NYT: Reagan's Fateful Misdiagnosis

[kpete]

OPINION
The New Progressive Movement
By JEFFREY D. SACHS
Published: November 12, 2011


OCCUPY WALL STREET and its allied movements around the country are more than a walk in the park. They are most likely the start of a new era in America. Historians have noted that American politics moves in long swings. We are at the end of the 30-year Reagan era, a period that has culminated in soaring income for the top 1 percent and crushing unemployment or income stagnation for much of the rest. The overarching challenge of the coming years is to restore prosperity and power for the 99 percent.

Thirty years ago, a newly elected Ronald Reagan made a fateful judgment: “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” Taxes for the rich were slashed, as were outlays on public services and investments as a share of national income. Only the military and a few big transfer programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ benefits were exempted from the squeeze.

Reagan’s was a fateful misdiagnosis. He completely overlooked the real issue — the rise of global competition in the information age — and fought a bogeyman, the government. Decades on, America pays the price of that misdiagnosis, with a nation singularly unprepared to face the global economic, energy and environmental challenges of our time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/the-new-progressive-movement.html

[Stuart G]

1. Thanks For Posting, k and r..

[Pool Hall Ace]

2. kick

:kick:

[Hepburn]

3. Good analysis. Another thank you for posting. KnR...n/t

[drm604]

4. Did he really misdiagnose, or did he know exactly what he was doing?

I think it may be that he was doing what he thought was best for the wealthy and the big corporations. Those were his constituents (in his mind) and everyone else was unimportant.

[izquierdista]

7. He stopped knowing what he was doing in the mid-'70s

But he could still parrot the lines he was fed. That's why it was so important for the corporocrats to install him in the Oval Office so they could have free reign to do what they wanted.

[Old and In the Way]

13. He was an actor who played President.

Deaver and Baker stage-managed Ron. They told him what to say and where to say it. George HW Bush handled foreign/Big Oil policy portfolios.

[valerief]

32. Hammer, meet nail. You've hit the nail on its head. nt

[12AngryBorneoWildmen]

40. Don't forget Don Regan

Ex-CEO Goldman BallSacks.

[AlbertCat]

49. He was an actor who played President.

Exactly. The 1st cardboard cut out prez. He stood in front of the cameras while other unelected people ran things completely. The fact he was called.... by his own folks mind you, "the Great Communicator" when he never wrote a speech he spoke make this clear. He delivered lines written for him, but everyone is supposed to believe he was the "Great Communicator". Yeah, of other peoples' ideas and policies.

And these underground people in charge knew exactly what they were doing. It wasn't a misdiagnosis. It was an excuse for the "greed is good" meme to spread.


This Op Ed is one of false equivalencies too. It says both Repugs and Dems are to blame. But in reality CONSERVATIVES are to blame and most of them are Repugs. And they are clearly at fault. His little history of the pendulum swinging never points out it's the conservatives who cause the problems in the past and the liberals who save things in the end. Today shows that. Dems may be weak and timid, but they are not driving the machine.

[rfranklin]

67. He and other "conservatives" were mouthing the PR of his sponsors...

Corporate chieftains who want to be freed of the shackles of government oversight. I think that Bruce Springsteen nailed it with the lyric that says, "Poor man wants to be rich, Rich man wants to be king..."

[The Wizard]

72. There's a book called "The Role of a Lifetime"

about the Reagan presidency. Another book about the Reagan Administration is the "Terrible Twos" by Ishmael Reed that satirizes the two tiered corporate feudal system Reagan fostered. The main issues were the widening gap between the rich and poor and a complete disregard for all social values in favor of corporate profits and the President's image.
Go here for the review: http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/14/specials/reed-twos.html

[Enthusiast]

70. Nailed it.

[dotymed]

75. Ex-CIA chief Bush also handled the dirty and "wet work."

The Bush crime family has been one of the 1% in our country since at least the 1800's. They have been politicians, banksters, "oil-men", whatever. Yet in the history of the common people in America (which had world-wide,mostly devastating consequences) the Bush Family Criminal Enterprise has come down on the wrong side of humanity.

