Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Gang of Six Budget Plan, try to keep it civil

You're right. I apologize for my poor writing there. I didn't mean to say Obama was the best president we have/had, I should have stated that I think he has the potential to be one of the greatest president this country has had. Obviously, we'll have to see how that turns out, won't we?

And I certainly didn't mean to imply that Reagan was the worst president of the United States (20th century) that we've ever had. That distinction goes solely to George W. Bush.

But, if you are an intellectually honest person of whatever political leanings, you already know that.

But back to Ronald Reagan...

"Facts are stupid things" -- Ronald Reagan





I've read somewhere that, Nixon broke the heart of the American dream and that Ronald Reagan broke it's back. I truly believe that.

His administration helped gut the middle class. The deregulation, union busting, the "voodoo" economy, S&L meltdown, etc.

(I won't go into the Iran contra scandal and the other numerous criminal activities of his administration )

In doing some research I find that when Reagan came into office we were the largest exporter of manufacturing goods and the largest importer of raw materials on the planet... and the largest creditor. More people owed us money than anybody else in the world. Now, just 41 years later, we're the largest importer of finished goods, manufactured goods; the largest exporter of raw materials (which is kind of the definition of a third-world nation) and we're the most in-debt of any country in the world. This is the absolute consequence of Reaganomics.

We can only speculate on the future of the economy and on what Obama’s performance may be. However, speculation about Republican policies is unnecessary. Recent history gives us an extensive record of what a Republican president and Senate would do and what the results would be. Under the last three Republican presidents, budget deficits have exploded. No balanced budgets were proposed by any of them during their combined 20 years in the White House. In fact, most of the $10 trillion federal deficit Obama inherited was accumulated under the last three Republican presidents. During the presidency of George W. Bush, Republicans controlled the office of president, plus the U.S. House and Senate simultaneously for four years. The result by the end of Bush’s eight-year presidency was that unemployment rose dramatically and our economy disintegrated. His was one of the worst economic presidencies in U.S. history.

Despite a lot of posturing about budget deficits, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush never proposed a single balanced budget. Unemployment got worse during both Bush presidencies. Their policies are largely responsible for causing today’s problems.

I just wish that the Republicans and Democrats would both work together, putting aside all the political posturing and corporate influence ($), and work for the good of the country as a whole. America's gotta get it's sh#t together. Lead or get our of the way. Evolve or die as they say, or else we all better learn to speak a Chinese dialect or enjoy our jobs working at Wal-Mart (if we're lucky).

I don't think that any one political ideology is a threat to the future of the US, or even the rest of the world. It's religious fanaticism and powerful corporations. Neither has allegiance to any nation.