The Historical Significance Of Margaret Thatcher

The rate of economic and political change in recent decades has been dramatic. The Anglo-Saxon emphasis on neo-liberal economic ideology has drifted East, with the (Brown, 2000) ‘rise of China’ and other emerging economies. The trend in recent decades has focussed on the need to privatise great swathes of the economy and to reduce trade barriers, leading to less protectionism. This emphasis on private sector control became apparent in the 1980’s with (Hutchinson, 2008) ‘Thatcherism’ and ‘Reaganism’ seeking to reform the post-War consensus. The dramatic changes in America and the United Kingdom were not restricted to those economies however. The European

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

Reagan had a big role in the change of the economic policies. When Reagan took office the economy was one of the double-digit inflation and high interest rates. During the campaign Reagan promised to restore the free market from too much government regulation and encourage private initiative and

As the infected number and death toll continued to rise, Reagan made the fight against AIDS a priority and over the course of the 80’s spent $2.3 billion on it to search for a cure. Although the national debt severely increased under Reagan, he struggled to fix the failing American economy and there was economic growth during his presidency. Reagan inherited a poor economy from past presidents, but he did his best to fix it. Reagan’s economic policy was dubbed Reaganomics, or supply side economics, and it had the goal of lowering the taxes of wealthy individuals and businesses in hopes that they would stimulate the rest of the economy. Under Reagan, the Economic Recovery Tax Act lowered many different types of taxes, and he believed that under a free market and a more laissez faire approach, the economy would fix itself over time. Reagan also deregulated industries, especially transportation and oil industries. Although manufacturing declined, the service industries actually grew under Reagan. Reagan also had the vision of shrinking the size of the federal government. He spent less on social programs, but kept previous programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. While in office, Reagan appointed many new positions in government. He is remembered for appointing the first woman to the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor. She was more liberal than Reagan expected her to be, and he continued to appoint more conservatives to the Supreme Court.

The 20th century economics in the United States were heavily determined by Reagan’s economic policies and political legacies, which eventually resulted in free market expansion. Ronal Reagan, the 40th president of the US, contributed significantly to the boom in America’s economy. A few of the major things he stressed on included controlling inflation, expanding free market, and established major economic laws and policies.

Source A could be considered to have great value to a historian studying the impact of Margaret Thatcher’s Social and Economic policies, as it comes from a speech that Margaret Thatcher made herself 5 years into her premiership. This lends the source some value, as it comes from Thatcher’s own point of view, and therefore could be considered to be very valuable to a historian studying the impact of Thatcher’s policies as no one would know more about how she arrived at her decisions and what her intentions were than Thatcher herself. It could however be argued that the fact this source comes from Thatcher herself is in fact a detriment to its value, as she will be more likely to defend herself and her actions rather than speaking honestly about

The second source is a quote discussing the concepts of Reaganomics, Thatcherism, and laissez-faire economics through a Modern Liberalist perspective. Reaganomics and Thatcherism are similar political and economic structures, both classical liberalist, believe in less government intervention within the economy and support the trickle down theory. The trickle down theory is the belief that money from the wealthiest will make its way down to the poorest via lower taxes and investment opportunities. However, the source

Margaret Thatcher’s government helped her to embolden wider international movements when she successfully shifted British economy to the right. With this there was a spread of democracy and improvement of free markets strengthened political and economic freedom.

Some businesses were run in the interests of big shareholders rather than for the national benefit. Furthermore, shares were done too cheaply meaning it did not maximise governmental sums hence were purchased by the large investors. Thatcher led Britain towards capitalism, the public state in capitalist ownership of businesses increased from 3 million in 1979 to 11 million. Privatisation created a private monopoly, which would exploit customers. This policy only favoured the rich instead of its intended demographic, the richer people were more well off which also highlighted the gap between the North and the

Presidents are either remembered forever, or forgotten quickly. Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of Great Britain used diction, characterization, and metaphors to show how Ronald Reagan was an outstanding individual. Thatcherś Eulogy helps to present how Reagan was such a magnificent person.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Britain was going through a difficult time and the Government was facing many problems; a lack of free markets, the public’s lack of support and a failing economy. People were unhappy and unsatisfied and for many people living in Britain, Margaret Thatcher was the reason why.

2014: 127) Beginning in the 1980’s, within the political and ideological context of globalisation, a new approach to welfare emerged which involved the dismissal of Keynesian demand-management policies while asserting the benefits of supply-side economics (Kennet 2001: 25). As a result of the oil crises of the 1970’s and the ‘stagflation’ which followed, there was seen a need to modify the direction of economic management (Pierson 1996: 4). The criticisms of the central features of social policy, according to neoliberal proponents such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, include that the welfare state was actually one of the principle causes of poor economic performance (Pierson 1996:

The way that Thatcher introduced privatisation involved the transition from a publicly owned company to a company which is privately owned. Thatcher thought that businesses created wealth and that government intervention in businesses was damaging. After the 1983 election, Thatcher started selling many state owned utilities ‘more than £29 billion was raised from the sale of nationalised industries, and another £18 billion from the sale of council houses’ (Wikipedia. 2015). From this, Thatcher knew that privatisation policy was fundamental to improving British economy. She wanted to promote state capitalism by giving people the chance to own shares in companies that provide a service for them, this would conclude in people having greater

Margaret Thatcher introduced right wing ideas which sought to break away from the post war Keynesian consensus on state welfare (Scott-Samuel et al, 2014 pg 54). The conservative shifted to ideas of free market economics and the advocated for responsibility of the individual families for their own welfare and moral traditional values. Privatization and marketization was introduced into utilities such as water, electricity and gas. There was encouragement of free market ideas in health care and massive cuts on social welfare and reductions in state pensions.

Her economic policies were another success for Thatcher’s regime. Thatcher’s policies were monumental changes for Britain. Privatisation and deregulation were famous changes implemented by Thatcher. The policy of Privatisation has been called "a crucial ingredient of Thatcherism". After the 1983 election the sale of state utilities accelerated; more than £29 billion was raised from the sale of nationalised industries, and another £18 billion from the sale of council houses. The process of privatisation, especially the preparation of nationalised industries for privatisation, was associated with marked improvements in performance, particularly in terms of labour productivity. Some of the privatised industries including gas, water, and electricity, were natural monopolies for which privatisation involved little increase in competition. The privatisation allowed people to become more involved in the buying of shares in companies. Although this did not work as well as Thatcher would have hoped as many of the richer part of society bought as many shares at they could. Many people denounced this policy as an Elitist policy. The privatisation of public companies was combined with financial deregulation in an attempt to encourage economic growth. Geoffrey Howe Thatcher’s Chancellor of the