Sharing My Story

Reagan correctly asseted his chances to be
a successful president on his ability to fix
the US economy. He learned that cutting
high taxes would free up more money in the
private sector to invest in new jobs.
President Kennedy had done this in the
early 1960s which made that decade one
of the most properous in US history.
This “Supply Side” economics was
advocated by Arthur Laffer among others
and was something National Review was in
favor of. However Reagan encountered
great Congressional and media opposition
for he wanted to increase defense spending
at the same time. Through negotiation and
the force of his personality Reagan’s tax cuts
were passed. He also was able to see defense
spending increased.

Several things happened the economy did
improve dramatically, inflation
was cut but the deficit increased greatly.
This was something that the average American
could handle and allowed Reagan to earn a
second term as President in his 1984 landslide
victory against an old fashioned establishment
Democratic liberal.

Bill Clinton in someways was a Democratic Reagan.
His election mantra in 1992 was “It’s the economy, stupid.”
In order to get elected (and re-elected) he needed
to convince the voters that he was better able to fix
the economy than his opponents.