How did the Republicans during the Reagan Era manage to sell

[KlatooBNikto]

the snake oil called Supply Side Economics? Remember in those days, the Democrats had control of the House.Could it be that some of the socalled DLC type of Corporate Democrats betrayed our principles and just commonsense to curry favor with the corporations? Even Bush Sr.called this "Voodoo Economics".Its tarck record has been pretty pathetic and yet here we are in the age of Bush II, our wimpy Democrats don't even speak out against this second generation snake oil of tax cuts for the rich.

[proud patriot]

1. cookie crumbs , and "welfare queens driving cadilacs"

IMHO

[madrchsod]

5. you forgot blacks getting jobs over white people

up the republican/klan race card-works everytime

[napi21]

2. The country had just endured 20% interest rates, and

a rise in real estate prices that was insane. The opposition could have sold almost anything that promised to make those go away!

[madrchsod]

4. 20% interest rates

and 18% on six month notes. my parents made alot of money by buying these 1000 and 5000 dollar notes. they never made over 10 dollars a hour their entire lifes. they just kept rolling over these notes for years. in fact many years later the saving and loan was pleading with them to cash the notes out. the spread is about the same now as it was then

[bleedingheart]

6. my mom made her nest egg that way...

[napi21]

13. Of course the advantage was to whose who could buy CD's, but

home buyers, and businesses who borrow $$ (which is all of them!) were really having a tough time. I know quite a few people who had 21% mortage rates at the time!!! The company I worked for, which was a large one, was paying 19% interest on their corp. loan. Things were also pretty bad in the unemployment sector. They worked us to death, but we were all just really happy to have a job!

You're right that there was a good side to this, but there were far too few people who were able to take advantage of the good side.

[bleedingheart]

3. the greedy americans swallowed...

the rest of us watched on in disgust...

[secedeeconomically]

7. Read "What's the matter with Kansas" Very reveling

[bemildred]

8. The Dem leadership of the time laid down and died so it would pass.

It was amazing to watch. They fought Jimmy C. tooth and nail, and then
would not lift a finger against Raygun.

[Strelnikov_]

9. The Old Fashoned Way, By Promising Tax Cuts, And Telling

everyone they could have it all if those poor people didn't have so much.

[JHB]

10. Exactly...

It's an unforseen but toxic side effect of 70's reforms that raised the prominence of the party primaries and caucuses over the "smoke-filled back room" candidate-selection system.

The old system had plenty of flaws and corruptions, but it concentrated the power of the party and enforced some dicipline.

Under the newer system, especially once the power of TV ads was realized, Cash became King, and the pattern of corruption shifted to the fund-raising (and fund-GIVING) process, the arrangement we're in now.

[JHB]

11. unexpected dupe

please delete

[AndyTiedye]

12. They Had Just Started Buying Up The Media

[Warpy]

14. I don't think people ever really bought the supply side crap

but you need to put it into perspective. Carter had inherited the inaction of Nixon/Ford against OPEC, and the infaltion from the oil price shock was working its way completely through the economy. Since income tax rates were tied to fixed dollar amounts of income, people whose income was rising more slowly than inflation was saw themselves paying vastly increased taxes. In late 1978, in a desperate attempt to stop the runaway inflation, Carter had given the go-ahead for Volcker to raise interest rates to a crippling level. Caught among higher taxes, lower indexed wages, and ruinously high interest rates, people were absolutely desperate for a fix, any fix.

Reagan promised (and delivered) three 10% across the board tax cuts. Unfortunately, most people had simply not done the math, and were surprised to find they'd gotten pennies while the richest had gotten millions. Then St. Ronnie raised FICA six times between 1983 and the end of his term in 1989, giving the poor and middle class a tax boost that eclipsed any savings they'd gotten from his tax "cut."

Some people did very well during Reagan's reign, and those years are often cited as boom years by people who don't know any better. However, it was yuppie money, wasted money, and the majority of working people who had never recovered from the oil shocks continued to fall behind.