In Retrospect? Lots of Reagan Policies - Didn't Work. Let's Keep What Did
It’s an ongoing debate as to who said it - but it is eminently important:
“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?”
As it turns out - hindsight isn’t always 20/20.
Most Republicans old enough to remember Ronald Wilson Reagan - still deify him.
Except subsequent US history - has been exceedingly unkind to much of his history as our nation’s 40th President.
This needs to be acknowledged. Because today’s Republicans are citing Reagan-ism in defense of all sorts of exceedingly stupid policies.
To wit: Republicans cite Reagan-ism as the reason to continue sending hundreds of billions of US dollars we don’t have - to an irrelevant border skirmish between Russia and Ukraine.
We of course have no idea what Reagan would do now. But if he would have supported this particular bit of foreign policy idiocy? He would have been very, very wrong.
It is fair to speculate that he might have supported it. His chief alleged accomplishment was described by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as “winning the Cold War without firing a shot.”
Except we didn’t win the Cold War. We’re losing it - right now.
The Soviet Union’s objective - was to destroy Western Civilization. And they figured out the best way to do it - was to get Western Civilization to commit suicide.
Mission (being) Accomplished.
A KGB Defector Chillingly Predicted Modern America:
“A disturbing interview given by a KGB defector in 1984 describes America of today and outlines four stages of mass brainwashing used by the KGB….
“His most chilling point was that there’s a long-term plan put in play by Russia to defeat America through psychological warfare and ‘demoralization.’ It’s a long game that takes decades to achieve…."
Today, is anyone of any intelligence genuinely optimistic about the future of any nation that was aligned against the Soviet Union?
The US? Canada? Western Europe? They’re all collapsing - under the weight of their own self-imposed demoralization.
Another way the Soviets got the US to commit suicide? Was to get the US to massively deficit spend - to massively over-fund the military-industrial complex.
About which President Dwight Eisenhower rightly warned in 1961.
“But we needed to do everything we could to stop the Soviet Union” - Retro-Republicans say.
But…did we? Really?
I’ve asked the following a million times about our Ukraine idiocy - and never, ever received an answer:
“If Russia takes over Ukraine - how does that affect even one Amercian?”
I’ll answer it: It doesn’t affect the life of a single Amercian - at all.
Heck - Russia ran Ukraine for half of the 20th Century. And it did not affect the life of a single American - at all.
Our Ukraine idiocy - is a continuation of many decades of our foreign policy idiocy.
In the 1950s - if Korea had gone entirely Communist? No Amercian would have been affected - at all. But we went to war there anyway.
We went to war in Vietnam - and in 1975 Vietnam went entirely Communist anyway. No American was subsequently affected - at all.
Please do not misunderstand. Many hundreds of thousands of Americans were affected - by our idiotic wars in those countries.
Those we sent - and their loved ones - would have been much better off had we allowed them to stay home. So would have been all the rest of US.
In the 1980s, Reagan took that military deficit spending - and sent it into the stratosphere.
We were told this was to end the Soviet Union - and its Communism.
Except those with any intelligence know - Communism is a terrible economic model. Any country/empire built upon those shifting sands - is destined to fail.
Reagan knew this. He said so often.
So why not just…let it happen? We should have left the Soviet Union alone - and allowed it to collapse under its own weight.
Why commit economic suicide ourselves - in the name of their inevitable suicide?
Speaking of US economic suicide….
Reagan did preside over a very successful domestic economy. But it was a short-term success - that fed into our long-term failure.
Republican President Richard Nixon famously went to Communist China in 1972 (while they were still shooting at US in Vietnam, by the way).
Which was the beginning of the end of US domestic industry and manufacturing - and our economic health and well being.
Nixon’s trip - was on behalf of US businesses. Which no longer wanted to be US businesses.
They preferred instead moving out of the US - and using Chinese slave labor to make cheaper stuff. Which they would send back to the US - and undercut remaining US businesses. Lather, rinse, repeat….
What began in 1972 - is today a US economy that is 70% consumption.
A country that makes nothing - and does nothing but spend? Is doomed to collapse in a heap.
Especially when you end up relying on Communists - for lots of stuff you vitally need.
