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Edited on Wed Jan-30-08 10:24 PM by Democrats_win
The legacies are 1)making America permanently dependent on Middle East oil and 2) convincing Americans that they would be better off if they didn’t regulate businesses.
America has actually been mostly at war in the Middle east since 1991. Alternatively, you could say we’re fighting our third oil war. Following Bush the Lesser’s invasion, Jay Leno asked, “Why isn’t gas like, 21 cents a gallon? Didn’t we win?” It’ll be 4 dollars this spring. Prior to Reagan, Americans had another plan.
The 1970's Arab oil boycott, Middle East terrorism and fanaticism had convinced Americans that we needed to become independent of Middle East oil. We were on our way to reaching that goal when Ronald Reagan got the idea that the needs of rich Americans took priority and our goals of energy independence were obliterated. American suffering through the Reagan recession did benefit greatly when the momentum of 70s conservation and oil exploration forced oil prices down to $10 per barrel. We were on our way, but Ronnie cut and run on the American people thus putting this albatross around our necks. Today there is TALK about energy independence, but almost no action like we had during the 70s.
The other ALBATROSS, convincing Americans that we would be better off not regulating business is actually strangling our country today. Many conservatives were angry about government interference in business just as a child might be angry about being told by a parent to be good. One, Eddie Chiles, went so far as to run radio commercials in the 70s telling us how “mad” he was. In 2000 we’ve watched Enron-type companies literally rape the American economy. Hard working Americans lost small fortunes in Ken Lay’s swindle. Republicans asked for more honesty. Seven years later we’re witnessing an even greater rape, the sub prime crisis. Do you think we should have let these corporations do this to our country? If they had been regulated, they still would have made money, and our economy would be humming along. Instead, businesses have left a trail of crimes and a future of debt. Corporations continue to feast at the Republican government trough.
The rape of the American economy has been occurring continuously since 1980. Leveraged buyouts, insider trading, timed selling schemes, the S&L crisis (costing us a a trillion dollars) shows that the crookedness is vast
The regulations that separated Wall Street and Banks were removed in 1999 and the sub-prime crisis shows how that worked out. If anything, this proves that these corporations needed protection from their own greed. It is, of course, worse than that. Americans throughout America are losing their houses. The shocking part is that Bush doubled our national debt during this same period. Look what we have to show for it: Debt as far as we can see. Amber waves of grain are covered in debt blocking out the purple mountain majesties. Thank you Ronald Reagan.
The Reagan twin ALBATROSSES are the biggest part of the Reagan "legacy." Wait till you hear about the real Ronnie Reagan highway.
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