Some Thoughts on Reagan

1) Reagan's record/legacy, just like any other President's, is a mixed one. He deserves at least partial credit for decidedly bringing down inflation, unemployment, and interest rates, presiding over the fall of the Soviet Union/empire, hammering out a rock-solid arms control deal with Gorbachev, and bringing about a renewed sense of optimism about America. He also, though, deserves at least partial blame for those humongous deficits, the Iran-Contra fiasco, the savings and loan debacle, and the Lebanon disaster. Overall (and like I've stated before), I would probably have to give him about a B-.............2) Reagan is frequently blamed for the homeless crisis of the 1980s. On this one, I'd probably have to say that he's been unfairly tarnished. For one thing, the three million number that's been frequently thrown around is exceedingly suspect. It comes from a report by Mitch Snyder (a homeless advocate) entitled, "A Report to the Secretary on the Homeless and Emergency Shelters"". It states that there were 2.2 million homeless people in America and that the total could ULTIMATELY reach three million. The problem with this study is that it was never accepted by the General Accounting Office and the actual number (this, from a credible HUD study) was probably closer to 350,000 (still a tragedy but obviously not nearly on the same level). But by then it was too late. The three million figure had already permeated through society.............3) The second reason that this whole "Reagan caused the homelessness" problem isn't fair is that it wasn't Reagan who emptied the God-damned mental hospitals (one of the major causes for there being more people on the streets). That, folks, occurred a) because of a Supreme Court decision and b) due to a philosophical change in the human services arena (i.e., deinstitutionalization) . Now, if there wasn't enough funding to execute these changes, then, yeah, maybe Mr. Reagan does deserve some scrutiny there.............4) As for social funding in general, it's really hard to say that the Reagan era was entirely Machiavellian. According to the 1991 Almanac, for instance, yes, federal funding for social programs did dip somewhat; from 11.5% of GNP in 1980 to 10.9% in 1988. But, when you also factor in state and local spending on these programs, the decrease was negligible (18.7% of GNP in 1980, 18.5% in 1988). Add to that, the fact that HUD outlays actually increased, and increased significantly, under Reagan (from 12 billion in 1980 to 19 billion in 1988) and, yeah, it kinda does seem like the fellow has gotten a bit of a bad rap here.