I really miss Ronald Reagan

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sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,847
6,383
126
Was a whole lot more Conservative back then and thought Reagan wast the sh1t. In retrospect he was quite meh. Benefitted by the fall of the Soviet Union, but made some huge mistakes that are still being paid for today.
 

dug777

Lifer
Oct 13, 2004
24,778
4
0
I'd just like to inform you i voted in all the polls, but I'm an Australian Citizen! Your polls are now worthless statistically, the plan failed! Mwuhahahahahahaha ;)
 

foghorn67

Lifer
Jan 3, 2006
11,883
63
91
Originally posted by: dug777
I'd just like to inform you i voted in all the polls, but I'm an Australian Citizen! Your polls are now worthless statistically, the plan failed! Mwuhahahahahahaha ;)

Glad you're back. ;)
 
Jun 27, 2005
19,216
1
61
Originally posted by: sandorski
Was a whole lot more Conservative back then and thought Reagan wast the sh1t. In retrospect he was quite meh. Benefitted by the fall of the Soviet Union, but made some huge mistakes that are still being paid for today.

At the risk of turning this into a P&N flame-fest... Benefitted? How about, caused? Accelerated? Engineered? I think that would be better terminology.
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
9
0
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: sandorski
Was a whole lot more Conservative back then and thought Reagan wast the sh1t. In retrospect he was quite meh. Benefitted by the fall of the Soviet Union, but made some huge mistakes that are still being paid for today.

At the risk of turning this into a P&N flame-fest... Benefitted? How about, caused? Accelerated? Engineered? I think that would be better terminology.

I guess you could see it that way... if your only knowledge of history was from 1981 to current.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,847
6,383
126
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: sandorski
Was a whole lot more Conservative back then and thought Reagan wast the sh1t. In retrospect he was quite meh. Benefitted by the fall of the Soviet Union, but made some huge mistakes that are still being paid for today.

At the risk of turning this into a P&N flame-fest... Benefitted? How about, caused? Accelerated? Engineered? I think that would be better terminology.

The CIA knew the USSR was going to fail back in the 1960's. It was inevitable, Reagan may have accelerated it, but not caused it.
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
I liked most of his politics, but not everything he did.
As far as registering for a party, I unregistered as a Republican a couple years ago. I'm kinda in-between at the moment, trying to make up my mind which party to go with (I'm registered independent now)
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
73,480
35,152
136
Reagan was a war criminal plain and simple. Tens of thousands of innocent folks were murdered on his orders in Nicaragua, El Salvador, the African frontline states, Lebonon, etc. He sold weapons to Iran at a time Iran was considered and enemy of the U.S. The man was a disgrace who escaped justice. As to ending the Cold War, his decisions at the Reykjavik summit extended the Cold War by years, wasting hundreds of billions on unnecessary defense spending. His fiscal policies were obscene creating deficits on a scale not seen since WWII.

Hint: If you don't want a P&N discussion on ATOT then don't start a thread trying to gloss over some very shameful history.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,503
20,106
146
Originally posted by: ironwing
Reagan was a war criminal plain and simple. Tens of thousands of innocent folks were murdered on his orders in Nicaragua, El Salvador, the African frontline states, Lebonon, etc. He sold weapons to Iran at a time Iran was considered and enemy of the U.S. The man was a disgrace who escaped justice. As to ending the Cold War, his decisions at the Reykjavik summit extended the Cold War by years, wasting hundreds of billions on unnecessary defense spending. His fiscal policies were obscene creating deficits on a scale not seen since WWII.

Hint: If you don't want a P&N discussion on ATOT then don't start a thread trying to gloss over some very shameful history.

Only a simpleton would fail to see his policy in central America was a choice of the lesser of two evils. Either let murderous communists take over and with their USSR alliance threaten the US, or let murderous fascists take over and let them burn themselves out.

At least Reagan was a realist who got the job done, rather than an idealist who got nothing done. He effectively stopped communist expansion in the western hemisphere. A really amazing feat only a misguided liberal could not understand.

