alt.politics.usa.republican

"Fester" used a stick in the sand to babble
>We were in recession in 1978 as well. In 1978 Carter tried Keynesian-based
>tactics. It was a spectacular failure. Reagan lowered taxes and what
>followed were many years of strong, steady growth. In 2002 we were in
>recession. Bush lowered corporate and cap gains taxes and what followed
>were 5 years of strong, steady growth. I'm sorry, but going with what works
>seems like a much smarter strategy to me, unless you're allergic to
>prosperity :-)

Reagan's policies were certainly Keynesian in that government was
expected to manage the economy through it's policies and did so in
large part by it's spending. Now, if Reagan had held down spending
and we'd gotten a sound economy, I might agree with you but the fact
is that he didn't. What his tax cuts did for the economy was
negligible, proven in part by the fact that before he'd left office,
taxes had returned to the levels they were at when he left. Economic
growth was driven by pouring money into the economy.

We all remember "read my lips" but how many remember what sparked that
promise? Certainly Republicans don't. In Reagan's last few budgets,
he'd run taxes back up to near Carter levels and had driven deficits
well beyond the record levels previously set by only himself and
Gerald Ford. Conservatives were furious both about deficits and the
tax increases Democrats were demanding in order to erase those
deficits. Bush promised to erase the deficits with spending cuts and
"Read my lips. No new taxes."

After his election, Bush spent even more lavishly than Reagan, setting
new records for public indebtedness until even Wall St and the Fed
began publicly fearing inflation and clamoring for relief.

It is at this point that the situation gets really interesting. In
order to forestall inflation and cool down an overheating economy,
Green span raised interest rates sharply.

This led directly to an economic nosedive that even Bush's success in
the first Gulf War couldn't counter and he was rejected by the voters.

Then comes Clinton who restored the latest round of tax cuts and the
economy booms again, the budget gets balanced, the debt comes under
control, in fact, everything the GOP stands for fiscally got done and
he enjoyed the popular support of the People including GOP moderates.

When the current Bush leaves office, he will have submitted eight
budgets that together will have almost doubled the national debt. He
has passed massive entitlement spending and done everything he can to
get rid of Social Security. As recently as last October this
newsgroup was awash in claims of how much Bush would have reduced the
deficit for the year and for next year as well. They bragged that his
budget had us on track for deficit elimination by 2012. *Another*
four years?

Let's see what happens next.

Swill