The Restore America Project

High gas prices, high inflation, high unemployment, and an overall stagnating economy. Sound familiar?

Ronald Reagan

In January 1981, Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the United States and inherited all of these problems. A few short years later, the American economy was booming, posting extraordinary growth rates in the midst of massive government reforms by the Reagan administration. Today, as we watch our country drift ever closer toward economic collapse, it is clear that President Reagan’s policies are exactly what we need to bring the United States back to the forefront of the world economy and to remove government from the lives of the American people.

Almost immediately upon entry into public office, Reagan made drastic and crucial changes to the federal government. He sliced the top income tax rate from 70% to 28% and cut corporate tax rates significantly. Reagan also eliminated many federal regulations and worked tirelessly to make government smaller. He treated government employees like employees in the private sector by operating with a willingness to terminate the jobs of those who failed to fulfill their working duties. For those who don’t remember, during Reagan’s first year in office, thousands of air traffic controllers from the PATCO labor union went on strike, asking for higher wages and a 32-hour workweek (barely more than five hours per day in a six day workweek). President Reagan warned the strikers to return to their jobs, and when the strikes continued, he fired the remaining 11,345 striking air traffic controllers and hired replacements. As a man dedicated to the protection of democracy throughout the world, Ronald Reagan also increased military spending to counter the emerging Soviet threat. His missile defense program, called “Star Wars” by critics, struck fear in the hearts of Soviet leaders and forced them to come to the table to negotiate with the United States.

The impact of Reagan’s policies on the United States and the world were massive. Reagan’s policies ignited an economic boom unlike any other in American history; in fact, during Reagan’s presidency alone, the US economy grew a whopping 35.7% (real GDP). In the decade following Reagan’s presidency, real GDP grew by 33.0%. Also, the Dow Jones Industrial Average grew an average of 15.0% annually over Reagan’s presidency and the decade following! Tax cuts improved the economic standing of all Americans and encouraged consumers to purchase goods and to contribute to the US economy. Interest rates and inflation dropped dramatically from the Carter administration, thanks to Reagan’s sound monetary policies and massive economic growth. Reagan’s foreign policy of strength and leadership contributed greatly to the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, both major symbols and perpetrators of communist oppression in the world.

Today, in the midst of calls to raise taxes, a massive national debt, and ever growing government intrusion into our lives, I often recall the Carter years, which were miserable for the American economy, and how Reagan turned the United States onto the road toward a brighter future. It is time for our elected leadership to remember Reagan’s success and to implement Reagan’s economic measures to strengthen the US economy. By strengthening our economy at home, we can pull ourselves and our European allies out of the current economic recession and into a new era of peace and economic prosperity.