HIST 2112 Lecture 24 Outline of Last Lecture I Reagan s Political Odyssey 1930s 1960s A Born 1911 in Illinois B The acting Years 1930 40 C From New Dealer to Right Winger a Reagan the liberal b HUAC and Reagan s anticommunism c Becomes Anti Big Government spokesman for GE d Joins GOP gives speeches for Goldwater especially 1964 speech D Reagan becomes Republican Governor of California 1966 II Jimmy Carter and the Rise of the New Right A Carter the moderate and the conservatization of the Democratic Party B The Iranian Hostage Crisis 1979 81 III President Reagan s Four Priorities 1980 88 A Revive old fashioned patriotism a End the Vietnam syndrome B Dramatically increase Military size strength a High tech weapons b Rollback containment the remix C Intense support for big business aggressive capitalism a Tax cuts for wealth Supply side economics b Cutting Welfare Programs c Deregulations environment safety etc 1 James Watt and Ann Garsuch Buford d Oppose Unions 1 PATCO strike 1981 D Push Traditional Values a Oppose abortion b Oppose gay rights 1 AIDS Crisis c Support Christian prayer in school Outline of Current Lecture I Reagan and the 1980s a Generation of Swine II Criticism of Reagan s Domestic Policies A Reaganomics a The good whipping inflation with high interest rates and North Sea oil b Supply side problems 1 No tax break for lower incomes 2 Conspicuous consumption no reinvestment i GOP strategist Kevin Phillips a profit funnel for the rich c Deficits 1 Lower taxes but no cuts in Social Security or military spending 2 Cuts in social programs but not much else 3 Replacing tax and spend with barrow and spend B Reagan s assault on federal environmentalism a James Watt and Ann Gorsuch Buford C Civil Rights benign neglect III Criticism of Reagan s Foreign Policy A Rollback and funding questionable Freedom Fighters a El Salvador US support for Duarte and death squads 1 Letting anti communism trump support for democracy b Nicaragua and the contras c The Iran Contra Affair 1987 1 Trading with the enemy weapons for Iranian Hostages 2 The Boland Amendment no aid to Contras 3 Oliver North and his secret Plan d Supporting the future Taliban Saddam Hussein etc Current Lecture Morning In America The Age of Reagan Part II I Reagan and the 1980s a Generation of Swine II Hunter S Thomas Called 80s Generation of Swine Reagan kept Jimmy Carter s federal reserve s chairmen maintains high inflation rates TAILSPIN Reagan cut taxes Helped North Sea Oil Not everybody happy with Reagan 80 90s massive run of economic growth Criticism of Reagan s Domestic Policies A Reaganomics a The good whipping inflation with high interest rates and North Sea oil b Supply side problems took a big hit o Core economic philosophy idea of triple down cut taxes at highest level and business and corporations that money will be taken and invested intelligently in the economy to grow it even more employs more people pays more money trickles down to the bottom the economy will eventually pay for the tax cuts 1 No tax break for lower incomes If you made between 100 000 200 000 you re tax break was 8 400 If you were average working family with 10 000 a year your tax break was 58 You re not doing a favor for the vast majority of people who could really use it People were pissed Give less money to the states to balance the budget Federal taxes went down local state taxes went up 1 6 more in local taxes gets worse in the 90s 2 Conspicuous consumption no reinvestment If you get a tax cut you ll do the right thing with that money by re investing that money That doesn t happen you have an explosion of people buying yachts and crap Pretty Woman kind of thing Speculating in junk bonds etc set up for 2008 The economy never grows where it will make up for its own tax cuts o TV shows about lives of the rich famous i GOP strategist Kevin Phillips a profit funnel for the rich o Wrote a criticism of Reagan s tax cuts for the rich c Deficits 1 Lower taxes but no cuts in Social Security or military spending Starting out Tax Bracket was 90 Reagan down to first 50 then 28 750 billion that you are down you need to cut that much out of your budget Reagan proves unable or unwilling to do the cuts o He cannot tough Social Security middle class welfare o Wants to lower SS taxes cannot do that o Increases defense spending significantly BEGINS TO BORROW MONEY to make up for the difference send the deficit up quadrupled it 2 Cuts in social programs but not much else Minimum wage is frozen in the 80s Rise in Homeless Drug Related Violence Increase in Crime 3 Replacing tax and spend with barrow and spend B Reagan s assault on federal environmentalism o Reagan loved nature but not excessive environmental regulations o Reduce federal environmental regulation Protection o He appointed people who were opposed to those very wings a James Watt and Ann Gorsuch Buford James Watt head of mountain states and eagle foundation o Made to reduce the size of his own bureaucracy from the inside Ann Buford fired every enforcement officer in EPA don t enforce their mandates Both will resign for different reasons C Civil Rights benign neglect III Neutral neglect not an important issue Sandra Day O Conner first woman appointed by Reagan Criticism of Reagan s Foreign Policy anti communist cold war containment guy Thought he was trigger happy stupid A Rollback and funding questionable Freedom Fighters mostly central America a El Salvador US support for Duarte and death squads 1 Letting anti communism trump support for democracy o Right wing anti communist government who we provide aid to o Kill 75 000 people tortures people o We support them because of the anti communist b Nicaragua and the contras o Socialist government o Freedom Fighters the Contras we funnel money to them o Contras visual violations of human rights torture rape murder c The Iran Contra Affair 1987 biggest scandal of the Reagan era didn t hurt him in the end though 1 Trading with the enemy weapons for Iranian Hostages 2 The Boland Amendment no aid to Contras 3 Oliver North and his secret Plan d Supporting the future Taliban Saddam Hussein etc