[Salon] Ronald Reagan’s shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness

Fox News solution yesterday: 'yeah' to killing the mentally ill homeless. He apologized, but damn.

Access to mental health care in the U.S. is a joke. Other wealthy countries with single-payer or universal systems... not perfect, of course... handle it way better. Private insurance doesn’t guarantee access. Demand is high, including for acute mental health crises, but huge barriers remain... not just money, but a lack of providers and real support.

When the U.S. deinstitutionalized people with severe mental illness... freeing them from state hospitals, which was the right move... it failed to build the community resources they needed. Too many ended up homeless or without care. Today, people who could have gotten early treatment often spiral into crisis instead.

Beating the old horse: we have the most expensive health care system in the world, yet we rank dead last among wealthy nations in key areas, including access to mental health care and early prevention of severe mental illness.

Brian Kilmeade says ‘just kill ‘em’ during discussion about mentally ill homeless people | The Independent

Brian Kilmeade issues brief apology after saying mentally ill homeless people should be euthanized

 

It's disgraceful. You can't call yourself the greatest nation when it's only about the GDP, stock market, or amount of billionaires. Nope.

A great nation doesn't puts people's health, quality of life and well-being on the bottom of their to do list.

 

We need more tax cuts for the rich. That will certainly fix everything.

Oh, and more guns! Then we'll be great.

 

Imagine a guy so full of himself that he says something like this......

"The no crime “miracle” begins. ONLY I CAN SAVE THEM!!!”

Then imagine the guy who just says complete BS like that is the President of the US.

The only "miracle" is that a really old con man, who is a pathological lying felon, got enough people to believe his BS to vote him into office.

 

His economy was a mirage, as HW Bush found out. He exploded the Debt and Government borrowing. His supply-side economics was the first big giveaway to the Rich and the rise of people like Donald Trump. The last 45 years of intolerance by the Conservative movement are directly related to Reagan. Reagan was the devil in disguise, while Trump is the devil incarnate.

 

Their war with Afghanistan accelerated the fall. A covert proxy war in Afghanistan was started under Carter then heavily expanded with funding directed by Democrat Charlie Wilson. Reagan did his part but I feel he gets way too much credit. The USSR didn’t even fall until Bush.

 

the economic data say otherwise

• the GDP grew every qtr over his 2 terms
  • putting an end to the "stag" from his predecessor's problematic "stagflation"
  • containing the inflationary problem inherited from his predecessor, Jimmy Carter

as did every POTUS, post-Nixon, not named Clinton

you do know that Reagan issued an EO granting amnesty to over 3 million law-abiding / tax tax paying
undocumented residents. no?

 

Yes it did, but at the cost of balloon the debt at the time. Go look at the debt before and after Reagan left office. There is a reason Bush had to go back on "read my lips" pledge on taxes. A Recession hit Bush because of the tax cuts Reagan implemented.

 

his immediate predecessor/successor in the WH, also increased the debt.

the difference was Reagan was the only one able to improve the overall economy, in terms of growth/employment/containing inflation
during his tenure. that explains why Reagan was a 2-term POTUS while Carter and Bush Sr. were one termers.

go back at look at the stagflation under Reagan's predecessor, Jimmy Carter, stagnating economy with high inflation. and
skyrocketing gas prices, which are not part of the inflation data.

yes, Bush Sr's ineptness.

in his 1988 campaign, Bush sr. pledged no new taxes. from Reagan, Bush Sr. inherited a heathy economy

• growing economy
• inflation under control
• steady employment

after 1+year on the job, even Bush W realized that he had screwed up; in 2000, he raised the taxes

after almost 2 yrs of Bush Sr's policies, in particular his "voodoo" economc ones, it's Bush Sr's economy

i think you're mixed up

the '90-'91 recession was the immediate result of Bush's ill-conceived tax increase

​

 

Wrong. Clinton raised taxes and cut spending in an agreement with the Republican Congress. That spurred the great economic expansion in U.S. history (outside of the New Deal). The problem with Republicans is that they want to cut only social programs and not the real problem with government spending - the Military. Reagan wanted a 600-ship Navy, which the Navy didn't want. SDI...which the technology was there for...was a huge boon goggle. Yes, it may have helped in the Cold War...but it also was a big waste of money.

 

You think Carter was responsible for inflation? It was caused by Nixon turning the dollar into a fiat currency and the OPEC countries massively increasing the price of oil. Carter deregulated the oil industry and increased interest rates both of which help Reagan's economy more than his own.

 

He apologized for saying what he believes, the piece of ****.

 

absolutely. inflation grew during his 4 years of presidency.

thank you for more details that support the fact that, as POTUS,
Carter was responsible for the inflationary spiral during his 4 years in office​

 

OPEC's enormous oil price increases in both 1973 and 1979 derailed whatever plans Carter might have had for what he hoped would be the first of two terms. The huge increases percolated throughout the economy and had a broad, lasting impact. Also, the revolution in Iran and the subsequent hostage crisis really hammered his reelection bid. Either crisis could have been fatal to his campaign. The combination doomed it.

Reagan certainly took advantage of both the economic chaos and the hostage crisis. My thoughts on President Reagan? I voted against him twice. While Carter wasn't blameless for all that happened internationally on his watch, putting it all on his shoulders is ridiculous.

 

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as well he should.

while Obama's mission to capture bin-Laden succeeded,
Carter's mission to rescue the 53 Iran hostage failed miserable.
therein lies the difference between a competent POTUS and one who is not.

In April 1980, President Jimmy Carter sent the Army’s Delta Force to bring back
53 American citizens held hostage in Iran. Everything went wrong.
The fireball in the Iranian desert took the Carter presidency with it.[/FONT]​

those economic/international events took place during his presidency,
Carter, more than anyone else, bears the responsiblility

what is ridiculous?

• not putting the mis-handlying of COVID on Trump's shoulder
• not putting the failure of Trump 1.0's ill-conceived tariff on trump's shoulder
• not putting the great financial crisis,'08/09' on W's shoulder
• not putting the 911 fiasco on W's shoulder
• not putting stagflation/iran hostage on Carter's shoulder
• not putting Watergate on Nixon' shoulde

 

That wasn’t the question. Of course there was inflation during Carter’s presidency. Do you think Carter was responsible for the inflation?

 

yes, Carter's policies

When Jimmy Carter took office in January 1977, unemployment had reached 7.4 %. Carter responded with
an ambitious spending program and called for the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to expand the money supply.
Within two years, inflation had climbed to 13.3 %

Wages tied to prices That raised their wages automatically as prices increased. So higher prices led to higher wages,
which put more money in the hands of consumers and raised costs for businesses. It created what was known as
the “wage-price spiral” that fed higher prices. it is a vicious cycle.​

 

Inflation

• 1970: 5.8%
• 1971: 4.3%
• 1972: 3.3%
• 1973: 6.2%
• 1974: 11.1%
• 1975: 9.1%
• 1976: 5.7%
• 1977: 6.5%
• 1978: 7.6%
• 1979: 11.3%

Unemployment

• 1970: 5.0%
• 1971: 6.0%
• 1972: 5.6%
• 1973: 4.9%
• 1974: 5.6%
• 1975: 8.4%
• 1976: 7.7%
• 1977: 7.1%
• 1978: 6.1%
• 1979: 5.8%

79 was the second oil crisis. Was Carter responsible for 74 and 75? The economic problems in the 70s were caused by Nixon and oil.