Celebrating Reagan's True Legacy Terminating the American Dream
As Ronald Reagan supporters celebrate his 100th birthday on Feb. 6, it's astounding how not only the right wing has inflated and distorted his legacy, but most of the so-called liberal media as well.Saint Ronnie went on a deregulation bender. Like most right-wing conservative legislation Ronnie's was directed at making a few wealthy people even wealthier. In the long term he gave consumers and investors the shaft. Republicans think that's fine because they believe American is meant to be governed by and for the elite. That is a large part of Reagan's legacy. There are other parts like the Reagan legacy of corruption where 38 of his administration staffers were found guilty of federal crimes, but that's another story.
....You can thank The Gipper for the birth of the current mortgage crisis. As William Kleinknecht, author of The Man Who Sold the World, put it, Reagan pushed for the elimination of all ceilings on interest rates and restrictions on loans, with his goal to "allow all depository institutions to make the same type of loans in whatever amount they see fit." The subsequent Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 enabled lenders to issue adjustable rate and interest-only mortgages, the drivers of the current mortgage meltdown.
As I pointed out in my book, America, Welcome to the Poorhouse, the blame for runaway home prices also falls on Reagan since he slashed subsidies for low-income housing, making home ownership the only option for low-income families. In 1988 Reagan cut the housing budget to less than $8 billion compared to $32 billion under Carter, resulting in a 90% decrease in construction of new units in one year alone.
Wonder why we've got record federal deficits? Much of the cause stems from Reagan's corporate tax breaks; by 1983 the portion of tax receipts derived from corporate income taxes dropped to an all-time low of 6.2%, down from 12.5% in 1980 and 32.1% in 1952.
Finally, Reagan was also responsible for the spiraling cost of college, since he continued his vendetta against the government subsidy of "intellectual curiosity" launched while governor of California once he occupied the Oval Office. Although he didn't manage to abolish the Department of Education, he halved the portion of the federal budget spent on education from 12% of the budget to 6% of it. Given that more Americans believe that making college affordable is more important than reducing the deficit or cutting taxes, according to a survey cited in the Huffington Post, this measure directly defied the will of the people.
What's amazing is that even the Liberal In Name Only New York Times is lionizing Reagan -- is this selective memory driven by fears that conservative readers might cancel their subscriptions if they did otherwise? The Times' downright nasty 2009 book review of The Man Who Sold the World, was authored by an editor for the right-wing Weekly Standard, an affiliation that was not disclosed in the review.
Freshman Tea Bagger Idiot Didn't Know Government Paid For Her Health Benefits
A fun nugget buried in this story about Rep. Ann Buerkle's (R-NY) first town hall meeting as an elected member of Congress. Constituents repeatedly asked a puzzled Buerkle about her health benefits. She couldn't figure out why. But her staff sure could.Buerkle is one of those conservatives with enough cognitive ability to tie her own shoes. Why should she understand that tax payers subsize her health care. All coservatives like her need to know is they're against something that would help most Americans and goodness knows Republicans do not want to have any pro-American legislation on the books. Health care for Buerkle and let those without insurance go bankrupt or die.
Buerkle, who voted to repeal the health care reform act, was twice asked about the health insurance she receives as a government employee. At first she said she couldn't understand why people were so interested in her health insurance, and that taxpayers didn't pay anything for it. She later corrected herself after being handed a note from a staffer. Like most employees, she pays for a portion of her insurance and her employer, the government, pays the rest, she said.
