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We supported the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia post-genocide, and I want to be clear about that. Vietnam invaded Cambodia on Christmas Day 1978 and over ran the country in a few short weeks, and stopped the genocide. In fact, this is probably the second best example of straight-up military action...

For the 1980 campaign, the Republicans talked about the “misery index.” Its a mash-up statistic of Inflation + Unemployment. And it’s a pretty good mash-up, although I think one point of unemployment should count for somewhat more than one point of inflation. In a similar way, the baseball...

But didn’t Carter squander a big lead in the general, in large part because he was being so vague on the issues? Yes, he did so squander. In large part, the voters were having buyer’s remorse toward Carter when he was the presumptive next president.

I think the Reagan administration had a pretty good working coalition with the southern Democrats, also known as “Dixiecrats.”

Not if it’s an oligopoly situation. And it needn’t even be active collusion. It can just be an unstated understanding on the part of the major producers, don’t rock the boat. And, I won’t rock the boat if you don’t. Now, as far as my approach . . . it’s kind of like you’re a Republican...

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2016/article/labor-force-participation-what-has-happened-since-the-peak.htm Which increased from 64 to almost 67% during the 1980s. So, in general, unemployment numbers during the later Reagan years should be viewed as almost 3% less (lesser change for his earlier...

All depends on how much the tax, right? And at the end of the day, Congress is pro-business although sometimes they’re clumsy about it. I think you may have previously talked about barriers to entry? And I tend to agree. If it’s expensive leases on federal land just for exploratory drilling...

https://cnnphilippines.com/world/2016/03/07/nancy-reagan-dies-obit.html Yeah, he’s a pretty likeable guy. It’s hard enough to criticize his policies, constructively or otherwise, to begin with. And then the guy basically gets elevated to the status of hero-slash-saint.

The idea of a one-two punch of lifting price controls + a windfall profits tax was put forward at least as early as Pres. Ford’s Jan. 1975 State of the Union address. Maybe if Congress has acted earlier. But not only did we have an inexperienced president, in Jan. ‘77, we also had a first-time...

Thank you for taking a strong view and putting it out there. But, what about: 1) Carter getting the ball rolling on deregulation such as airlines, trucking, and telecom, and 2) Energy policy, even though ol’ Jimmy didn’t achieve his wildest dreams, he did make some progress.

There’s a note from his Nat’l Security guy Bud McFarlane in which Reagan wrote on the back, “Mum’s the word”...

National Debt as % of GDP This is kind of “the book” on Reagan — that he talked about balanced budgets during the campaign, but instead ran deficits. And that criticism is generally true. https://zfacts.com/national-debt/ Next issue, I’d like to see how much of Reagan’s deficits came from...

In real life, Reagan supported and signed: a 264 billion dollar TAX CUT in 1981, and a 57 billion dollar TAX INCREASE in 1982. If he’s less popular in ‘81, the tax cut is probably less, and thus less need for a tax increase the following year. And therefore, the overall policy is less herky...

After he almost lost the 1968 New Hampshire Democratic Primary to Eugene McCarthy, LBJ announced that he was going to concentrate on a peace deal in Vietnam and not seek another term. So, if we look at Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, that’s four failed presidencies in a row. Carter was a...

Ah, yes indeed, the “Anna Karenina Principle,” as described by Jared Diamond.

Supporting regimes that murder and rape with money and weapons, at times just to signal to the Soviets how tough and committed we were, and at times for perception just for the sake of domestic politics, I mean, if anything is evil, that might be a candidate. But not just Reagan. All through...

I’m sure they were! And as someone who’s discovered, or rediscovered, heavy metal in my 50s, I do appreciate a wide variety of music. :)

https://news.ucsc.edu/2017/11/ancient-horse.html Might this newly discovered horse — newly discovered as of 2017 — provide a branch point?

https://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2011/02/08/reagan-obama-and-the-myth-of-the-teflon-presidency/ So, that’s it, a blip at the beginning of his presidency? Which was pretty much used up by the end of the first year. Yes, but — per David Broder, people believing that Reagan had...

https://books.google.com/books?id=PdCLMpSY5qkC&lpg=PA220&ots=z6KaT8udEe&dq=%E2%80%9Cno%20critic%20will%20be%20able%20to%20portray%20Reagan%20as%20a%20cruel%20or%20callous%20or%20heartless%20man%E2%80%9D&pg=PA220#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cno%20critic%20will%20be%20able%20to%20portray%20Reagan%20as%20a%...