Happy Birthday Mr. President

[Teatownclown]

You still believe the Reagan years were some of the worst economically and you are old enough to know better.

A man who raised the debt ceiling 17 times. You humper....

[Breadburner]

First videos from that B-day are in....It was themed Hedonism.....

[nathanm]

You still believe the Reagan years were some of the worst economically and you are old enough to know better.

That depends entirely on who you ask. If you ask poor folks, the Reagan years were pretty bad. Ask Wall Street and the newly-deregulated banks that had yet to implode? Those guys were living high on the hog. (coke?)

[AquaMan]

You still believe the Reagan years were some of the worst economically and you are old enough to know better.

Where did that come from? For me the Reagan years were fine. Had a good job, started a family, added central air, bought a new car. Did even better during the Clinton years. Got screwed with Bush II.

[Conan71]

That depends entirely on who you ask. If you ask poor folks, the Reagan years were pretty bad. Ask Wall Street and the newly-deregulated banks that had yet to implode? Those guys were living high on the hog. (coke?)

It sucked for the poor folks prior to Reagan and it still sucks for the poor folks 30 years later.  In fact, if they are still poor, the reason they are has nothing to do with who is in the White House.

Aqua Man I thought I recalled your adolescent incarnation talking about how bad the Reagan years were at one point.  If that wasn't you, I apologize for confusing you with someone else. 

[AquaMan]

It sucked for the poor folks prior to Reagan and it still sucks for the poor folks 30 years later.  In fact, if they are still poor, the reason they are has nothing to do with who is in the White House.

Aqua Man I thought I recalled your adolescent incarnation talking about how bad the Reagan years were at one point.  If that wasn't you, I apologize for confusing you with someone else. 

No problem. It wasn't bad for me economically. It was for others. It was the change in politics I was uncomfortable with. Guys like Meese and the education secretary whose name I forget. They were goons.

[nathanm]

It sucked for the poor folks prior to Reagan and it still sucks for the poor folks 30 years later.  In fact, if they are still poor, the reason they are has nothing to do with who is in the White House.

They had a pretty good run in the 90s and part of the 2000s, until they were fleeced by predatory lenders and unceremoniously laid off. They were also doing fairly well in the 70s, oddly enough, at least according to official poverty rates.

[Red Arrow]

They were also doing fairly well in the 70s, oddly enough, at least according to official poverty rates.

Including double digit inflation?  More $ but not much more, if any, spending power. 

[nathanm]

Including double digit inflation?  More $ but not much more, if any, spending power. 

Inflation was mainly killing the banks and people with savings, as wage growth mostly kept up thanks largely to a heavily unionized workforce. Only in 1974 or 75 (I'm looking at a graph, not the raw numbers) did real wages decline, and even then only slightly.

[dbacks fan]

Yeah, happy birthday. Got the debt crisis averted for six months and then POTUS and the rest left DC like rats leaving a sinking ship, meanwhile they couldn't even take care of funding for the FAA employees, and contractors that are working on airports around the country doing improvements both small and large, and furloughed how many workers? Sorry, I just have a problem with the DC Bunch taking forever on the debt situation, and they can't take care of the basic infrastructure. Jeez, what are they going to do in the event of a true emergency?

[Conan71]

Yeah, happy birthday. Got the debt crisis averted for six months and then POTUS and the rest left DC like rats leaving a sinking ship, meanwhile they couldn't even take care of funding for the FAA employees, and contractors that are working on airports around the country doing improvements both small and large, and furloughed how many workers? Sorry, I just have a problem with the DC Bunch taking forever on the debt situation, and they can't take care of the basic infrastructure. Jeez, what are they going to do in the event of a true emergency?

To borrow a classic quote from Gaspar, they simply re-arranged the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[Gaspar]

A man who raised the debt ceiling 17 times. You humper....

It's always fun to invoke Reagan.  I'm surprised no one invoked the name of any other dead presidents in rebuttal.

President Obama's first 3 debt limit increases over 2.5 years are more than all 17 increases signed by Reagan over 8 years.

Every president has raised the debt limit, that's not the problem.  It's the reason behind the raise that matters. Reagan raised the debt limit in small increments to manage the initial shortfall of revenue caused by recession.  The main difference is that his primary focus was on private sector growth. 