The U.S. Imports a Lot of Food from China - And You Might Be Surprised What’s on the List
Pentagon Agencies Are Using Even More Chinese Suppliers
Outsourcing U.S. Drug Manufacturing to China was a Mistake
You can’t wreck a Communist country - by funding it.
We Shouldn’t Be Doing Business with Communist China
Reagan’s 1980s - was a beneficiary of the short-term boost of the ongoing (Chinese) outsourcing. As it contributed to our long-term rot.
And Reagan - incorrectly in the name of “deregulation” - helped it all along.
I’m all for deregulation - domestically.
But when you allow US companies to move to the likes of Communist China - and murder tens of millions of US jobs? And with it the US economy?
You aren’t helping America - or Americans. “Free trade” my posterior.
Reagan was a two-term participant in this US economic exodus.
Also in the name of “deregulation,” Reagan also foolishly allowed for massive corporate consolidation:
“In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration drastically altered American antitrust policy, virtually eliminating Section 2 cases involving monopolies.”
To this day, Retro-Republicans defend this Reagan failure. And look increasingly stupid doing so.
In part - because Big Business has long loathed Republicans. Because there are still a few Republicans - who haven’t totally sold out the US to Big Business. The Democrats have no such contingent….
Top US Companies Increase Donations to Democratic Groups
Barack Obama's Billionaire Backers
Here Are the Billionaires Backing Hillary Clinton
Here Are the Billionaires Who Donated to Joe Biden’s 2020 Campaign
Billionaires Rush to Back Harris After Biden’s Exit
Most Republicans - keep defending their abusers.
J.D. Vance Pick Unnerves GOP’s Business Elite
Big Tech Antitrust Push in Congress Is Blunted by GOP-Led House
Republican Stimulus Package May Come With a Benefit for Big Banks
Regarding the Big Banks - this is where Reagan-esque Retro-Republican deregulation - would actually work.
Because the Big Banks got big - because of Big Government.
In 2008, decades of Big Government-mandated home-lending idiocy had massively inflated the Big Banks. And then it destroyed the global economy.
How the Federal Government Created the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Fueled the Subprime Mortgage Bubble:
“Fannie and Freddie did not themselves lend to homebuyers, but would buy home loans from the bank or mortgage lender, keeping them on their books or packaging them up into securities and selling them to investors.
“In this way, they create a liquid secondary market, so the bank got its money back and could lend even more to prospective homebuyers.
“Both Fannie and Freddie are collectively known as ‘government-sponsored enterprises.’ As a financial institution, a GSE is the worst of all possible worlds - privately owned but directed by the government, allowing the company to pocket profits in good times and saddle taxpayers with losses in bad times.”
Big Government’s response to its failures? More Big Government, natch.
The 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act didn’t end “Too Big to Fail” banks. It further empowered and grew them.
Dodd-Frank Is Making Big Banks Bigger, Crippling Small Banks
Yet we are getting no retro-Republican-ism - from the Retro-Republicans.
Back in 2018 - when Republican President Donald Trump was in the White House and his Party controlled both houses of Congress?
No, Dodd-Frank Was Neither Repealed Nor Gutted. Here’s What Really Happened:
“Despite Republican control of Congress and the White House, Dodd-Frank’s structure remains largely intact. If this legislation is the largest change made to Dodd-Frank during Trump’s time in office, then Dodd-Frank will have survived its first major political test.”
Subprime Mortgages Make a Comeback - With a New Name
US Approves Freddie Mac Pilot Program to Buy Second Mortgages
Because their just continuing to buy first mortgages - isn’t catastrophic enough.
Deja Screw: 1.7 Million+ Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) Start Coming Due in 2024
We may have another Republican-control sweep this November.
Let’s actually enact good policy this time.
Let’s roll back Dodd-Frank.
Let’s FINALLY end government-backed stupid lending policy.
Let’s keep the Reagan-ism that works - and finally rid ourselves of the Reagan-ism that doesn’t.
The facts have changed. We should change along with them.
Good points, EXCEPT the BS attribution to Reagan. HE won the Cold War. The administrative globalist re-started it and along with the Marxists are doing everything they can to lose!