"JUST SAY NO!" to Reaganomics

I think TIME has proven this to be a failed economic policy. As you'll read in this article, even President G.H.W. Bush, saw it as a sham, calling it "VooDoo Economics." And as the first Pres. Bush would also say, "JUST SAY NO!"

I stated in one of my first posts:

We have CEOs who live in ivory towers. We have a conservative base who still believes some of that wealth is going to trickle down out of the ivory tower and magically make a difference at ground level. Has it made a difference in your life?

In evaluating the effects of Reaganomics, Paul Krugman points out in his January 2008 NY Times Op-ed, "But while the rich got much richer, there was little sustained economic improvement for most Americans. By the late 1980s, middle-class incomes were barely higher than they had been a decade before — and the poverty rate had actually risen."

We NEED our middle class. And while I don't think the rich should be taxed at 91%, it shouldn't be 28%, either! The Salon.com article, "Reaganomics killed America's middle class," promotes the redistribution of wealth through taxation. I'm for the FAIR distribution of wealth through more ethical taxation. After all, if the uber wealthy are going to have their voices heard the loudest on Capitol Hill, then they should pay more in taxes, right? No taxation without representation, I say.

From a Harvard International article titled, "VooDoo Curse: Exorcising the Legacy of Reaganomics:"

The bottom line of supply-side policy is productivity growth. Although Reaganomics cannot be blamed for the slowdown that began around 1973, its well-advertised remedies were policy failures. Throughout the 1980s, productivity growth remained disappointingly low for the economy as a whole...

Most articles I've found debunking Reaganomics show that government spending didn't actually go down in the 1980's, it just shifted from public programs to defense spending. And the middle class PAID FOR IT!

Let me reiterate, we CANNOT tax our way to equality, but we can create a more level playing field, with those at the top who have more political clout, carrying more of the tax burden. We can augment fairer taxation with incentives to corporations that take better care of their community and the environment, lessening the burden on the people and their government. Businesses are better equipped to manage programs, anyway. They have the means, the manpower and the know-how.

As the Salon.com article shows, a strong, vibrant middle class advances social justice issues, like it did Civil Rights and gender equality in the 1960's (though we admittedly have a long way to go on both fronts!). We need to bring back our middle class. Reaganomics wasn't the boon it was meant to be. It was by all practical measures A BUST! And it led us to the current state of the one-percenters versus everyone else. I'd like to see us NOT have to have a French-style revolution to reverse this course. I fear that's where this country is headed, though, due to deepening tensions, fear and polarization. Save that for another post.

Thanks for reading and commenting below.