Quick Fact: On Limbaugh, Palin repeats dubious claim that Reagan faced worse recession than current one
On Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio show, Sarah Palin claimed that former President Reagan "faced a tougher recession than what we're facing today," echoing a similar assertion made in her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life. In fact, as the Associated Press noted in addressing her book, "Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse."
Palin: Reagan "faced a tougher recession than what we're facing today"
From the November 17 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
PALIN: Let's go back to what Reagan did in the early '80s and stay committed to those commonsense, free-market principles that work. He faced a tougher recession than what we're facing today. He cut those taxes, ramped up industry, and we pulled out of that recession. We need to revisit that.[The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/17/09]
AP: "Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse."
In its November 14 "Fact Check" of Palin's memoir, the AP reported that Palin "[s]ays Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now." In response, the AP stated: "Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2 percent, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb."
Next, Palin will claim Reagan ended the Cold War and lowered taxes.
Randy
No one said that Obama did it.
The issue is, what recession was worse? The one while Reagan was in office, or the one we're in now, which included the $700 Billion bank-savings plan that Bush rolled out?
Actually I am pretty sure she has said that and, if not, there are other Repubs who have said it.
Remember, we are talking about St. Reagan and there wasn't anything he did that was ordained from above.
The solution to the Reagan recession was taming inflation and reducing interest rates from high double digits.
Hint...it wasn't the tax cut
Sure. The workers were responsible for producing cars that nobody wanted to buy. Please come back to reality.
The problem auto dealers have had is they can't get FINANCING due to credit crunch starting in late summer early fall of 2008.
Go talk to a car dealer (if you can find one still in business) about flooring loans. That's the money the dealer borrows to put all those shiny cars on the lot so the slick sales guy and get you to drive out today.
A friend of mine sells aftermarket electronics to high end dealers and introduced me to flooring loans. The local Toyota dealership opened a huge new store off the freeway near the Oakland Coliseum, and closed down 7 days later because they couldn't get flooring loans for their 5 regional stores.
The second problem is that when credit dried up, dealers couldn't offer buyers a choice of bank financing or dealer financing. C'mon, why do you think Hyundai was offering to take back a car if you lost your job in the next 12 months?
So what? What does that have to do with Sarah Palin's lie about how bad this recession is compared to Reagan's?
Bert Lance's bank was, and is, solvent.
David Stockman's company declared bankruptcy withjin a week of his resignation.
Liars making statistics?
Clifford Spencer
In 1982 the Administration supported a measure that doubled cigarette taxes and increased local telephone taxes, among other provisions. Another measure raised taxes on gasoline and other motor fuels. Both were enacted.
The next year, the President signed a law that raised the Social Security payroll tax to 7.65 percent from 6.7 percent over a seven-year period. This tax is paid by both employers and employees and, since it is levied on only the first $43,800 of income, has a greater impact on low-income workers than on the well-to-do.
In 1984, the President and Congress agreed to raise taxes on liquor, telephones and estates and to eliminate some tax preferences.
Of course, O loaded the dice by fueling unemployment. Reagan at least played honestly. O had a number of opportunities to lessen unemployment but he passed on all of them and listened to Summers and some Kruger and used the Bush theory of trickle up. All he did was spend a lot of money [$1T] and got nothing for it. He told us we'd know where every dime was spent, but no one can find the money now.
Palin's comments pale to insignificance when you consider what O has done to this country.
AND FYI - Reagan DID put the brakes on the cold war, what you credit jimmy carter... He COULDN'T even rescue the hostages... Pathetic.
It was the Beatles. Yes, John/Paul/George/Ringo were arguably the biggest factor in ending communist rule in Russia.
By the way, since you're responding to my post can you tell me where I credited Jimmy Carter with ending the Cold War, or with even mentioning the Cold War at all? I wrote about PALIN. Neither Carter nor Reagan enter that conversation. Stop living in the past, and if you're going to respond to something I wrote, respond to what I wrote, not what you think you read.
Compare Bert Lance with david Stockman.
That should make it perfectly clear.
Clifford Spencer
If we had proven methods of transforming our economy into ideal conditions in 1 year, why wouldn't we do it every year?
"Oh, sure, we could max out per-capita GDP and employment right now, but let's save it for a rainy day."