Mention the current economic crisis to virtually any Republicans in Congress and they will gush nostalgically about the good old days when President Ronald Reagan held sway.
But the economy was far from a utopia in the Reagan years, the Republicans’ fond memories notwithstanding.
It is difficult to quantify the monetary damage that Reagan’s environmental and energy policies inflicted on the nation, but the direct and indirect dollar costs are estimated to be considerable. For example, how many billions did our economy lose as a result of Reagan squandering our global lead in renewable energy technology and applications? What were the additional medical bills resulting from Regan’s slowdown, and in some instances, total suspension of anti-pollution regulations to protect public health?
Actually, there is no need to get so abstract when hard and fast statistics chronicle just how flawed Reagan’s economic record was.
To be fair, some positive economic trends occurred during his eight year reign. Inflation and unemployment declined, and the pace of job creation increased. It’s just that the “bonanza,” bolstered by extremely favorable tax treatment to the wealthy, disproportionately benefitted the top two percent of income
