NYT: The Reagan Boom - Greatest Ever

Almost everyone knows that the greatest depression the U.S. ever had was in the 1930's. It was known as the Great Depression, and its infamy merits a separate section in economics textbooks. But what was its counterpart? When did our greatest economic expansion occur?

We just had it. And it is still expanding, setting new records with each passing month.

We don't know whether historians will call it the Great Expansion of the 1980's or Reagan's Great Expansion, but we do know from official economic statistics that the seven year period from 1982 to 1989 was the greatest, consistent burst of economic activity ever seen in the U.S. In fact, it was the greatest economic expansion the world has ever seen - in any country, at any time.

The two key measures that mark a depression or expansion are jobs and production. Let's look at the records that were set. Creation of jobs. From November 1982, when President Ronald Reagan's new economic program was beginning to take effect, to November 1989, 18.7 million new jobs were created. It was a world record: Never before had so many jobs been created during a comparable time period. The new jobs covered the entire spectrum of work, and more than half of them paid more than $20,000 a year. As total employment grew to 119.5 million, the rate of unemployment fell to slightly over 5 percent, the lowest level in 15 years. Creation of wealth.

The amount of wealth produced during this seven year period was stupendous - some $30 trillion worth of goods and services. Again, it was a world record. Never before had so much wealth been produced during a comparable period. According to a recent study, net asset values - including stocks, bonds and real estate - went up by more than $5 trillion between 1982 and 1989, an increase of roughly 50 percent.

There are other important measures. Steady economic growth. As we begin the decade of the 1990's, we are in our 86th straight month of economic growth - a new record for peacetime, five months longer than the wartime growth of World War II and only 23 months short of the wartime record set during the Vietnam War in the 1960's. Most experts now predict that it will last right through 1990, and perhaps beyond.

Income tax rates, interest rates and inflation.

Under President Reagan, top personal income tax rates were lowered dramatically, from 70 percent to 28 percent. This policy change was the prime force behind the record breaking economic expansion. Interest rates and inflation also fell sharply and, so far, have stayed comfortably low - a further indication of the power and pervasiveness of Mr. Reagan's economic policies. The stock market. Perhaps the key indicator of an economy's booms and busts is the stock market, the bottom line economic report card. And here the record has been striking. During the period from 1970 to 1982, the stock market barely moved. The Standard & Poor's index of 500 stocks inched up about 35 percent during that entire period. But starting in late 1982, just as Reaganomics began to work, the stock market took off like a giant skyrocket. Since then, the Standard & Poor's index has soared, reaching a record high of 360, almost triple what it was in 1982.

There were other consequences of the expansion. Annual Federal spending on public housing and welfare, and on Social Security, Medicare and health all increased by billions of dollars. The poverty rate has fallen steadily since 1983.

When you add up the record of the Reagan years, and the first year of President Bush - during which he has faithfully continued Mr. Reagan's economic policies - the conclusion is clear, inescapable and stunning. We have just witnessed America's Great Expansion.

The Reagan economic expansion was not perfect and we will never have one that is. The Federal budget deficits were too high and still are, too many Federal regulations lay unreformed and the trade deficit is worrisome.

In fact, the Reagan expansion may not have been the best economic expansion in history, for every economic expansion must be judged by many criteria. But if we look at the sheer size and immensity of it, at its scope and power, then it cannot be denied that it was the greatest.

The full impact of the powerful economic recovery that President Reagan launched during the 1980s is still unfolding.

Mr. Reagan's expansion provided the financial resources to allow the U.S. to build up the combat capability of its defense forces and to begin blazing the new trail for a protective missile system. This, in turn, convinced the Soviet rulers they could never defeat the U.S., and today the Soviet Union and the U.S. are busily engaged in nuclear disarmament as peace breaks out in country after country throughout the world.

Equally important, it proved beyond doubt to all (except perhaps for a handful of left-wing faculty members in our best universities) that capitalism is superior to Socialism and C*******m. Our economy is the guiding beacon for all those countries that are ripping apart the ruthless collectivist regimes that ruined the lives of their people for so long.

One thing the Marxists got right: Economics is a powerful determining factor of history. But Marxists never dreamed it would be the economics of Ronald Reagan and all those capitalists that would prevail in the end.

