A link to “Don't add Reagan's face to Mount Rushmore” by Dr.
Dreier on April 3, 2011
This is a recent article written after his death and coinciding
with what would be his 100th birthday. The article criticises Reagan in response to
an upheaval of praise following the anniversary and puts the blame and him and
his Reaganomics for the current financial crisis in America. The
article discredits his undeserved reputation as one of Americas most loved
Presidents and shines a light on the real, negative aspects of his regime. People credit his regime with American
economic prosperity where in fact it was only for the wealthy as the number of
people under the poverty line rose from ‘26.1 million in 1979 to 32.7 million
in 1988’ as the minimum wage was frozen at £3.35 an hour as prices went up,
whereas the richest 1% of Americans had 39% of the nation’s wealth. Whilst the
rich flourished homelessness increased and by the late 80s there were ‘600,000
on any given night’. The neglect of the
poor in favour of wealth was seen as the federal government was left to bail
out depositors whose money speculators had looted to the tune of more than $130
billion.’ Whereas federal assistance to local governments was cut by 60
percent, there were cuts to funding for public-service jobs and training and
the budget for public housing was cut in half, which all together cut the
living standards for working families and communities. The decade of the 80s is
seen as one of greed, which corresponds to the regime with its environment of
corruption from the Iraq-contra affair and the scandal at Housing and Urban
Development.
No comments:
Post a Comment