Occupy Wall Street and Let’s Reelect Reagan!!!

I hate labels for people.  For most a label doesn’t adequately demonstrate who they are deep down.  As human beings we are complex and confusing.  So as we draw closer and closer to a presidential election we begin to see who is aligned where.  It doesn’t matter to me where my friends are aligned.  I don’t really believe there is a right or a wrong side.  Most people who know me know that I align more to the left.  As I’ve gotten older I find that I move more and more to the left.  But there are a large number of my friends who lean way way right.  I truly do not have a problem with that.  We still live in a country where every one is entitled to their opinion and the right to express it.

But I must admit that I find it humorous that people will regurgitate stories, statistics, and in some case down right lies without fact checking.  This includes people from both sides and all walks of lives.  I try to ignore most of this, because I’ve realized that it isn’t my job to inform people of the factual errors in their tales.  I just let it be told without any input from little ole me, sort of like a snow ball rolling down a hill.

This weekend I noticed several of my friends taking part in one of those multiple choice questions that you see sometimes on Facebook.  The question was “If you could pick any one of these to come back and serve again, who would you choose?”  The choices were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or Ronald Reagan.  It seemed everyone was opting for Ronald Reagan.  I must admit that it gave me a little chuckle.  I guess after 30 years the bad memories fade and all that anyone can recall is the “good” stuff.  Interest rates were high and the cost of food was high. 

So here is my regurgitating of facts and stories as I see them.

Per Dangerous Intersection I pulled the following information: In raw numbers not adjusted for inflation, Reagan increased federal spending by $466B (69%) over what he inherited, averaged a %177B deficit (+180%), added $1.40 trillion to the debt (+178%), enjoyed a pretty substantial increase in the GDP (+77%), but increased the debt to GDP ratio by 15%.

If you think Ronald Reagan could save us now, you might be right.  After all taxes were higher then across the board.  Big business and corporations have been given tax cuts galore in the last 30 years.  Video of Ronald Reagan stating that millionaires should pay their fair share. 

Maybe I’m way off base.  Maybe I’ve lost my mind.  But this is what the Occupy Wall Street movement is about.  Lets make the big corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.  Its not about getting a free handout.