bad with the guy that's all. Now Teddy Roosevelt that was a real leader (Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for someone to rip him apart and point out his flaws)