OMG! I just watched Reagan's Budget Director on Colbert,,,,

[johnaries]

and he agrees with US!

He is against the Bush tax cuts for the top 2%. When asked what programs should be cut, he said {b] Defense! He made fun of most Repuke strategies, and basically called them "stupid".

Well, there ya go all Raygun acolytes.

Raygun's own Budget director agrees with Dems and dismisses most Repuke strategies as "stupid".

Every "trickle-down" and Raygun supporter should view Colbert's interview.

[calimary]

1. David Stockman?

I read a book by him after his days with reagan. He talked about things they had actually shoved down people's throats with their totally-fucked budgeteering - things like "Rosie Scenario" - where they had everything working, predicated on some fairy story that they hoped might materialize in the future to make it all better based on what they did. It was just all gonna work like some sort of magic. And the "magic asterisk." Whenever they couldn't make the numbers add up (through real-world economic figuring, that is) they inserted a "magic asterisk" that somehow accounted for all the discrepancies and made things add up at the bottom of the ledger page, with NO explanation what the "magic asterisk" stood for, or how much, or where from. UNBELIEVABLE. And everybody was so romanced with reagan and soothed to sleep by his folksy aw-shucks nice old "uncle ronnie" schtick that they let it all happen without a fight.

It was AWFUL!!!!!

[pa28]

4. I read that one too.

It was a really revealing look at the Reagan White House. Stockman would bring folders to Reagan with cuts and finally Stockman said there was nothing left to eliminate.

Reagan said "just keep them coming".

[veganlush]

2. sad and telling that this type of information

is on Colbert, instead of somewhere where the tea baggers will see it. This stuff needs to be seen but the other side, not the choir.

[malaise]

6. He was on CNN last Sunday

on Fareed Zakaria's program

[bermudat]

3. If teabaggers were to watch, what makes you believe they will listen?

The facts, the truth means nothing to that lot.

[truedelphi]

5. Reagan understood some aspects of money.

This household finally was able to receive child support from the kid's dad. For him, there was no more crossing of state borders to get away from his legal obligation.

Reagan had realized that some 65% plus of all women on AFDC knew the name, address, and job site of the other parental unit. Why make the state pick up the cost of raising a kid? Why have women on welfare, who had to either receive AFDC and not work, or work and have their AFDC cut back by money earned so that filing for welfare wasn't worth it. Why the endless hassles of bureaucrats questioning you about every dollar you got. (I was once put into detention and held for four hours by welfare officials, who at first would not tell me why I was there. Then they wanted to know who had conspired with me to commit fraud "upon the local government." Fraud?!? I had forgotten to report a single five dollar birthday check my folks sent me.)

On account of Reagan, for the first time in my adult life, I had adequate income. And my son had a Platinum Plus health care policy. All paid for by the person who was equally responsible for him, both morally and legally.

Once and a while the father would slip behind in payments, but then would find out his income tax refund was sent to us.

[Jim Lane]

7. Stockman's book is excellent

And the things he's saying now don't represent some new conversion. Even while he was working for Reagan, he was a true believer in the idea of the Reagan Revolution, but was also smart enough and honest enough to realize as time went on that the administration was on course for record deficits (which is what happened).

His book is The Triumph of Politics. As pa28 said above, it's a revealing look at the Reagan White House, but perhaps even more revealing about Congress. The Republicans all talked very hawkishly about eliminating deficits. Then they fought like tigers to protect their own special interests. For example, Stockman wanted to save billions of dollars by eliminating tobacco subsidies, but Jesse Helms said "No" and that killed that idea. And so it went. Stockman ended up with cuts that were much smaller than were needed to offset the tax cuts, but the tax cuts went ahead anyway.