Strange. I didn't know that Reagan did that all by himself. And all he had to do was tell Gorbachev to tear the wall down! Amazing. I'd been under the mistaken impression for years that the pilots and ground crew that ran the Berlin Airlift had something to do with it. Also the poor guys who stopped the North Koreans (the ones that Trump loves so much) on the Pusan Perimeter. Also our instructors at the Interceptor Controller School at Tyndall AFB and the guys who manned those radar sites on the Pinetree Line, and the citizens who paid taxes to support those efforts, until the old USSR just couldn't afford to menace us anymore. And many more, too numerous to mention. Well good for Reagan.

Today is definitely an anniversary worth celebrating pr..and only a total fool would disagree and/or refuse to honestly recognize the individual who deserves most of the credit for this huge accomplishment. There's another famous Reagan quote that perfectly describes the majority of people..who for purely political and/or partisan reasons only..refuse to give credit where it is obviously due. Whenever I see/hear this brilliant and fitting quote “It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.” I can't help but be reminded of just how perfectly his simple observation sums up our local braindead liberals (like Wile E Coyote..aka:l/w).

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Are you out of your mind Loneytone? The legacy of president Reagan. He made the beautiful USA a "Shining City Upon a Hill."
President Reagan was one of the best presidents of the United States since George Washington.

Since Aug 13, 1961, Germany was separated, by a Wall, the East and West Germany. On June 12, 1987, President Reagan stood at a podium overlooking the Berlin Wall. He demanded from PM Gorbachev: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall". Two years later, the wall was was dismantled on 22 December 1989.

Finally, there was a joyous reunification of Germany . The East and the West met with shouts of joy and freedom. Families separated since 1961, where identified and unified.

Two years later, in 1991, the Cold War ended. Pope St. John Paul was also instrumental in ending the Cold War, along with PM Gorbachev. President Reagan invited PM Gorbachev and wife at the WH . Their friendship ended when President Reagan died on June 5, 2004.

While alive, the president asked his beloved wife Nancy to play the :beautiful “Ave Maria “for his funeral.

How president Reagan also had worked with the Pope John Paul II.
The Divine Plan
John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War
By Paul Kengor and Robert Orlando
Two extraordinary leaders. One singular bond.
Two men with seemingly little in common: a Catholic pope from Poland and a Protestant president from America’s heartland.
But John Paul II and Ronald Reagan bonded after they nearly died from assassination attempts a mere six weeks apart. Together they committed to confronting the great evil of the twentieth century: Soviet ­C*******m.

Two years later, Pope St John Paul II, died Dec.2 2005.
Our economy under president Reagan was one of the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAaJzTWX_Io

Barack Obama was the worst US president with the worst economy and left a legacy of weapon of destruction called The Deep State.

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I noticed I had minor error on my post earlier. Sorry about that.

What is worrisome now is about the kids in public schools. They are not learning the basics. US has the highest budget for public schools compared to other world countries. Other countries use just about 10% to 25% compared to the budget of US schools.

The public schools here in Seattle,(fortunately, I don't live in the democrat Seattle), they are removing the Math subject, cause they said, it's "r****t".
Math is one of the most important subjects of the curricula, if not the most important. Science, history, English language (the reading and writing), and math, must be emphasized.

The popular subjects now given to these K12 kids are L**T, women's studies, ethnic studies, Hispanic studies. I think they major those subjects in college too.

I wonder what kind of jobs they could have when they graduate.

We have so many problems. The radical dems want to take over the gov., and most kids are not learning.
I pray. I know there is power in prayer based on my experience.
Good day!

I will try to explain. War costs money. Governments get money by taxing their citizens or subjects. Over a 40 year period, we spent money on the Cold War and the Russians spent money on the Cold War. The US is a more productive country than Russia, so we have more wealth. So while they spent what little money they had on T54 tanks and Bisons and Badgers and Bears, we were able to match them in spending money on B-47's and B-52's and M-48 and M-60 and M-1 tanks etc, and we still had enough to keep people employed building the Interstate system, and still left our citizens with enough after taxes to be able to buy cars and homes and food. But they didn't. So they ran out of money before we did. Reagan happened to be President at the time they ran out of money. So he gets the credit. But what ran 'em out of money was all the folks who had taken part in the Berlin Airlift, the War in Korea, paying the taxes that paid the troops, and bought their C rations or MRE's and their munitions



Thanks......
etc . So all those people had a hand in wearing down the USSR, and that's why the Wall came down, and that's why Germany is united today.