GOP and Democrats Debate LBJ and Reagan Legacies

[steven johnson]

Paul Krugman in his op ed piece 'Debunking the Reagan Myth,' points out that Reaganomics failed -- it was a one hit wonder. The rich got much richer but there was little sustained economic benefit for the bulk of Americans. By the end of the Reagan administration, middle-class incomes were only slightly higher than they had been a decade before and the poverty rate had actually risen. Ronald Reagan began his term with big tax cuts for the rich and assurances that it would trickle down to the middle class. It didn't. George W. Bush proved the hollow facade of the theory again with the failure of Bushonomics.

The GOP is now trying to sell the same snake oil again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/opinion/21krugman.html

"Who controls the past controls the future." --It's a line from George Orwell's novel "1984." But it could also serve as the rallying cry for two groups battling over Obama's ambitious domestic agenda -- and the legacy of two former presidents.

Critics of Obama's proposed $3.5 trillion federal budget say he's poised to jeopardize the economic gains unleashed by President Reagan.

Will Bunch, author of "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future,'' says Reaganomics is built on a fable.

Reagan didn't prove that tax cuts and small government lead to economic growth, because he never consistently did both, he says.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/07/Obama.LBJ/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

[Cant trust em]

1. The CNN article points to a couple of other social indicators as poverty indicators

Like births out of wedlock.

So people in the late 60's and 70's started living non-traditionl families? Shocking!

That doesn't mean that those people are poor.

[polichick]

2. It's about time people debunk the ridiculous Reagan myth...

...not just about Reaganomics, but about the way he ripped the solar panels off the White House and took energy backward, about his "Just Say No" bullshit, etc.