Their dealings with the Saud family (who rule "their" country with violence and become wealthier and more powerful with each new oil deal) are well known, as are the dealings of the Patriarch and former Senator, Prescott Bush who dealt with and supplied the Nazi's with financial assistance as well as weapons in return for huge (ill gotten) gains and power. Additionally, he was one of the wealthy who financed an attempted a coup on FDR.

If ever there was a family born with silver spoons and the need to profit exorbitantly off of everyone despite the pain and death, said profit might cause, it is the heinous Bush crime family. They are organized crime that has been refined in the ivy halls of Yale, but they are still more dangerous than any rattlesnake.

[Lasher]

8. Both.

He was a simpleton who read whatever script his handlers gave him. He believed government was the problem and then when he was elected he proved it by example.

"...like reinventing the wheel."
--Larry Speakes (Reagan's former press secretary) describing what it was like preparing the President for a press conference, Speaking Out: The Reagan Presidency from Inside the White House

"The task of watering the arid desert between Reagan's ears is a challenging one for his aides."
--Columnist David Broder

http://thereaganyears.tripod.com/reaganquotes.htm

[dotymed]

77. This from a man who was a Union leader before the

Alzheimer's took control. He was "head of the screen actors guild" when he was healthy. After this insidious disease took over and he became our "stick President," he was told to fire the Unionized Air Traffic Controllers. Thus began the rapid decline of Unions in America.

[begin_within]

20. He misdiagnosed and he knew exactly what he was doing.

Reagan operated for the benefit of the upper class although he was able to portray himself as a populist. He portrayed himself as "restoring America to greatness" when he was instrumental in engineering the demise of America into the third-world nation it is today. He was actually the biggest and best con-man America has ever seen, and millions bought into it then, and still worship his memory today. Probably the single most destructive figure in the last 50 years, yet also one of the most worshipped. Yes, he knew exactly what he was doing when he purposely misdiagnosed what was wrong at that time.

[russspeakeasy]

35. He NEVER knew what he was doing, NEVER.

[deutsey]

73. According to David Stockman, it was all very intentional n/t

[Tennessee Gal]

5. Excellent!

[Old and In the Way]

6. Had we followed Carter's lead on energy, we'd be energy independent today.

Untold trillions in wars and military spending would have been saved and 100's of thousands of lives/casualties would have been spared. But there was just too much money to be made by turning our national security over to Big Oil.

[Lasher]

9. Did you know that Carter had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House?

Reagan had them removed just as soon as he moved in.

[Old and In the Way]

12. Did you know one of Bush/Reagan''s 1st moves was kicking the Dept. of Energy out of the cabinet?

Sends a message as to what Republicans (the Texas Oil subsidiary, anyways) priorities were. Reagan was too clueless to understand what Poppy's real agenda was.

[Lasher]

24. No, I did not know that.

Thanks.

[Beartracks]

39. One of his others was to remove those solar panels. n/t

[polly7]

18. Seriously?

Why on earth would he do that, did he provide any justification for it?

[Old and In the Way]

21. Who? Bush or Reagan?

I suspect Reagan did it because he was told to do it. It was what a Republican leader should do. Energy must be the domain of the free market and government must not screw with private enterprise. Plus, there was a shitload of money to be made importing oil from SA. Much cheaper than risky hit-or-miss drilling investments. Simply sail up to the pump and fill 'er up! This was a Bush initiative - on behalf of the Texas Oil Lobby, IMHO.

Here's a pretty good overview-

http://www.answers.com/topic/department-of-energy

The Carter era. President Carter's National Energy Plan had two broad objectives: first, to reduce dependence on foreign oil; and, second, to develop renewable and inexhaustible sources of energy. The DOE proposed energy efficiency standards for new buildings, created the Solar Training Institute, and worked with General Motors to develop prototype electric cars and trucks.

