Tornado Alley (PROG)

[woofer]

I'm reminded of what will come when the people talk about Bush in a few years, and in fact, what some Bush supporters would even say now. "Bush has saved us from the terrorists and has brought peace to the Middle East."

I wasn't entirely truthful when I said I knew nothing about Reaganomics in that last post. After his death, I read many articles about the fantasy wonders he had done for the economy. Real economic gurus blasted him.

In one of the links you provided, I found this.....

There were many such shouts of joy for the rich down through Reagan-time and beyond. The East Coast elite distrusted him as late as the 1980 campaign, trying to head off his nomination by running Gerald Ford again. Learning of the Ford bid, Reagan turned to an aide and cried, "What have they got against me? I support big oil. I support big business. Why don't they trust me?" Probably because they thought he would blow them up, along with everyone else. He didn't, but they never did trust him, though they had a hell of a party while he was around.

The people who did trust Reagan were mostly white men, small-business owners, some (sometimes many) construction workers, many ordinary folk up and down the map who wanted a world much as it had been in the 1950s. Them he betrayed.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040628/cockburn

I found much harsher articles in the past.

If one wants to argue that Reagan grew the fedl budget deficit,

Huh? There is no argument. He did grow the Federal budget DEFICIT and he did it BIG-TIME.

it is also notable that Reagan did break the cycle of economic stagflation of the 70's, and that was absolutely essential for returned economic prosperity

Wikipedia would disagree with you.......

Much of the credit for the resolution of the stagflation is given to two causes: a three year contraction of the money supply by the Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker, initiated in the last year of Carter's presidency,[4] and to long term easing of supply and pricing in oil during the 1980s oil glut. By the time Reagan took office, stagflation was near its end

You ask......

But how do we criticize Reagan and Bush for growning the deficit while defending Obama's policies that will inevidably do the same -- and probably grow the deficit far larger than either Reagan of Bush did??

I believe that Obama's initial stimulus package was to create jobs, not make it mostly about tax-cuts. I like his original idea much more than Bush's or Reagan's.

I hope the Republicans dissent, and major debate takes place. Without serious debate, our system does not work...

I was going to say something when you mentioned this once before. Now I will. Both sides know exactly what the other side wants. There's really no need for debate unless it's for public consumption. I've watched C-Span enough in the past to know how debates go.