General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Where the Hell Is the Outrage? [View all]cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Reagan really did nothing to cause the 1981-2 recession, or to fix it. His tax cuts increased the deficit, which had a modest stimulative effect handicapped by the fact that tax cuts for the rich are terrible stimulus.
But the Reagan recession was intentionally induced by Paul Volker and intentionally repaired by Paul Volcker through an incredible increase in interest rates, and when that cracked the economy, cutting the rates back down again.
Such a repair was mathematically impossible in 2008-9 because the collapse was not brought on intentionally through raising rates and thus the high interest rates were not there to be cut.
2008-9 was a bubble-burst event in a low interest rate environment and could only have been fixed by fiscal (rather than monetary) stimulus of a level that economically center-right figures in both parties (including Obama) considered unthinkable