despite the minimal rise in the unemployment rate (Moore 107-108). Moore contests that the myth that the new 20 million jobs were … “dead end, McDonald’s-type hamburger-flipping jobs …just (wasn’t) true” (108). Eighty-five percent of the new jobs were professional or technical jobs, paying salaries over $20,000 dollars a year in 1980s rates (Moore 108). The most successful of Reagan’s economic policies was his marginal and personal income tax rates reconstruction. Many predicted this program to fail, but instead it recorded one of the most impressive economic performances in recorded history: eighty-six straight months of continuous economic expansion. This pushed the U.S. way past a European economy that was stagnant (Sahu 9). “Reagan’s vision of the ‘unlimited potential of the human mind’”(Kormendi 251)… unleashed personal initiative for success that, despite the recession in the early 1990s, spurred growth and the nation-wide boom contributed to President Clinton’s term. As all economists know, the Morris 14economy at the time of the current president is not necessarily due to his policies, but a combination of past policies and current tinkering by the Federal Reserve. Ronald Wilson Reagan was, without a doubt, a controversial American President that made a serious impact on the economy of the United States during his reign in Washington in the 1980s. He was not a mastermind like many contested he was, nor was he a complete failure in economic policy. He also proved that Presidents could impact the economy in many ways. Reagan promised much more than he was able to supply and he did not restrain his spending as much as he should have. However, his confidence in entrepreneurs and the unlimited belief in the American economy’s ability to boom independently from government interference proved to be the keystone in the success of the U...
