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Fri 13 Jun, 2003 10:33 pm
That old saying about history repeating itself...........
In the New York Times Magazine section of Sunday, 8 June 2003, I came across a quote from David Stockman, who had been the Director of Office and Management and Budget under Reagan. He was the one who coined the phrase "voodoo economics." He left the office , fired for being an outspoken critic of the Reagan administration failure to carry through on spending reductions. Stockman was one of the architects originally involved in the creation and setting up of the Reagan budget.
"The 1983 deficit had now already come in at $208 billion. The case for a major tax increase was overwhelming, unassailable, inescapable and self-evident. Not to raise taxes when all other avenues were closed was a willful act of ignorance and grotesque irresponsibility. In the entire 20th-century fiscal history of the nation there has been nothing to rival it...The next day I told Jim Baker that I was going to resign. I couldnt defend no taxes; I couldn't defend a planned trillion-dollar deficit; I couldn't defend a policy of fiscal know-nothingness. 'I can't make a fool of myself any longer, Jim,' I told him. This budget is so bad, it's beyond the pale."
(The Triumph of Politics by David Stockman, 1986)
And now, after finally achieving a budget surplus, we're back to planned deficits and willful acts.
mamaj, When the people in our government doesn't struggle financial pains like the majority, they are immune to the needs of the people. Our economy has been getting worse every year after GWBush took office. It doesn't phase people like GWBush, because a one, two, or three year slump doesn't affect their lifestyle. With the government top brass connecition to the energy industry, they manipulate everything to hoarde more riches for themselves and their buddies while selling fiction to the American people. They've been very successful too, because the American people can't see the forest for the trees. c.i.
Yes, CI, that's what happened in Reagan's term, too. Even today there are people who talk about those wonderful years. Bush inherited a slump, and because he still had a lot of the Reagan people, the slump continued. When Clinton came in the cry was "it's the economy, stupid," and he brought in some really knowledgeable people. The deficit was turned into a surplus.
Stockman was not only the architect; he was one of the biggest proponents of the Reagonomics, and did a lot of accountant tricks to make it work. He may have been one of the smartest economic people Reagan had. But as things progressed, his vision got clearer and clearer, and he got more and more disillusioned. There are some very interesting studies about him and the whole situation byWilliam Greider, who was - I think - editor of the Washington Post.
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