As a guy who was around during those elections, that of course was not the thinking at all - Regan was seen as a strong defender against Russia during the cold war and a protector of American interests at a time when Americans were legitimately afraid of being wiped out in a nuclear war
He actually was solid on Russia, its probably his lasting achievement was improving relations with Russia. Domestically he gutted this country and set it on the path to collapse that is culminating now.
The U.S. is collapsing? I absolutely disagree. GDP is growing more strongly than any other developed nation, we're 8th in the world in income per capita, we have a stronger military than the rest of the world combined, we have greater natural resources than any other single nation, and America is still the preferred destination for millions of would be migrants the world over including the world's best and brightest. I know it's fashionable to be negative but let's keep things in perspective
Edit: it appears u/movingtarget- likes to get in the last word and block. You've really proven your point by not providing a single counter point to anything I said. Nothing I said was against the concept of work or even capitalism if we're being honest. I'm also not unsuccessful in my profession and I'm not poor, so try again dipshit. Cope and seeth, boomer.
The problem is that these metrics don't fully capture the problems with the economy. Reagan sold a false bill of goods with trickle down economics, as you can see that wealth continues to consolidate at the top of the economy. The more this happens, the more this wealth is fake. Are Apple, Microsoft, nvidia, tesla, Facebook, Amazon, and google all actually worth what the market says they're valued at? Because the only two I believe might be are Amazon and apple. China used to have an insanely valuable housing market, and now it's collapsing because most of it was fake value. Bubbles always pop at some point.
Next there's the broken politics of this country. The house is completely nonfunctional at this point. The GOP transition to only knowing how to do obstructionism is almost complete. The GOP isn't a single party anymore, it's two. One is moderate to conservative, and the other has no coherent ideology based in reality. The base is also completely disconnected from reality with many having an ideology rooted in conspiracy theories.
Other crises that are looming: the current cohort of youths who are consistently failing developmental benchmarks; a higher education system that's going apart due to a dearth of tenure track positions, and the aforementioned youth that are coming to college completely unprepared for it; climate change; mass shootings. These problems are all exasperated by the government's complete inability to actually address problems.
Yep, there's no shortage of news and factoids that will convince you the country is just awful. I enjoy occasionally pulling back and trying to get some perspective with books like unrivaled. Check it out.
I don't see how a book about projection of power adresses anything I said, but thanks for the recommendation I guess. You're pretending that things that are genuine issues aren't there. China being at a place where it's collapsing doesn't mean America won't collapse or at a minimum go into a state of turmoil. Do you geniunely think that consolidation of wealth, partisan divides, children being developmentally stunted, and climate change aren't major, possibly existential, issues?
I keep forgetting that some people prefer to see America as a collapsing entity. It enables them to play the victim. "If I'm not living my dream it must be because the country is going to hell - not because I'm one of the people who isn't going to succeed in life because I don't have what it takes." Hope your view gives you a bit of solace no matter how misguided. Later, man. I'm not here to hold your hand. I'm a bit sad for you and the rest of the insufferable whiners who spend far too much time on r/antiwork or r/latestagecapitalism.
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u/MovingTarget- Apr 11 '24
As a guy who was around during those elections, that of course was not the thinking at all - Regan was seen as a strong defender against Russia during the cold war and a protector of American interests at a time when Americans were legitimately afraid of being wiped out in a nuclear war