RONALD REAGAN - FURTHER COMMENTS

Ronald Reagan has been deified by many Republicans (for example, the pundit Peggy Noonan, also a former Reagan speech writer, is an extreme case.) and even some Democrats have shown their appreciation. I have made some comments on him at http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/02/ronald-reagan.html. Yet, these people who have deified Reagan have had to overlook a lot. The following is taken from an article in Newsweek, July 19, 2010.

Taxes

Though Reagan is particularly remembered by many for his 1982 tax reduction action, they also overlook that he raised taxes a number of times when he saw the loss of Federal revenues as a result. In 1983 he restored about a third of the cuts from the 1982 bill, the largest tax increase ever.

In 1983, he raised the gasoline tax by 5 cents and established a pay-roll tax hike.

In 1984, he did away with some tax loopholes, saving $50 billion over 3 yrs.

In 1986, he was for the Tax Reform Act that raised $420 billion in new fees on business.

Federal Employment

I have previously mentioned that Reagan increased the number of Federal employees though many remember him as a small government advocate. The Newsweek article gives this number as 60,000 whereas they say that Clinton decreased Federal employees by 373,000 (including me).

Federal Budget

The Newsweek article states that the national debt increased from $700 billion to $3 trillion during Reagan tenure as president.

Miscellaneous

Ronald Reagan did a number of things with which I agree, but the religious right core of the Republican party, in particular, abhors today. Among other things, he had a lot of sympathy for gays.

As governor of California, Reagan signed an act that legalized abortions into law.

He opposed proposition 6 that would have barred gays from participation in public schools.

He was the first president to have a gay couple stay overnight in the white House.

He signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act that gave amnesty to millions of illegals though it had provisions that were to end illegal immigration. Unfortunately the 50% increase in border guards did not stem the tide and businesses outsourced a lot of their employees through subcontractors to avoid having to certify that they were not hiring illegals.

There is much to many pundits opinions that Ronald Reagan couldn't get the Republican nomination today.