● INTRODUCTION
●
● Reaganism & Reaganomics - a new departure?
● ways in which the Republican govt of the 1980s was similar to the Republican
government of the 1920s:
● reduction of 'big government' was a stripping away of the interventions made by
successive liberal governments since FDR ⇒ return to laissez-faire
● both hard line anti-union ⇒ union membership fell under both govts
● both allowed for the creation of big business corporations ⇒ could monopolise areas of
industry
● both believed in significant tax reductions ⇒ both reduced top-level personal tax rates
from 70% to 25%
● both created economics where the wealth was concentrated at the top
● both believed in 'rugged individualism' ⇒ mentally divided the poor into 'worthy' poor
and 'feckless'
●
● The political scene when Reagan came to power
● 1979: public opinion poll showed that majority of Americans thought their children's
lives would be worse than their own
● Carter's response unpopular: discussed the problems at length ⇒ outlook and
speeches were pessimistic
○ Reagan stressed what the USA had achieved before and what it could achieve
again
● Reagan's beliefs:
● committed Christian ⇒ significant amount of the conservation coalition support came
from the religious right
○ gave jobs in the White House to members
● Reagan believed in traditional family values and prayer in schools
● opposition in Congress meant govt was not too conservative
●
● WHAT EFFECT DID REAGAN'S ECONOMIC POLICIES HAVE?
●
● Immediate action
● wanted to control govt spending, reduce govt involvement and to cut taxes
○ influenced by 'supply-side' economic theories ⇒ economy wasn't driven by the
consumer demand but by keeping up production and encouraging saving and
investment
● Reagan ordered all White House depts to cut their travel expenses by 15%
●
● The plan for reform
● Reagan wanted to present his whole budget policy through to 1984 as a single bill when
he met Congress on 18th Feb
○ Congress would vote on whole package ⇒ administration would have approval
for all its measures
● Reaganomics:
● cutting the federal deficit: aimed to reduce from 22% of the GNP in 1981 to 19% in 1986
● personal and business tax reductions: Economic Recovery Tax Act 1981
● deregulation: removing federal control in industry, state and local govt
● planned control of money supply: to keep inflation down whilst expanding the economy
●
● Getting the legislation passed
● Republican majority in Senate and almost in HoR
○ only had to win the support of 26 Democrats in the House to pass its legislation
● Reagan's Economic Legislation and Other Economic Measures:
● Omnibus Reconciliation Act (ORA) 1981
●
● Reaganism & Reaganomics - a new departure?
● ways in which the Republican govt of the 1980s was similar to the Republican
government of the 1920s:
● reduction of 'big government' was a stripping away of the interventions made by
successive liberal governments since FDR ⇒ return to laissez-faire
● both hard line anti-union ⇒ union membership fell under both govts
● both allowed for the creation of big business corporations ⇒ could monopolise areas of
industry
● both believed in significant tax reductions ⇒ both reduced top-level personal tax rates
from 70% to 25%
● both created economics where the wealth was concentrated at the top
● both believed in 'rugged individualism' ⇒ mentally divided the poor into 'worthy' poor
and 'feckless'
●
● The political scene when Reagan came to power
● 1979: public opinion poll showed that majority of Americans thought their children's
lives would be worse than their own
● Carter's response unpopular: discussed the problems at length ⇒ outlook and
speeches were pessimistic
○ Reagan stressed what the USA had achieved before and what it could achieve
again
● Reagan's beliefs:
● committed Christian ⇒ significant amount of the conservation coalition support came
from the religious right
○ gave jobs in the White House to members
● Reagan believed in traditional family values and prayer in schools
● opposition in Congress meant govt was not too conservative
●
● WHAT EFFECT DID REAGAN'S ECONOMIC POLICIES HAVE?
●
● Immediate action
● wanted to control govt spending, reduce govt involvement and to cut taxes
○ influenced by 'supply-side' economic theories ⇒ economy wasn't driven by the
consumer demand but by keeping up production and encouraging saving and
investment
● Reagan ordered all White House depts to cut their travel expenses by 15%
●
● The plan for reform
● Reagan wanted to present his whole budget policy through to 1984 as a single bill when
he met Congress on 18th Feb
○ Congress would vote on whole package ⇒ administration would have approval
for all its measures
● Reaganomics:
● cutting the federal deficit: aimed to reduce from 22% of the GNP in 1981 to 19% in 1986
● personal and business tax reductions: Economic Recovery Tax Act 1981
● deregulation: removing federal control in industry, state and local govt
● planned control of money supply: to keep inflation down whilst expanding the economy
●
● Getting the legislation passed
● Republican majority in Senate and almost in HoR
○ only had to win the support of 26 Democrats in the House to pass its legislation
● Reagan's Economic Legislation and Other Economic Measures:
● Omnibus Reconciliation Act (ORA) 1981
