Media/GOP rewrite Hist:Carter WON THE COLD WAR via budget and Afghanistan

[papau]

Carter WON THE COLD WAR via budget and Afghanistan

The CIA report in summer 1979 (which I hope Kerry will release as Pres) said that the USSR had passed the point of no return with a Defense budget that was 35 to 40% of GDP (The US's runs 4 to 6% of GDP). The recommendation was to keep them spending via the arming of the folks in Afghanistan, plus the release of the 1980 Carter 5 year budget for the Defense Department. The latter item is public and the Washington Post at the time wondered where Carter would get the $70 to 90 billion per year needed, given that there was a small deficit already.

Compare the Carter 1980 budget for Defense and Ronnie's next 5 years and you do not see much difference - except for Star Wars.

The cold war win is one of the two great lies about Ronnie. The other is the effect of the tax cuts. Reagan/Bush came in with the unemployment rate at 7.2%, and 12 years later they left with it at 7.2%. The immediate effect of the tax cuts was the 16 month - worst recession since the depression - caused by those interest rates anticipating future deficits and being just a little higher than they would otherwise be, causing, as with the Bush tax cuts, a rise in the hurdle rate needed for businesses to approve new investment.

The screw the poor - lower 20% hurt worse after Reagan, the hurt the kids as with cut backs to school lunches and National Park and Water and Air and other environmental spending, the screw the mentally ill (as in Cal as Gov, Ronnie as Pres ended Federally funding for mentally ill in the Aug 1981 Budget package he had passed - saying - as he did in Cal, that new facilities and funding would be found - and, as in Cal. where he never submitted a budget that built enough of the smaller facilities to house those released from warehouse facilities, as Pres he never went back and did anything to the "block grant" money to help the mentally ill - indeed he just cut those monies.

The attack on those getting disability, the attack on Unions - seems to be all forgiven as we recall his gift to make a good speech, to pretend sincerity, and to leave the room with no one angry with him.

[papau]

1. Mike Hersh on Reagan Myth below

http://liberalslikechrist.org/a-JesusNoRepublican/reagan.html

The Real Reagan Legacy
Debunking Myths About Reagan
by Mike Hersh
March 19, 2002 (Political Sanity/APJP) --<snip> Which brings us to myth number two:Jimmy Carter wrecked the economy, and Reagan's bold tax cuts saved it. This is utterly absurd. Economic growth indices -- GDP, jobs, revenues -- were all positive when Carter left office. All plunged after Reagan policies took effect. Reagan didn't cure inflation, the main economic problem during the Carter years. Carter's Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker tried when he raised interest rates. That's the opposite of what Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has done to keep inflation low. Carter's policies and people fought inflation, but maintained real growth. On the other hand, Reagan's policies helped cause the worst recession since the Great Depression: two bleak years with nearly double-digit unemployment! Reaganomics failed in less than a year, and it took an entire second year for the economy to recover from the failure. Carter didn't cause the inflation problem, but his tough policies and smart personnel solved it. Unfortunately for Carter, it took too long for the good results to kick in. Not only didn't Reagan help whip inflation, he actually opposed the Volcker policies!

<snip>In reality, Reagan did nothing to bring down the Soviet Union. By 1980, the Soviet Union was trying to cut its own defense spending. Reagan made it harder for them to do so. In fact, Reagan increased the possibility of a nuclear war because he was -- frankly, and sadly -- senile. He thought we could actually recall submarine-launched nuclear missiles (talk about a Reagan myth), and bullied the Soviets to highest alert several times. Critically, Reagan never even tried to bring down the Soviet Union. Wasteful overspending on defense didn't end the Soviet Union. In fact, it played into the hands of authoritarian "Communist" hard-liners in the Kremlin. Reagan thought the Soviet Union was more powerful than we were. He was trying to close what he called "the window of vulnerability." This was sheer idiocy. No general in our military would trade our armed forces for theirs. If it were to happen, none of the Soviet military command would turn down that deal. We had better systems, better troops, and better morale. Here's the truth: we'd already won the Cold War before Reagan took office. All Reagan needed to do was continue the tried-and-true containment policies Harry S. Truman began and all subsequent presidents employed. The Soviet Union was Collapsing from within. The CIA actually told this to Reagan as he took office.

Here's an example: the Soviet Union military couldn't deal with a weak state on its own border, the poor, undermanned Afghanistan. Most of the Soviets' military might had to make sure its "allies" in the Warsaw Pact and subjects along the South Asian front didn't revolt. <snip>

He predicted his friend Gorbachev would lead the Soviet Union for many years to come. As usual, Reagan was wrong. A few months later, disgruntled military officers kidnapped Gorbachev, throwing him out of power forever. Reagan remained disengaged: nothing he did caused the coup, and nothing he did made the Soviet military support Boris Yeltsin over their superiors....... All this is vintage Reagan. Reagan took credit for others' hard word and hard choices, and blamed them for his failures. Reagan even blamed Jimmy Carter for Reagan's foolish, fatal, and reckless decision to leave 243 Marines stationed in Beirut, helpless and unguarded.<snip>