Dispelling Some Reagan Myths

My recent Yahoo! News article, "Reagan's '80s Brought Worries Equal to Obama's Present," spawned many comments raising questions about issues I left out, due to space restrictions. I feel drawn to respond.

"Exasperated" commented: "This poor author has gives no indication that she comprehends that our economy morphed into a global-digital-knowledge based one over the decades.... The REAL ECONOMIC GAME CHANGER is digital technology coupled with automation. Technological unemployment has been squeezing the labor out of manufacturing, the office, and now middle management since the 60s, when the refineries were automated. .... The mid level semi skilled jobs that were the back bone of the middle class were automated and continue to be automated out of existence, not just outsourced...."

I am well aware of the effect of global-digital-knowledge . However, our government made no attempt to help the millions of functionally-literate trade workers only equipped with high school diplomas or GEDs who held the same jobs their entire lives. Government policies permitted companies to shut down industry in this country and outsource it, putting many in their 50s and 60s out of work, within sight of retirement age, depriving them of their last five to eight working years, at the peak of their 401k and social security deposits. These people were offered retraining as medical technicians or computer operators and other jobs for which they were unequipped. When the displaced workers requested CDL training programs in order to become licensed truck drivers, they were told those programs were not available.

Ed commented: " I remember the foremost concern of everyone in this country and most of the world was the imminent threat of global nuclear Armageddon at the hands of the Soviet Union, and the threat of the Soviets invading Western Europe. Don't hear much about that now. And that is thanks to Ronald Wilson Reagan, who had the balls to do what he knew was right, and stand up to the Soviets, even though it subjected him to massive criticism.... Several hundreds of millions of people who formerly lived behind the iron curtain, and now live in freedom, can attest to the courage and leadership of Ronald Reagan."

This is the biggest lie out there. The real heroes of the fall of communism were Lech Walesa, Pope John Paul II and the Polish people. Their revolution started the domino effect that broke up the USSR. Reagan jumped in after the game had started, grandstanding with his "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. It's another Reagan myth.

Ron commented: " You are right, you are a rabid democrat. Nothing in the world would please you if you thought there was a Republican involved."

I no longer consider myself a "rabid democrat." I am totally disgusted with both parties, who are only out to make their corporate sponsors happy, passing legislation that has turned us into a corpacracy. But at least the democrats throw the middle class a bone occasionally.

Ed commented:" ...And let's not forget the illegal financing of a civil war in Nicaragua funded by selling weapons to Iran so they could fight a war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq (to whom he was also selling weapons). He did also delay the Govt's response to the AIDS epidemc .....that Reaganomics is voodoo economics is historical proof now. There has thus far been no peer reviewed papers or studies demonstrating that supply side economics improves the economy at large or for individuals. Reagan's legacy is outsourced jobs, bankruptcies, foreclosures, an overly bloated military/industrial complex, airwaves polluted by one sided hatemongers. So much for St. Ronzo."

Thank you, Ed. The recent call to give illegal aliens amnesty echoes Reagan's failed plan, which did nothing to cure the wave of illegals from Mexico. And who could forget good old "Ollie" North and the Iran-Contra scandal? I also left out that I lost a brother in 1986, in the first wave of the AIDS epidemic. Health officials urged Reagan's administration to take a closer look at AIDS in its infancy but, because it appeared to only affect gay men, it was merely considered a sexually transmitted disease and put on the back burner.

Mr. KnowItAll commented: " Reagan's trickle down economics made Japan rich in the 1980s while starving the American middle class just like Bush's trickle down economics made China rich in the 2000s while starving the American middle class. Oh yes, it does trickle down: just not to us."

Yes, Mr. KnowItAll, you are correct. I know not one working person who ever benefited from this fallacy of supply-side and trickle-down economics, either under Reagan or Bush.

The ironic part of this is that, as a person, I actually liked Ronald Reagan. He just didn't belong in the White House.