And your historical knowledge of the cold war is asinine, to say the least. Arms reductions would never end the cold war. Only the destruction of the USSR would do that, and Reagan greatly accelerated that process by bankrupting them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reykjavik_Summit

Reykjavik failed for the very reason the USSR went bankrupt. To say that prolonged the cold war is simply absurd revisionist bullsh!t. Reagan held his ground and Gorby balked. Bully for Reagan.
 

Motorheader

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
3,682
0
0
Changed tax law's and that only benefitted the top 5-10% of wage earners. The trickle-down economics policy - ended up more like the "pee-on" the middle class policy. Countless military scandals and defense spending that we will NEVER pay for. The fall of the banking system, FDIC default, and the raid of Social Security to pay for that fall. Black Monday - October 19, 1987. The selling off of America that resulted in the U.S. being a debtor nation. The "war on drugs", or the lack thereof, and the resulting influence(s) of cocaine/crack on society.

Yeah, those were good times:disgust:
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,503
20,106
146
Originally posted by: Motorheader
Changed tax law's and that only benefitted the top 5-10% of wage earners. The trickle-down economics policy - ended up more like the "pee-on" the middle class policy. Countless military scandals and defense spending that we will NEVER pay for. The fall of the banking system, FDIC default, and the raid of Social Security to pay for that fall. Black Monday - October 19, 1987. The selling off of America that resulted in the U.S. being a debtor nation. The "war on drugs", or the lack thereof, and the resulting influence(s) of cocaine/crack on society.

Yeah, those were good times:disgust:

Are you kidding? His tax laws closed the loopholes that allowed the top 5% to escape paying most of their income taxes. In fact, it was the loss of these shelters that only benefited the rich that was a major contributor to the savings and loan crisis.

Finally, those laws (Tax Reform Act of 1986) were sponsored by two liberal democrats (Richard Gephardt and Bill Bradley)

And to blame Reagan for Black Friday is absurd. Markets around the world dropped dramatically. Interestingly enough, though, the gains in the years after Black Friday were historical.

And Reagan didn't start the war on drugs any more than Clinton did. He merely attempted to fight it. To not do so is political death, unfortunately.
 

Jadow

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2003
5,962
2
0
He was a true conservative who hated waste and unnecesary spending. Bush thinks of Reagan as a hero, but he totally betrays his hero's core beliefs.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,442
6,539
136
Originally posted by: ironwing
Reagan was a war criminal plain and simple. Tens of thousands of innocent folks were murdered on his orders in Nicaragua, El Salvador, the African frontline states, Lebonon, etc. He sold weapons to Iran at a time Iran was considered and enemy of the U.S. The man was a disgrace who escaped justice. As to ending the Cold War, his decisions at the Reykjavik summit extended the Cold War by years, wasting hundreds of billions on unnecessary defense spending. His fiscal policies were obscene creating deficits on a scale not seen since WWII.

Hint: If you don't want a P&N discussion on ATOT then don't start a thread trying to gloss over some very shameful history.

You sir, are a fool.
The ignorance of that statement is beyond belief, try looking up some facts rather than spouting off blind hatred.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,503
20,106
146
Originally posted by: Jadow
He was a true conservative who hated waste and unnecesary spending. Bush thinks of Reagan as a hero, but he totally betrays his hero's core beliefs.

I would have to somewhat agree with you. I wouldn't say "totally" but he has missed the boat in many ways.
 

MrPickins

Diamond Member
May 24, 2003
9,125
792
126
I love how your poll only has options for 2 parties. I suppose independents aren't allowed an opinion. ;)

Ol' Ronnie did some good things, but he also did some bad things. He was a pretty good president, but he was way too idolized then, and people only remember the good things now.

He had charisma, but he wasn't the second comming.
 

fitzov

Platinum Member
Jan 3, 2004
2,477
0
0
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: Jadow
He was a true conservative who hated waste and unnecesary spending. Bush thinks of Reagan as a hero, but he totally betrays his hero's core beliefs.

I would have to somewhat agree with you. I wouldn't say "totally" but he has missed the boat in many ways.