The new agency inherited ongoing investigations into allegations that several oil companies had conspired to overcharge consumers during the 1973 oil embargo crisis. These investigations were ongoing when another oil crisis in the spring of 1979 brought new allegations of price gouging against fifteen oil companies and further DOE investigations. By the end of Carter's term in office, the DOE had collected $1.7 billion in settlements with oil companies.

<snip>

The Reagan and Bush era. Early in his first term, Ronald Reagan sought to abolish the DOE. He cut hundreds of positions from enforcement divisions of the agency. Reagan's abolition attempt failed in Congress when a General Accounting Office study revealed that abolition of the DOE would not save any money. Reagan was still able to change the function significantly. The Reagan-era DOE placed a much stronger focus on nuclear weapons production, nuclear energy, and fossil fuels. The Reagan administration cut DOE funding for renewable energy and conservation programs by as much as 80 percent, while it pledged to speed the licensing process of new nuclear power plants. The Reagan-era DOE deregulated the gasoline market.

<snip>

During Reagan's tenure a DOE official was convicted of accepting bribes to pass on internal documents to oil industry officials.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/department-of-energy#ixzz1dc6ZHO4g

Not a huge leap of imagination to understand how Republican energy policy made 2 wars in Iraq possible. Trillions spent on wars and military muscle to keep Big Oil's business plan intact while 100's thousands of Americans died and debilitated by such illnesses as Gulf War Syndrome.

[Lasher]

22. I will hazard a guess.

Saint Ronnie's handlers saw the panels as a symbol of hostility toward the status quo, which was the continued and increased use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

Obama's energy secretary Steven Chu said last year that solar panels will be put back on the White House roof but I have seen no other indication that they will be.

[Marie Marie]

52. They simply did not fit with Nancy's plans to redecorate the White House.

They clashed with her new drapes. Oh yeah, and there was that "wink-wink" to Big Oil.

[Major Hogwash]

31. Reagan is a moderate compared to the Republicans today. They have gone so far to the right,

They have fallen off of the edge of the political map!

"Here there be monsters." ~ Pirates of the Caribbean.

Boy, nothing could be closer to the truth than that, when talking about the GOP assklowns that are running for President against President Obama!

[russspeakeasy]

36. He was the tip of the turd.

Disgusting, I know. But so is the party he birthed.

[Gabi Hayes]

19. the ten principles set forth in Carter's 1977 amazingly prescient energy speech:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/carter-energy/

The first principle is that we can have an effective and comprehensive energy policy only if the government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices.

The second principle is that healthy economic growth must continue. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. An effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The third principle is that we must protect the environment. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems -- wasteful use of resources. Conservation helps us solve both at once.

The fourth principle is that we must reduce our vulnerability to potentially devastating embargoes. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and developing a strategic petroleum reserve.

The fifth principle is that we must be fair. Our solutions must ask equal sacrifices from every region, every class of people, every interest group. Industry will have to do its part to conserve, just as the consumers will. The energy producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer.

The sixth principle, and the cornerstone of our policy, is to reduce the demand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Conservation is the only way we can buy a barrel of oil for a few dollars. It costs about $13 to waste it.

The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement costs of energy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford.

The eighth principle is that government policies must be predictable and certain. Both consumers and producers need policies they can count on so they can plan ahead. This is one reason I am working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy, to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy.

The ninth principle is that we must conserve the fuels that are scarcest and make the most of those that are more plentiful. We can't continue to use oil and gas for 75 percent of our consumption when they make up seven percent of our domestic reserves. We need to shift to plentiful coal while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy.

The tenth principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy we will rely on in the next century.

a thing of power, beauty, and simplicity, marred only by the use of the "c" word in the ninth principle

just imagine what things would be like if he hadn't been SABOTAGED by his own party

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Walter_Karp/Reaction_Launched_LUS.html

excerpt above from the book Liberty Under Siege, by Walter Karp, which details how Carter was screwed by his own party, then goes into how Reagan set the wheels of destruction in motion, as has been touched upon in this thread

[slay]

29. +1

Carter was taken down by huge corporations and corrupt politicians on both sides - whose greed and excess continues to plague us to this day. thanks for posting these.

