Throughout the GOP primary season, the supposed legacy of Ronald Reagan has been invoked by the hopefuls a stunning number of times. It has occurred to me that this endless collection of promises to somehow re-institute the past exposes a pretty poor grasp of actual economic history. But why take my word for it when you can hear it from Bruce Bartlett?
"Judging from the candidates’ tax proposals, they seem to believe that the most Reagan-like candidate is the one with the biggest tax cut. But, as the person who drafted the 1981 Reagan tax cut, I think Republicans misunderstand the premises upon which Reagan’s economic policies were based, and why those policies can’t — and shouldn’t — be replicated today." EMPHASIS OURS
It doesn't get much harder to argue for a return to Reaganomics when one of its principle architects declares the proposition to be ridiculous. Inflation was generally agreed upon in those days to be the biggest threat to growth. In the intervening years, our economy has been so transformed that we've managed to ride out the worst crisis since the 1930s without much inflationary instability at all.
