Reagan vs. Obama
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
You have to see the excellent piece Peter Ferrara has at Fox News comparing Reaganomics to Obamanomics. Ronald Reagan had Trickle Down economics and Barack Obama has Trickle Up Economics. The contrast is amazing. Ferrara points out Reagan had 4 basic principles he used to battle the Carter Economy (Note to Sarah Palin…check this out! You will need it if you have to bat clean-up after Obama):
“These were:
1. Reductions in tax rates to restore incentives for economic growth. This consisted of, first, a reduction in the top income tax rate of 70% down to 50%, and then a 25% across the board reduction in income tax rates for everyone. The 1986 tax reform then reduced tax rates further, leaving just two rates, 28% and 15%. Reagan also cut corporate income tax rates and capital gains tax rates
2. Spending Reductions. The reductions included a $31 billion cut in spending in 1981, close to 5% of the federal budget then, or the equivalent of about $150 billion in spending cuts for the year in 2008. In constant dollars, non-defense discretionary spending declined by 14.4% from 1981 to 1982, and by 16.8% from 1981 to 1983. Moreover, in constant dollars, this non-defense discretionary spending never returned to its 1981 level for the rest of Reagan’s two terms! By 1988, this spending was still down 14.4% from its 1981 level in constant dollars. Even with the Reagan defense buildup, total federal spending declined from a high of 23.5% of GDP in 1983 to 21.3% in 1988 and 21.2% in 1989. That’s a real reduction in the size of government relative to the economy of 10%
3. Anti-inflation monetary policy to restrain money supply growth.
4. Deregulation. Reagan’s deregulation plan has now saved consumers an estimated $100 billion per year in lower prices. Reagan’s first executive order, in fact, eliminated price controls on oil and natural gas. Production soared, and the price of oil declined by over 50%.”
Ferrara says the results gave us a 25-year economic boom creating more wealth than any other time in our nation’s history. He points out that the Obama plan is to do the exact opposite!
“–He is still promising tax rate increases, at least by letting the Bush tax cuts expire.
–He just passed the greatest increase in government spending in the history of the planet.
–He is promising massive increases in regulatory burdens, including global warming cap and trade regulation that would cost the economy another trillion dollars a year.
–The Fed is already furiously reinflating the money supply, sowing seeds of further havoc in the future.
Even the Obama tax cuts do not follow the Reagan economic recovery plan because they are not reductions in tax rates, which is what drives the incentives that govern the economy.”
Here’s another contrast: Ronald Reagan was interested in inspiring people to greatness. Barack Obama wants to scare people into socialism
