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Reagan and the 1980s
President Ronal Reagan served two terms, lasting from 1981 to 1989. During his tenure, he is noted for economic policies that favored the wealthy and a conservative agenda that took care of business interests at the expense of social efforts. More than fifteen years after Reagan's tenure, we still see his influence not only in the things he changed in the 1980s, but also in the politics and economic policies of current conservatives, particularly true of current President George W. Bush who, like Reagan, will also enjoy eight years to push his supply-side agenda.
In the year before Reagan took office, 1980, the United States economy was stagnant (Reaganomics). Inflation was 13.5% and unemployment was 7.1%. Gross domestic product (GDP) had only grown 2.8% from 1974 to 1981. Americans were anxious for a new agenda and Reagan responded with a different economic approach commonly referred to as either Reaganomics or supply-side economics. This form of economic policy holds that the supply side of the economy such as economic activity and production have to be stimulated to create weath. Reaganomics consisted of four key elements to reverse the high-inflation, slow-growth economic record of the 1970s: (1) a restrictive monetary policy designed to stabilize the value of the dollar and end runaway inflation; (2) a twenty-five percent across-the-board tax cut enacted under The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 designed to spur savings, investment, work, and from 1981 to 1989 was 3.2% per year, compared with 2.8% from 1974 to 1981. With regards to the tax cuts, the wealthy benefited the most. The highest twenty percent of income earners saw an income increase of almost nineteen percent from 1983 to 1989 while the lowest twenty percent only saw income rise by about twelve percent. However, Reagan countered that the poor and middle class would also indirectly benefit from the "trickle down affects" of his tax cuts. Reagan did not keep is promise to balance the budget primarily because of dramatic increased in the military budget (Ronald Reagan). By the end of Reagan's second term the national debt had nearly tripled.
Reagan embraced a conservative agenda (Ronald Reagan), considered by many to favor businesss over the rights of the working people. Most notably, he fired most federal air traffic controllers when they went on an illegal strike. This move was viewed by liberals as limiting the power of public employee unions and sending the message that businesses in the…
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Kamin, D. And Shapiro, I. (2004, September 13). Studies shed new light on effects of administration's tax cuts. Retrieved November 14, 2005 from Web site: http://www.cbpp.org/8-25-04tax.htm
Niskanen, W.A. And Moore, S. (1996, October 22). Supply tax cuts and the truth about the Reagan economic record. Cato Policy Analysis No. 261. Retrieved November 14, 2005 from Web site: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-261.html
Reagan administration. Retrieved November 14, 2005 from Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration
Reaganomics. Retrieved November 14, 2005 from Web site: http://www.thereaganlegacy.com/version2/reaganomics.asp
Ronald Reagan. Retrieved November 14, 2005 from Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan
Many young people voted for Reagan as he represented rebellion against the authority figures in society but was a rebellion characterized by valiance and effectuated through skillful communication. The approval rating of Reagan was approximately 42% when 1982 began but dropped to the record low 35% later that same year. The U.S. entered a recession. If one is to set their focus upon obtaining a chance at being the
1980 was, like so many years after and before it, a year full of great and small tragedies, of hope deflated and grief overwhelming. Two weeks before the year started, Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" topped the charts, and stayed there well into the new year. The Wall would become a sort of sign for the times, and for the almost surreal year that would follow. This would
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1980's when Ronald Reagan served the country, his administration and characteristics of his leadership will be discussed and analyzed in the paper along with the observation of the Hollywood cinema and its status in the Reagan's administration. The history and researches on this topic have declared the fact that in the 1980's Hollywood cinema became little more than a mouthpiece for the Reagan's administration. Discussion of this statement will
Iran-Contra Outline Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, and "Plausible Deniability." This paper will attempt to contextualize Oliver North and the Iran-Contra Affair within a larger discussion of Cold War strategy. The introduction will present the paper as having 3 basic sections. The first will discuss the idea of "plausible deniability" -- invoked by North during his 1987 testimony -- and show how it fit into Cold War strategy in the 1950s. The second section
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