Reaganomics Essay

Ronald Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 through 1989, created economic policies throughout his presidency that aimed to pull the United States out of a recession. His policies, called Reaganomics, reduced government spending and reduced tax rates in order to foster economic growth. Reagan also appointed many conservative judges to the Supreme Court and federal courts in order to shift ideologies to the right. Because of this, Reagan was both underrated and overrated as a president.

Reagan really focused on improving the economy during his presidency, with a plan he called Reaganomics, or supply side economics. The main parts of this plan were cuts on taxes and budgets, and monetary policy. Also, he wanted to reduce government regulation on businesses. He thought that these and increasing defense expenditures would heighten economic efficiency. Reagan managed to cut taxes by twenty five percent in three years. However, the plans did not work out at first, causing a recession that some call “The Great Inflation.” The national debt heightened substantially, and the rate of unemployment reached up to eleven percent. Despite these negative outcomes, the economy experienced a sudden growth and prosperity in 1983, which was

Reagan's campaign stressed some of his principles: lower taxes to balance the economy, less government shenanigans in people's lives, states' rights, and a good national defense.

In addition, Reagan’s 1981 Program for Economic Recovery had four major policies, which are: to reduce the growth of government spending, reduce the marginal tax rates on income from labor and capital, reduce regulation, and to reduce inflation by controlling the growth of the money supply (Niskanen). Reagan’s Economic Recovery Program, also known as Reaganomics, was the most serious recession of the U.S. economic policy since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal (Niskanen). However, according to historian, Eric Foner, there have been many issues with Reaganomics since the new policies, rising stock prices, and deindustrialization inevitably resulted into the rise of economic inequality, also known as the second gilded age (Foner 832).

Although he was a generally controversial president, Ronald Reagan’s policy decisions to stimulate economic prosperity, known as Reaganomics, were legitimately beneficial to the United States of America. First, in order to substantiate the success of Reagan’s economic policy decisions one must first grasp the varying levels of importance for each aspect of his plan. As Reagan’s policies were substantial decisions that defined his presidency and alienated an entire population of more economically liberal people, it makes sense that an understanding of his emphasis on certain decisions would lead to a more persuasive argument. Next, the negation of well formed and logical criticisms of Reagan’s economic policies also lend to the support of their benefits and success. Acknowledging a sensible counterargument and addressing specific points of critical analysis serves to further enhance the argument for the success of Reagan’s decisions. Furthermore, strong economic growth and the curbing of federal domestic power reinforce the accomplishments of Reaganomics. Though the U.S. did see economic growth, Reaganomics was not purely an economic plan, as cuts in government power, not including the military, benefitted the average American citizen. Moreover, Ronald Reagan’s economic decisions regarding Soviet foreign policy were also extremely beneficial to the United States. The tough decisions to further the national deficit proved a worthy sacrifice in pressuring the collapse

Reaganomics—also known as supply-side and trickle-down economics—is an economic policy practiced by presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover in the twenties and most recently, by the fortieth president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Just like the state of the economy before Reagan stepped into office, the economy of the United States today is in a vulnerable place. The economy has taken multiple blows over the last few years: a recession in 2008, a close call in 2011, and an overwhelming deficit. Most Americans are looking for something to change. While some are advocating for an increase in the government’s power in order to step in and seemingly help the people, the way for the government to truly succor

President Ronald Reagan worked so hard and put his life on the line where he also had

Reagan won 51 percent of the vote and carried all but five states and the District of Columbia. Once a Hollywood actor, his sense of reassurance and optimistic style appealed to many Americans. Reagan’s campaign appealed to conservatives with promises of big tax cuts and a smaller government. When he took office, he promised to get the federal government out of Americans’ lives. He advocated for industrial deregulation, reductions in government spending, and tax cuts for both individuals and corporations. This economic plan was called supply-side economics. Supply-side economists believed that high taxes took too much away from investors. If taxes were cut, businesses and investors could use their extra capital to make new investments, and businesses could expand and create new jobs. The result would be a larger supply of goods for consumers, who would now have more money to spend because of the tax