[provis99]

42. ah, yes. The "malaise" speech.

This was the last time a President tried to talk to the American people as though they were adults, rather than little children with attention deficit disorder.

[NBachers]

48. I watched that speech in its entirety. I was a Mother Earth News-reading working-class hippie

in Miami, and I thought the world was finally turning.

I'd lived in California during Reagan's tenure in '69. I knew he was the most facile liar; but the concept of him becoming president was unimaginable to me.

I remember watching his inauguration while simultaneously watching the Iranian hostages being released.

I knew we were heading into a nightmare. The nightmare continues; it's getting worse.

I can't understand the stupidity and gullibility of the American voters.

republicans destroy America

republicans destroy Earth

[dothemath]

45. Raygun wars

Aren't you forgetting he saved us, and the world, from Granada?

[Old and In the Way]

47. Which happened right after the Lebanon Marine barracks explosion.

I don't think the smoke had cleared when we are suddenly invading Granada. Talk about a wtf moment...that totally took the media focus away from that event and redirected us to some some island in the Carribean to rescue a bunch of people in medical school there. The original 'wag the dog' media event.

[Hippo_Tron]

60. It's amazing how many people don't fucking get that

Sway what you want about how ineffective Jimmy Carter's presidency was, but he was two and a half decades ahead of everybody else on energy.

[dotymed]

80. IMO, President Carter's presidency was so ineffective because

of the R/W, oil and corporate barons. Reagan's Presidency was a planned coup of America by a handful of wealthy corporate interests. Look at the results of the reagan presidency that are still shaping America and the world.

Reagan's accomplices were able to stage and prolong the "Iran hostage" debacle. This was while Carter was still our President. Reagan should've been charged with treason and sedition. It was all a "set-up" by big oil and TPTB.

As soon as Reagan took office he began his mission of deregulation. Actually, I believe that by that time, he was not in control of his mental faculties and he relied on these goons, who gave him his marching orders, to guide him. He was lost.

Also, IMO, Reagan's biggest coup was getting rid of THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE. With this control on propaganda out of the way, they (as well as the future corporate presidents) could control the information that the people were fed.

[NickB79]

65. That all depends. Carter was big into coal and nuclear as alternatives to Mideast oil

Neither one appears to be the way of the future, or all that good for the environment.

[libinnyandia]

10. Even Reagan, as far out of touch with reality as he was, was a

moderate compared to the average GOP member. And yet millions will vote for GOP candidates. I just hope that rational people will prevail.

[WCGreen]

11. He won by running as a toned down George Wallace....

Openly using code words to define the "other" that is so important to the GOP mind set.

Welfare Queens were the new new enemy, the picture was painted as a Cadillac driving woman having a baby every year just to get food stamps...

Pretty much like Nazi fascism and the jewish folk in Germany only toned down for mass media consumption.

[RufusTFirefly]

25. Yes, he kicked off his post-convention campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi

Still appalls and disgusts me just to think about it.

If you don't know the significance of Philadelphia, Mississippi (population 7,000), look it up.

[Major Nikon]

30. He won by channeling racism, but he also got some help from the neocons

Bush Sr's seditious Team B was leaking their reports to the media which undermined Carter, painting him as soft on the soviets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_B

[fasttense]

66. Raygun only won because of the deal with the Iranian terrorist over the hostages.

He paid off the Iranian terrorist to keep the hostages until he, Raygun, was sworn into office.

To the minute, those hostages were released when the Traitor Raygun finished his oath.

No one thought Raygun was anything but a fool (maybe some RepubliCONS, but not most of them), until the Iranian hostage situation.

Every RepubliCON president, from Nixon to W, were traitors to democracy and America; they never would have been president if they hadn't usurped democracy and sold out their country.

[tblue37]

43. His version implied it was a cadillac-driving *African-American woman*, even though

the majority of welfare recipients are white.

