Essay on Reagan’s Economic Policy

Reaganomics was economics policies which were propelled by United States President, Ronald Reagan during 1980s. These policies were based on fours pillars namely; reduction of the growth of government spending, reduction of income and capital gains marginal tax rates, reduction of government regulation of economy, and controlling of the money in supply so as to reduce inflation. Their basic aims were to lower taxes and create a leaner government. According to Reagan his decision was informed on stimulation of the economy taxes, financed by borrowing. Lowering taxes was aimed at reviving the economy, which in turn would see the increased tax revenues being used to offset the debts incurred (Niskanen

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

Ronald Reagan is to this date the oldest serving president, and the effects of his presidency have affected not only the United States of America but most of the world as well. The consensus among historians is that Ronald Reagan left a lasting legacy that was a great one in numerous ways. His Reaganomics improved America’s economy greatly, and secured its future economic prosperity. He also fought communism head on and was able to end it in most parts of the world, but more importantly in Soviet Russia. However, in doing so he got wrapped up in the Iran-Contra Affair, which will forever be tied to his name in a negative regard. Within America, Reagan was able to improve society such as his success in curbing the use of illegal drugs.

Reagan had the same economic problems that his predecessor Jimmy Carter faced as president. One of these problems was very bad inflation in the economy.

One major reason Ronald Reagan was able to defeat Carter in the election of 1980 was because Carter failed to rescue the hostages from the American embassy, prior to the election. He had already run for president in 1968 and in 1976, but didn’t win until 1980 as a Republican nominee because he established himself as the conservative candidate with the support of like-minded organizations such as the American Conservative Union. Reagan had several policies to try to recover the economy, one of them being deregulation, in which he advocated limiting government involvement in business. Following this policy, he deregulated several industries from government control. Another policy was to reduce inflation by controlling the growth of the money

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

In statistical terms, over the course of Reagan’s career, “seventeen million new jobs were created… with the unemployment rate falling from 7.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent over the same period” (Hannaford). The American middle class significantly grew during Reagan’s presidency, and by the end of it, “there were 5.9 million more Americans who had salaries exceeding $50,000 (adjusted for inflation) than when Reagan took office—an increase of 60 percent… [Furthermore,] there were 2.5 million more Americans who had salaries exceeding $75,000—an 83 per cent increase” (Hannaford). It is clear that, under Reagan, not only was the quantity of jobs increased, but quality as well, with a higher number of people

Perhaps Reagan's most controversial cause was his foreign policy. He wanted to prevent communist expansion and helped countries free themselves of it and believed the nation should negotiate with the Soviet Union. On Washington Summit in December of

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

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.

Although Carter was a likable man, the role of president was not the job for him. His big government spending and policies were responsible for leading our fragile country into one of the worst economic recessions ever. However, this all changes in January of 1981 when President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office and came to our country’s rescue. Reagan stepped in ready to mend the deep scars left behind by setting forth an economic plan, Reaganomics, in hopes to bail out our sinking country. Though many may say Reagan’s conservative ways had this plan favoring the upper class, this was not the case.

If there is a single political figure from the past century to whom we can look and realize greatness, it is Ronald Reagan. And if there is a context in which to view the Presidency of Ronald Wilson Reagan, it is in the context of economics. In two scholarly biographies of our 40th president, The Reagan Effect by John W. Sloan, professor of political science at The University of Houston, and The Reagan Years written by several scholars and edited by Joseph Hogan, professor and head of the Department of Management at Birmingham Polytechnic Business School, Reagan and his presidency are meticulously analyzed under the lens of economics, among other things. Their findings, although contrasting in some areas, conclude, much to my pleasure, that President Reagan was a successful and influential president.

Reagan was known for his “Reaganomics”, his policies based on supply-side economics or trickle-down theory. This was his belief on how to fix the nation’s economic disasters. Reaganomics had the idea that if there was a cut in taxes, particularly corporation taxes, economic development would increase. It would kindle job and economic growth by reducing domestic program spending by the government, the shrinking of individual investment and business investment taxes, decreasing the number of regulations on businesses, and maintaining slower economic money growth.

I have decided to write my research paper on the topic of Ronald Reagan's Domestic and Foreign Affairs. The reason that I choose this topic was because I have always been personally interested in Ronald Reagan's time in office and the national crisis he had to deal with. Reagan was awesome when it came to foreign policy because he knew how to negotiate with foreign leaders and their countries to get what he wanted. There were several instances during his time in office that he had the chance to use his ability to get the country out of danger. Domestic Affairs is another part of Reagan's presidency that was very important. He was able to take the country, which seemed to be in an economic slump and turn their economic status around.