There was a shortage of labor by the time he was done.  Anyone willing to work, could find a job, and anyone willing to take risk and open a business had a far better chance of success than any other time in our history.  Interest rates were still as high as 12% as a hangover from the recession, but people were still buying and building like crazy, and that forced inflation to drop at a steady rate.  He was a super-charger strapped onto the economy, the fuel was nitro, and the tires had grip.

Everything that came out of Reagan's mouth, during a deep dark recession, every speech, every joke, every sound bite, gave confidence to the American Public.  His words today are diabolically opposite of what we hear from President Obama.

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known.

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.

I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.

If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn't be here. It'd still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

Man is not free unless government is limited.

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.

My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

No matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.

One picture is worth 1,000 denials.

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.

Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.

The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.

Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will.

Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.



Manifest destiny.  As a leader, when all you acknowledge is crisis and faith in government, you get more crisis and more government.  If however you profess hope and confidence in individual prosperity, you get more individual prosperity.

Reagan was an evangelist of individual prosperity.  We need one of those. 

[RecycleMichael]

You forgot to mention that Reagan was a saint.

What about the Iran/Contra arms deal and the Nicaraguan drug deals where we gave millions to terrorists that had taken Americans hostage?

Remember that he gave chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein?

How about destroying social programs that dramatically increased the homeless including hundreds of thousands of the mentally ill?

He labeled ketchup a vegetable so schools could claim they were giving kids a nutritious lunch. He attacked the Beach Boys for attracting the "wrong kind of crowd". 

He set the all time record for having the most appointees indicted and convicted of crimes.

We don't need another President Ronald Reagan.

[Conan71]

You forgot to mention that Reagan was a saint.

What about the Iran/Contra arms deal and the Nicaraguan drug deals where we gave millions to terrorists that had taken Americans hostage?

Remember that he gave chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein?

How about destroying social programs that dramatically increased the homeless including hundreds of thousands of the mentally ill?

He labeled ketchup a vegetable so schools could claim they were giving kids a nutritious lunch. He attacked the Beach Boys for attracting the "wrong kind of crowd". 

He set the all time record for having the most appointees indicted and convicted of crimes.

We don't need another President Ronald Reagan.

Name a president who hasn't armed or aided terrorists, Michael.  

The de-institutionalization of the mentally ill started under President Carter and it was considered to be preferable to the horrible conditions in mental hospitals.  As well, it was the Democrat-controlled Congress which cut funding to HUD which helped cause a loss in low income rental properties.  

President Reagan never labeled ketchup a vegetable, I can't believe you dragged out that tired old liberal meme.  It was some wonk in the Ag Department who came up with the idea to classify ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables so they could save about $1bln on school lunch programs.  Reagan withdrew that proposal in short order.

Mean ol' President Reagan hated the homeless so much he signed the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in 1987 which is still the only piece of federal legislation that allocates funding to the direct service of homeless people.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 (Pub. L. 100-77, July 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 482, 42 U.S.C. § 11301 et seq.) is a United States federal law that provides federal money for homeless shelter programs.[1][2] It was the first significant federal legislative response to homelessness,[citation needed] and was passed and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on July 22, 1987. The act has been reauthorized several times over the years.[3]

The McKinney Act originally had fifteen programs providing a spectrum of services to homeless people, including the Continuum of Care Programs: the Supportive Housing Program, the Shelter Plus Care Program, and the Single Room Occupancy Program, as well as the Emergency Shelter Grant Program.[2][4]
It established the Interagency Council on the Homeless (later called the Interagency Council on Homelessness) [5]. The legislation has been amended several times since it was first written and enacted.
Sponsored by Representative Tom Foley (Democrat of Washington), the bill was named after Representatives Stewart McKinney (Republican of Connecticut) and Bruce Vento (Democrat of Minnesota).

So in short, President Reagan hated the poor, the mentally ill, school kids, and he drank blood with Noriega, Hussein and other despots.

Every president has had his foibles and mistakes.  His list of failures is short, his list of successes is long and his legacy resides amongst the greatest of our presidents.  Only severely revised history would suggest otherwise.

[RecycleMichael]

Hey... I liked lots of what Reagan did. For example, I would love his leadership today on immigration. From his very last speech as President...

And that's about all I have to say tonight, except for one thing. The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "shining city upon a hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.