archives
This part in the series will focus on the fiscal policy of the Reagan administration, his priorities and it’s impact upon deficits and the national debt. Ronald Reagan put a great deal of weight into the idea that a major tax cut was necessary. Successfully selling that idea upon a skeptical Democrat-controlled Congress was not easy, but it was passed never the less.
The other half of the equation that got lost was the need to decrease spending at the same time. Reagan’s budget director David Stockman slashed away at certain departmental budgets. However, at the same time that Stockman was proposing massive cuts to certain budgets, he was confronted with another reality. Reagan had been critical of his predecessor in allowing the U.S. military to become weakened and vulnerable during Carter’s administration. Notwithstanding Carter’s development of the Trident Sub program and his failed attempt at his original proposal for an MX Missile system (mobile missiles), conservative think-tanks, many funded by arms manufacturers, had worked on selling the public on the idea that the U.S. was militarily weak relative to the Soviet Union. The result was a massive increase in military spending during the Reagan years. Military spending grew during the 1980’s from $136 billion in 1980 to $282 billion in 1987.
The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US, according to a report published yesterday.
The American Human Development Index has applied to the US an aid agency approach to measuring well-being — more familiar to observers of the Third World — with shocking results. The US finds itself ranked 42nd in global life expectancy and 34th in survival of infants to age. Suicide and murder are among the top 15 causes of death and although the US is home to just 5 per cent of the global population it accounts for 24 per cent of the world's prisoners. [...]
"The report shows that although America is one of the richest nations in the world, it is woefully behind when it comes to providing opportunity and choices to all Americans to build a better life," the authors said.
Governor Howard Dean will lead a national grassroots voter registration effort. The cross-country bus tour, "Register for Change," will build on the overwhelming enthusiasm and voter turnout seen during the primaries as Democrats mobilize and organize voters for the fall election.
The tour kicks off with events in Crawford and Austin, TX, on Thursday, July 17th. Dean will also deliver the Opening Keynote Speech at Netroots Nation 2008 in Austin, TX. On Friday, July 18th, and Saturday, July 19th, the tour will continue with events in Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
So when's the bus coming to Utah?
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