Because you’d have to propose increasing taxes. Republicans/Reagan cut the top tax rate in half (70->35) and lucked into one of the best economic growths for a while as the Carter/Volker shock finally panned out and interest rates were dropped. It’s why Reagonmics and a trickle down economy were able to remain major Republicans platforms since then.
So proposing a tax increase viewed as bad for the economy was a non-starter. The capture of both political parties to capitalism and business was probably more a kicked can from Mccarthy anticommunism stuff.
It feels good to say “give things to the poor”.
It’s no fun to say “force mentally ill addicts into treatment“.
Well then we might have to reopen all those mental institutions that Reagan closed (only with ya know modern treatment).
Why didn’t we ever reopen them?
I mean, I know why we don’t now, but we had a few decades since Reagan of occasionally reasonable administrations…
Because you’d have to propose increasing taxes. Republicans/Reagan cut the top tax rate in half (70->35) and lucked into one of the best economic growths for a while as the Carter/Volker shock finally panned out and interest rates were dropped. It’s why Reagonmics and a trickle down economy were able to remain major Republicans platforms since then.
So proposing a tax increase viewed as bad for the economy was a non-starter. The capture of both political parties to capitalism and business was probably more a kicked can from Mccarthy anticommunism stuff.