@11HP20:
Being an independent I’m able to think about politics. Being dense I’m not able to think about economics. I let Alan Greenspan do that for me. In an interview Mr. Greenspan said Clinton did very little positive for the American economy. According to Greenspan Clinton “rode on the coat tails of the previous two administrations economic policies”.
Those policies were started by Reagan. Ask any economist and they will tell you it takes a good decade for a policy to fully effect the multi-trillion dollar engine that is the American economy. Reagan bashers should not take my word for it. Read up a little about how our economy really works then re-access your politics. Thank Reagan for the '90’s, thank Clinton for now, thank Bush for what’s soon to come, and thank the next guy for the 2020’s.
Let’s look at a quote from Greenspan (Ben Bernanke has replaced him, by the way) concerning Clinton and Reagan (from the Washington Post):
During Clinton’s first weeks as president, Greenspan went to the Oval Office and explained the danger of not confronting the federal deficit. Unless the deficits were cut, there could be “a financial crisis,” Greenspan told the president. “The hard truth was that Reagan had borrowed from Clinton, and Clinton was having to pay it back. I was impressed that he did not seem to be trying to fudge reality to the extent politicians ordinarily do. He was forcing himself to live in the real world.”
Dealing with a budget surplus in his second term, Clinton proposed devoting the extra money to “save Social Security first.” Greenspan writes, “I played no role in finding the answer, but I had to admire the one Clinton and his policymakers came up with.”
Does this sound like the same Greenspan that you allege is critical of Clinton?
The reality is that Reagan’s economic policies created real problems. Policies do not take a decade to enact and take effect. Reagan created the largest deficit since WW2, shifted the tax burden to the middle class, perpetuated the S&L crisis, changed the US from an export and creditor nation to an import and debtor nation, etc.
I’m not saying he didn’t do anything good…I’m sure there is. But to say he gets credit for what Clinton and the Republican Congress did during Clintons terms is ridiculous.
In that case you could say the benefit during Reagan’s terms came from Ford and Carter (which some argue anyway concerning deregulation).