Robert Parry: The Dark Legacy of Reaganomics

[marmar]

from Consortium News:




The Dark Legacy of Reaganomics
September 20, 2011

Exclusive: For half a century – from the depths of the Great Depression until the rise of Ronald Reagan – the U.S. government invested in building the nation and funding key research. And the country flourished. But Reagan then reversed those priorities. The results are in, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry


It may be political heresy to say so, but a strong case could be made that the greatest American “job creator” over the past 80 years has been the federal government – or put differently, the government built the framework that private companies then used to create profits and jobs.

This heretical view also would hold that it was Ronald Reagan’s deviation from this formula for success some 30 years ago that put the United States on its current path of economic decline – by starving the government of resources and providing incentives for the rich, through sharply lower taxes, to get super-greedy.

Rather than continuing a half century of policies that made smart investments in research and development – along with maintaining a well-educated work force and a top-notch transportation infrastructure – Reagan declared “government is the problem” and built a political movement for deconstructing it.

That movement, which boasts powerful right-wing media outlets and well-funded think tanks, now dominates the American political landscape. And, today it presses even harder than Reagan did for dismantling government programs while rejecting the slightest revenue enhancements, like closing tax loopholes for corporate jets or any other tax advantage favoring the rich. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2011/09/20/the-dark-legacy-of-reaganomics/

[indepat]

1. Let's all sing together: how great he art, how great Saint Ronnie art, hallelujah,

praise God from who all blessings flow, especially blessing us with Saint Ronnie and the enduring blessings he bestowed upon our country through his voodoo economics! :patriot:

[unblock]

2. indeed. the government creates and invents. big business innovates and profits.

the government is among the few entities that actually drives and funds and creates the circumstances for research and genuine and often large-scale invention. think manhattan project, the space program, the internet, and so on.

the private sector then takes that research, productizes it, and figures out ways of distributing it to the people and profitting from it. it pays the government no royalties. that, in and of itself is a humongous form of corporate welfare.


once upon a time big monopolies or near-monopolies such as at&t and ibm used to have tremendous research facilities, and while a lot of this was for the innovation of products, a good deal of it was pure research. that doesn't much happen in the private sector anymore, unless you count private universities.

[femrap]

3. Raygun was the

Beginning of the End. W was the Middle of the End.

And now we face The End....no jobs and no hope of jobs unless one wants to move to India or China.

I'd like to put some Banksters in jail and sell tickets to see them.