Did anyone else see the CNN hagiography? He was 93 - how many people died as a result of his policies?
One of the biggest misrepresentations of the Reagan hagiographers is that he "fostered smaller government" (a claim featured in the headline for the Sunday NY Times article on his death). What nonsense. For the 8 years prior to his administration, federal outlays as a percentage of GDP were about 20.8%. For the 8 years of the Reagan administration, the comparable average was about 22.2%. How is this smaller government?
The most favorable snapshot supporting the view that Reagan made the federal government smaller is the comparison between the last Carter budget year with the last Reagan budget year--but it's also the most telling as to the true nature of Reagan's impact. In 1981, federal outlays were 22.2% of GDP, while in 1989 they were 21.2% of GDP, a percentage point lower. But at the same time, military expenditures as a percent of GDP went from 5.1 % to 5.6%, an *increase* of a half a percentage point. What went down, of course, were primarily federal expenditures on social welfare---*that's* the essence of Reagan's legacy: more for armaments, less for health, education, housing, and income support.
Gil