[Starry Messenger]

14. k&r

Ironically this Dr. Sachs was one of the architects of the "shock treatment" of the USSR in the early '90's that has led to wide-spread poverty there. His own fateful misdiagnosis seems to be a blindspot for him. That said, I don't disagree with his ideas for short-term relief in this country. I just wonder about the forest/trees problem many popular economists seem to have.

[andym]

15. Let's hope that the predictions in this opinion piece are correct

because it seems that the GOP has really taken the "government is the problem" idea to the extreme and has enough power to weaken the government even more.

The idea that the "government is the problem" needs to be discredited and soon.

[indepat]

16. Almost every RW initiative since the 1920s has been a fateful misdiagnosis, just as is the current

grand RW bargain which, in essence, gives a figurative big middle finger to the 99% and is symptomatic of what the OWS movement is all about and has flourished. Notwithstanding, the powers to be continue in their headlong rush to implement the grand RW bargain so euphemistically and diabolically termed shared sacrifice. :patriot:

Edited for context

[SpiralHawk]

17. There you have it: Republicon fail

up America's wazoo.

Thanks a diaperload, Republicons.

[kentuck]

23. Try getting the Repubs to believe that diagnosis...

even though it is accurate.

[moondust]

26. Recommended.

K/R

[slay]

27. Reagan was one of the worst - if not the worst - thing to happen to this country in my lifetime

Iran/Contra, trickle-down bullshit, b-movie actor w/Alzheimer's, Oliver North, Bush Sr as VP, secret negotiations w/the hostage takers in Iran while running against Carter, tearing the solar panels Carter installed off the white house, etc. And it's just continued to go downhill ever since. Nixon is the (R) who get the bad rap - but really Reagan was their worst - for many reasons.

[jaysunb]

54. + 1 n/t

[txlibdem]

78. Don't forget the Iran/Contra arms for terrorists deal

The Contras went on to form CIA-trained death squads that were responsible for tens of thousands of murders and widespread torture all across central America.

His policies still resonate there today.

[BlueToTheBone]

28. Very good article. The information is

so right. Here we are; broke and stupid with little chance to keep from falling off the cliff.

[southmost]

33. until the Reagan admin's blame for America's demise is replayed on public airways

the liberal agenda will fail

[DallasNE]

34. "Unprepared"

I see scant sign that bold policy changes will be enacted to reverse this 30 year decline so we will remain unprepared for the challenges we face as a nation for the forseeable future. The primary reason is we no longer have a media that is helpful in sorting out the political dialog so American's no longer know what to believe and send mixed messages to Washington D.C.

[MedleyMisty]

50. Don't depend on the media to tell you what to think

If people let the mainstream media tell them what to think, then that's their problem.

We are all responsible, because we all let this happen. Every time an American said they didn't care, every time an American chose to believe some completely obvious propaganda lie over the truth because it was safer or more comfortable or more emotionally pleasing (which I don't even understand, because how can you be emotionally comforted by anything other than the truth?), they were letting this happen.

[DallasNE]

61. Obviously, I Wan't Clear Enough

I'm not saying mainstream media should be telling us what to think -- in fact that is the problem I was targeting with the likes of Fox and their propaganda. What I'm talking about is the lack of fact checking and even the who checks the fact checkers. Exit polling shows that Americans go to the polls without knowing what the true facts are and are casting uninformed votes in record numbers in spite of (or, more likely, because of the explosion in news and opinion sources available today) how much more information is available today than ever.

[Old and In the Way]

79. I wonder how things would have turned out if the internet had been around in the 70's.

Hell, when I graduated from college in '75, there was no such thing as a PC. There were some great paper based sources of information, but nothing that was as effective as the internet for fast dissemination, organizing, and exposing the forces that have corrupted our political institutions. I don't think Carter would have taken the pounding he did in our national media, had we had an internet capable of pushing back on the CW.

