Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site loral.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard From: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: economy Message-ID: <539@loral.UUCP> Date: Fri, 12-Oct-84 00:58:06 EDT Article-I.D.: loral.539 Posted: Fri Oct 12 00:58:06 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Oct-84 06:37:16 EDT References: <855@ihuxe.UUCP> <> Reply-To: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) Organization: Loral Instrumentation, San Diego, CA Lines: 75 Summary: In article <> rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) writes: > >...unless you want to give Reagan credit for bringing >the economy back to about where it was when he took office. Also, you >might factor the huge federal deficit into the figures--what would the >economy look like if he hadn't been spending money left and right (as he >accuses the Dems of doing) and artificially pumping up the economy by doing >that? >-- >Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 > ...Cerebus for dictator! How can anyone say the economy is where it was when Reagan took office? I refer you to U.S. News and World Report, Aug 27, p.68-69. According the the charts there, derived from data from the Commerce and Labor departments, the Federal Reserve Board, and Dow Jones, the three most fundamental criteria for rating an economy, inflation, interest rates, and unem- ployment, shape up like this: Inflation Down from 11.2% to 4.3 percent, a very impressive 61.6% drop in the inflation rate. (I often wonder why inflation is regarded with such relative unconcern by liberals; its chief victims are the elderly poor on fixed incomes). Interest rates Basic rates down from 20% (they peaked at about 21% in J.C.'s administration), to 13%. REAL interest rates, the difference between basic rates and inflation, using the figures I cite in the preceding paragraph, started at (20-11.2) = 8.8% and are now (13-4.3) = 8.7%, essentially no change. Unemployment From 7.4% to 7.5%, also down in the noise. Trending downward. The facts that the value of your savings and invest- ments are being eroded much more slowly by inflation, that your actual interest payments are also dramatically lower, real interest rates and unemployment are about as they were when Reagan took office and improving, all are evidence of a very effective and working program. As for the deficit, I am bothered by it as much as any- one, not for itself, but because it is caused by spending levels that are still excessive. Sorry, but I don't buy this convenient delusion that many anti-Reaganites proclaim that he is deliberately keeping spending high to create a Keynsian stimulus. I cite (again) TEFRA, when he was prom- ised spending reductions in return for approving a tax increase, the reduction to be three dollars for every one dollar of new taxes. We got the tax increase; the Congress has not only ignored its commitment to the corresponding spending cuts, it has actually increased spending! Without a line-item veto, the president is heavily hampered in his wish to eliminate excessive spending, since promoters of spending programs are adept at grafting their pork barrels onto worthwhile spending bills, forcing the president to either approve their excesses, or inflict injury on those for whom the more appropriate spending components are intended. Four more years! -- [ I am not a stranger, but a friend you haven't met yet ] Ray Simard Loral Instrumentation, San Diego {ucbvax, ittvax!dcdwest}!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard