"If we cut taxes for the wealthy, while maintaining massive military spending in support of two wars, then the new Republican Congress will be empowered to cut social programs in order to reduce the deficit," Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a longtime friend and sometimes critic of the president, said in a statement. "So it will be a choice between cutting programs for the poor, children, the unemployed, the uninsured and veterans or allowing deficits to pile up. That was President Reagan's strategy: A 'starve the beast' plan of lowered taxes and increased military spending that would force Congress to make deep cuts in program for the most vulnerable."
I don't like Jesse Jackson, Jr. I like his dad, and was even a member of the Rainbow coalition for awhile, but that is as accurate a statement as I have seen of the Reagan years. For those of you who suffered through that time, you understand. I replied as follows:
"Most of you have short memories. During Reagan's term, the homeless population exploded, money and funding was cut to the halfway houses and mental hospitals which dumped the most vulnerable among us right out on the street, swelling the already huge number of homeless even more. Tent cities were everywhere in the midwest. You couldn't get a job if your life depended on it which of course it did. You had families living in cars and in cardboard boxes under bypasses and alleyways. Funding was cut for home heating assistance leaving huge numbers of people without heat in the winter. And you think we should return to that do you? That's why Republicans have such a reputation for being heartless, cold sob's that are only for the rich. By all means lets give the millionaires more tax credit so they can hoard their money, just like they've done the last 10 years they had with the Bush tax cuts and let everyone else freeze to death, starve to death, and loose their homes, they can always live in their cars or out on the streets right? Anyone remember Reagan's famous quote to "pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps"? The best satirical cartoon at the time, and I don't remember who wrote it, was of a kid asking Reagan if he could loan him a pair of boots. When Reagan looked at the NY Times help wanted section and said there all kinds of jobs out there, and he couldn't understand why the people wouldn't work? All those jobs were highly technical, mostly computer science, long before there were pc's in every home. It took a highly specialized degree for those jobs. Now even with a specialized degree, there aren't jobs. We can't afford another Reagan. We need another FDR.
One of the things I don't understand is this comment:
"reply to #8
you seem to have a very short memory. Reagen had to enforce the law that was put in from the former Administration. He had nothing to do with that even though you belly -achers insist that he did."
Not sure what law she is referring to, Anybody? And please go over and comment. So far we have the Reagan is God crowd, and noone else.