Excellent tax cuts!

He was a terrible president on domestic issues. He cut social programs worse than what Carter did. With Reagan's cuts on programs, many homeless victims lost their safety net and were left out in the cold with no money, food and health care. Many of them are still living in the streets today because of the evils of Reaganism.

I'm with Ruby, nobody has summed it up as succinctly as he. Carter, in his campaign of 1980, defended deficit spending due to the stagflation that started when Nixon was President, Reagan ran on a platform of balanced budgets. I voted for Carter (against Reagan) because I did not believe Reagan could do it. In 1984, I voted for Reagan, mostly because I was proud to be an American again, I had a good job, plenty of money, my taxes went down, inflation had almost disappeared, unemployment had plummeted, people were singing the National Anthem (instead of turning away) and the American Military was respected (and actually feared) again after years of utter humiliation. I thought it was a no-brainer, because, for me, it was. It also became very clear to me, during Reagan's 2nd term, that although tax revenues had skyrocketed during the 1980's, non-military spending had more than skyrocketed, and I realized that without some control on the spending, the deficits would never end. That was confirmed when Clinton lost the majority in Congress to the republicans and the deficits went down. Too bad the republicans have forgotten how to do that today.

There were two central components to President Reagan's domestic policies: one making government both smaller and more efficient and two, tax reform. On the reducing the size and scope of government, he truly was not that successful. Indeed, unbridled defense expeditures during his term led up to the institutionalization of the military industrial complex. A strong defense is necessary and especially during the 1980's it was a necessity given the nature of the Soviet threat. Reagan threw money at the Pentagon without it accounting for how the money would be spent. Remember the toilet seats and wrenches that cost hundreds of the thousands of dollars? The Pentagon at the time couldn't account for almost 30% of its costs, indeed such abuses haven't been reigned in yet. That money could go to more worthy causes such as social services and paying down the national debt. I believe however that Reagan's tax cuts were fully justified at the time. During the late 1970's we constantly heard reports about the worsening trade off between employment and inflation and the inability of the US economy to grow without inflation. Reagan said in 1980 that this Philips Curve effect was not an inherent defect of the market economy, rather it was the result of the wrong policy mix. Reagan proved this when he slashed tax rates from 70% to 28% while presiding over a record economic expansion and lower inflation rates. He abandoned the old Keynesian mix of high tax rates to restrain inflation, which wasn't being held back by Keynesian demand management, and monetary expansion to stimulate demand. High tax rates were holding back real output while money growth increased demand, thus causing inflation. The policy mixed was thus switched, monetary policy restrained inflation and tax cuts stimulated output. Most economists predicted higher inflation, but those predictions never materialized. The budget deficits that were incurred was a side effect of such policies. These deficits actually resulted because inflation fell faster than Reagan predicted, wiping out some $2.4 trillion in nominal GNP during the mid-1980's, a huge reduction in the tax base. This disinflation built into the budget higher levels of real spending than what Reagan had intended. So in fact, the deficits were really caused in large part because of the collapse of inflation. Reagan ushered one of the largest economic expansions in American history plus he ended this cycle of stagnation of inflation that was eating a hole in the pockets of the American consumer.

His policies in the 80s broke the cycle of inflation and spearheaded the outstanding economy of the 90s.

The economy reached a low point in Reagan's term; unemployment was up. He and his Republican successors sought to take away the Civil Liberties of everyone.

While sheer bravado and idiocy can, against all odds, cause a positive outcome, it doesn't mean it's a good strategy. It's amazing how apt the metaphor of Russian Roulette is.

Inherited office at a time of deep trouble, and made gusty, against-the-conventional-wisdom decisions that produced unprecedented good times. Best President of the 20th century on domestic policy without question. Amazing that these achievements are dwarfed by those of his foreign policy!