[benld74]

37. IF someone checks I guarantee EVERY GOP leader since him,,,

has provided their own boogy man for us to be afraid of, OR began a 'war' for us to be amazed by,,,

[saras]

38. The fateful misdiagnosis: America had some problem that needed Reagan as a solution

[Uncle Joe]

41. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.:thumbsup:

[luv_mykatz]

44. K & R

There are some incredibly great posts here: # 4, 8, 20, 6, 21, 29, etc., etc....too many to name. All of you, thank you so much for your bang-on posts, :yourock:

Bless you, K. Pete! You often have the BEST posts on DU, and I look forward to them with relish. :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :hug:

[RainDog]

46. k&r n/t

[cliffordu]

51. One of the GREATEST OP's and discussions

I have ever seen on DU.

Thanks, kpete.

[neoconn]

55. I second that. Tons of information I never knew

As I was reading I thought to myself "this thread is articulate and powerful with no trolls." K & R

[Initech]

53. Electing Reagan was the biggest mistake we ever made.

And the worst thing is that he is like infallible - and his mistakes and policies that he passed put us in the shit we're in now - and we keep electing and reelecting people who support his failed policies. And the enablers on the radio - Rush, et al - enable his failed policies to continue and latch onto him as if he's god. It was the biggest mistake we've ever made.

[jaysunb]

56. + 1 n/t

[SCantiGOP]

76. absolutely correct

This didn't start with Bush; it started in 1980.

[Amonester]

57. Raygun, a cheap and bad actor, could 'diagnose' something?

Really? That ignoramus could DIAGNOSE something?

Wow...

I don't think so...

I think he was just an 'opportunistic' scam 'artist' who was only in it for the money (like the Rest of 'em).

[Romulox]

58. And yet, 30 years on, as wrong as he was, our current President (D) is more a standard

bearer for Reagan's economic policies (a bizarre mash up of tax cuts, bankster bail outs and "free trade") than anything that is recognized as traditional progressive economic policies

[girl gone mad]

62. Yes, someone needs to deliver this news to the President, ASAP.

Reagonomics is shit.

Rubinomics is shit.

ergo Obamanomics is...

you get the point.

[pam4water]

59. Dang unrec by mistake Sorry! I hit rec a couple of times and nothing happened so I tried unrec.

PS

I thought this was going to be about people ignoring his Alzheimer XD

[Fire Walk With Me]

63. His handlers knew what they were doing, from deregulation to destroying the unions

to lay the groundwork to destroy the middle class.

Did it on purpose.

[Raine]

64. Very interesting, THANKS! nt

:thumbsup:

[WinkyDink]

68. We were very prepared---until our industries were shipped to 3rd-World countries.

[Enthusiast]

69. Kicked and recommended!

I don't think it was specifically Reagan's, but his 'handlers'.

[The Wizard]

71. Reagan was/is

a deified failure. His biggest success was the breakdown of the social safety net and the destruction of the middle class, ushering in a two tiered system of the wealthy elites and feudal serfs. In essence, Reagan was a salesman for a corporate feudal takeover of democracy.

[Old and In the Way]

81. Indeed he was. I grew up watching a washed up actor selling handsoap

on 'Death Valley Days'. 20 Mule team Borax! He must have been real good at that, because he graduated to fronting the GE message. Then on to Governor of California where he took on the Free Speech movement - not unlike today's version of OWS.

My Dad, as a WW2 vet, bought this guy's schtick. I could never understand why...Ron hid out in Hollywood making WW2 movies with guys like perpetual war film hero, John Wayne. He was head of the screen actors union until he hit the big paydays and suddenly he didn't like all the taxes he paid. But I think it was McCarthyism that really changed him - he dropped dimes on everyone in Hollywood that didn't tow the anti-communist line. He was an unprincipled coward who sold out friends and acquaintances to further his economic interests.

[The Wizard]

74. He also vetoed

a reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine that allowed for Rash Limbaugh to broadcast unchecked fascist propaganda to unsuspecting dupes who vote Republican out of fear created by the right wing propaganda machine that has morphed into the corporate media the now controls the message.
Reagan was the front man for the most scurrilous scumbags in our country's History. His folksy charm caused many to vote against their own best interests. Get your snake oil here. Come and get your snake oil.
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
H. L. Mencken
US editor (1880 - 1956)

[Lasher]

82. Saint Ronnie Mythology