Reagan revolution has developed over time and it continues to resonate today. Reagan inherited an economy that was ailing and characterized by high unemployment rate, budget deficits, and a small trade surplus. Reagan engaged in major tax cuts and also increased armament-spending factors that contributed to the turnaround of America’s economic situation. This turnaround significantly contributed to the current shape of the economy. However, Reagan’s economic policies of tax cuts, monetarism, retrenchment, and budget deficits have had several negative

Reagan implemented policies based on supply-side economics and advocated a classical liberal and laissez-faire philosophy, seeking to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts. Reagan’s outlook on economics was what he and the public called “Reaganomics”. “The blueprint for “Reaganomics,” was a sketched out supply-side approach to the economic, including massive cuts in income taxes, capital gains taxes, and corporate taxes,”(340). His platform advocated reducing tax rates to spur economic growth, controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and reducing government spending. Reagan's policies proposed that economic growth would occur when marginal tax rates were low enough to spur investment, which would then lead to increased economic growth, higher employment, and wages. Reagan’s beliefs on cutting taxes were supported by ideas of William Sumner who believed that the best equipped to win the struggle for existence was the American businessman, and concluded that taxes and regulations serve as dangers to his survival. Reagan believed strong nations were composed of people who were successful at expanding their empires and these strong nations would survive in the struggle for dominance.

Even though Reagan was very confident about his economic plan many others were weary of his ideas. George W. Bush Sr. proclaimed Reagan’s economic ideas as ‘Voodoo’ economics believing Reagan’s policy would not live up to its predicted outcome; ironically enough Bush and his son both adopted these policies during their presidencies. Many important congressmen had many fears in Reagan’s policies, they believed that imposing such tax cuts would raise inflation and cause higher interest rates. The public on the other hand, praised these

According to Sue Kirchhoff, Barbara Hagenbaugh and Sandra Block of USA TODAY, “Former president Ronald Reagan 's dramatic economic policies are influencing U.S. and world growth — and government action — more than 20 years after he pushed his radical plan to

This economic expansion and boost would occur through citizens who would spend the extra tax money on products and services in their geographical region or who would invest money into businesses in their area. The only problem for the government using this theory would be the initial revenues that the government would lose from the tax cuts. In theory the economic growth would eventually increase taxable incomes, this increase in taxable incomes should cause the governmental revenues to grow in the long run. With the idea of Reaganomics in mind President Reagan persuaded Congress to pass the Economic Recovery Tax Act, which is the first major step in his plan. This Tax Act called for a 25 percent tax cut that was implemented over a three-year period (David Mervin, 1990, 133-7). The only problem with this tax cut is the fact that it mainly benefited the upper - income taxpayers and large corporations. The reason that these groups were targeted is because there is more of a chance that they will invest their money in business programs that will promote economic growth. After this tax cut took effect the American people in the lower - income tax brackets were not pleased with the results. They seemed to be faced with an increase in their tax rates even though most of them were in the income categories below the national average. On the other end of the spectrum the people that were in the upper tax brackets were experiencing significant tax cuts. The

This theory was meant to bring America back into the golden area of the 50’s. Reagan believed that with less taxes the middle class would be motivated to work harder because they would be getting paid more money. In addition this surplus in currency would allow the middle class to live life similar to the golden era re-investing it back in the economy boosting growth.

First of all, one policy of the Economic policy is "supply-side economic policy". Supply-side policy is a policy that is meant to improve societies' economy. Also, it is used to describe changes in marginal rates that influence the economic rates. Supply-side economic policy began in the late 1970's. From the 1990-1993 tax were increasingly high. President john F. Kennedy made tax reductions that dropped tax rates to 90 percent. By the 1980's President Ronald Reagan reduced tax rates by up to 70 percent. During his 7 year of being president economic growth increased by 4 percent. Ronald Reagan might have used supply-side economics but others have used the opposite.