Maybe, but you both forget Reagan ran up a huge deficit--not fiscally conservative.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,503
20,106
146
Originally posted by: fitzov
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: Jadow
He was a true conservative who hated waste and unnecesary spending. Bush thinks of Reagan as a hero, but he totally betrays his hero's core beliefs.

I would have to somewhat agree with you. I wouldn't say "totally" but he has missed the boat in many ways.

Maybe, but you both forget Reagan ran up a huge deficit--not fiscally conservative.

The majority of his debt was to spend the USSR into bankrupcy and defeat them without an actual war. A worthy cause, if you ask me. I'll take trillions in debt over millions of dead.
 

fitzov

Platinum Member
Jan 3, 2004
2,477
0
0
spend the USSR into bankrupcy and defeat them without an actual war

That doesn't make sense given the fact that they had far more nukes than we did--in fact, the Russians consider the end of the cold war a victory for them as well, as we finally had to agree that prolonging the arms race was not in either of our interests (arms treatys). The end of the Soviet Union was due more to political corruption and the loss of the peoples' faith in their government then it was anything to do with Reagan. China, on the other hand, never stopped being the totalitarian state that it is, and the people had far less influence on their government.
 

Motorheader

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
3,682
0
0
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: Motorheader
Changed tax law's and that only benefitted the top 5-10% of wage earners. The trickle-down economics policy - ended up more like the "pee-on" the middle class policy. Countless military scandals and defense spending that we will NEVER pay for. The fall of the banking system, FDIC default, and the raid of Social Security to pay for that fall. Black Monday - October 19, 1987. The selling off of America that resulted in the U.S. being a debtor nation. The "war on drugs", or the lack thereof, and the resulting influence(s) of cocaine/crack on society.

Yeah, those were good times:disgust:

Are you kidding? His tax laws closed the loopholes that allowed the top 5% to escape paying most of their income taxes. In fact, it was the loss of these shelters that only benefited the rich that was a major contributor to the savings and loan crisis.

Finally, those laws (Tax Reform Act of 1986) were sponsored by two liberal democrats (Richard Gephardt and Bill Bradley)

And to blame Reagan for Black Friday is absurd. Markets around the world dropped dramatically. Interestingly enough, though, the gains in the years after Black Friday were historical.

And Reagan didn't start the war on drugs any more than Clinton did. He merely attempted to fight it. To not do so is political death, unfortunately.

Mmmm...yeah right.

A Mortgage in 1972 - 5%-6%
A Mortgage in 79-81- 16%
A Mortgage in 1985- 8%

I was in Real-Estate during the Reagan Era. It wasn't the loss of the shelters for the rich that prompted the S&L failure, it was the lack of foresight (just like now) during this time that led to and influx of money through the banking system and then when the bills came due - a tremendous number of people couldn't pay. The predominant politics of the time led to Black Friday. Money first - all else comes secondary. Six years of Reagonomics led to the Savings and Loans Scandal, which came to the forefront at the same time the Federal Tax Laws were overhauled, which came the time that the bottom dropped out of the stock market.

The politics and monetary policies during that Reagan era led to a greater gap in what one earned and what you could save and comfortably spend. Not everyone can be chiefs with no Indians to follow, so since everyone's wage expanded slower than the rate of inflation and the cost of goods at the time, it became easier to ship production facilities and jobs outside of U.S. borders, make it overseas, and ship it back, while Americans retained their "status quo" lifestyle. More women went to work, which again was necessitated by the rise in real-estate, higher taxes per dollar on the middle-class, and the decline of the family core. Who in the hell lives within their means now.

The flood of drugs that came into U.S. borders was a result of the inability to address the problems here at home in the U.S. The lack of true vision led to the failed war on drugs and the spineless and toothless "just say no" campaign that resulted.

Urban plight led to more people moving to the suburbs, lower real-estate value for cities, lower taxes coming in for those cities, and the flight of jobs and businesses to "safer" and more business friendly areas.

So much for America first and trickle-down economics.