No VooDoo in the numbers I posted
What role did the massive military government spending play in Reagan's economy? Spending under Reagan was unprecedented in peacetime. Are you saying that played no role in Reagan's economy?
Look, I was (and still am) 100% in support of Reagan's tax cuts, 70% is just horrible. But that is not what stimulated the economy. Tax cuts for the rich add almost no perceptible value to the economy as a whole; but they're still the right thing to do.
Conservatives have a bad habit of thinking that tax cuts stimulate the rich to spend more on their businesses. They forget there's a big difference between INDIVIDUAL taxes and CORPORATE taxes. The line of "if you raise my taxes I'll cut your job" is the most ignorant statement on taxation anyone has ever made.
For tax code to influence the economy as a whole, there are two places where you can affect a change.
1 - Corporate taxes, specifically on Capital Purchases. Capital Expenditure is "stuff, buildings, and equipment" and typically needs a butt in a seat to occupy/use. That creates jobs.
2 - Decreasing personal income taxes on the middle class. The middle class is what drives our "consumer economy", NOT the upper class. The rich don't spend their money like you and I do (buying things), that's why they're rich. They spend their money typically on paper investments. Buying anything other than an IPO in the stock market, doesn't do anything for the economy at all.
Reagan's economics was 100% Keynesian; he just never told anyone that it was. The ONLY difference between Reagan and the Democrats was what Reagan spent the money on; military vs. social. Hell, just read up on the stuff written by Reagan's economists.
I wish conservatives knew something about economics beyond the drivel that Rush Limbaugh spews. Rush calls Keynesian economics spending your way to prosperity, which is not what it is; not even close. Keynesian advocates government spending to focus the spend during down economic times. Also when in a recession and people stop spending, government becomes the spender of last resort. Once things level out, Keynes advocated policies that sounded a lot more like Milton Friedman. ETA - Keynes was VERY big on paying down debt during good economic times, so you have room to maneuver during bad economic times.
"Conservatives" don't get that because they fundamentally don't understand macroeconomics.
