Posted on 03/10/2025 12:23:58 PM PDT by Az Joe
Prior to the current recession, the deepest post-World War II economic downturn occurred in the early 1980s. According to the accepted arbiter of the economy’s ups and downs, the National Bureau for Economic Research, a brief recession in 1980 — lasting only six months — and a short period of growth, were followed by a sustained recession from July 1981 to November 1982.
The unemployment rate hovered between 7% and 8% from the summer of 1980 to the fall of 1981, when it began to rise quickly. By March 1982 it had reached 9%, and in December of that year the unemployment rate stood at its recession peak of 10.8%. The jobless rate slowly receded over the next few years, falling to 8.3% by the end of 1983 and to 7.2% by the 1984 presidential election. The unemployment rate did not fall below 6%, however, until September 1987.
We are NOT in recession. The free spending is being reached out od the Economy. Better now than in October, 2026.
Article: A year later, in September 1982, with the unemployment rate at 10.1%, most Americans were far from pleased with the state of the economy.
Not Reagan’s recession.
Reagan’s policies did not go into effect till 1983.
The Left bewailed the tax cuts and cuts in gov’t that caused the recession, but those who actually understood the economy knew that the recession was like an alcoholic coming off his alcoholic addiction under which he was a slave.
Likewise, after significant cuts in unconstitutional gov’t, there is a (relatively short) time of suffering recession, but afterwards, the economy is free from the addiction under which it was a slave.
Yes, I believe a recession is coming, but be of good cheer because after the recession, a great economic boon is coming because less gov’t creates MORE prosperity. Right now we are slaves to a greatly unconstitutional federal gov’t. The MORE unconstitutional gov’t is CUT, the MORE individual freedom and prosperity the American People will experience.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4303170/posts?q=1&;page=1#1
Everybody love Reagan, but that recession caused major victory for Dems in midterms. After that, Reagan could not control the spending anymore.
I agree mostly with what you’re saying but a relatively short recession (and market downturn) is going to be very hard on retirees and those many people already carrying way too much debt (that they took on to try to keep up with inflation).
A sagging market is going to have a negative wealth effect too. While a needed corrective recession may be beneficial in the long run, there’s going to be some pain involved for those with few assets and lower incomes. And its going to cause some political fallout IMO.
Even with increased revenues. But the deficit was coming down. 150 billion levels the last 3 years.
That would be considered balanced today.
As I recall, interest rates when Reagan was inaugurated were over 20% and the economy was in shambles because of Carter’s mismanagement.
I would like to have seen Trump take a more gradual approach to upping tariffs than he did, but I understand his time constraints. He wants to reset the economy back into a healthier mode that is not so addicted to spending and artificially low interest rates. Its a noble goal but not without some economic pain along the way.
We have been under mostly unconstitutional federal acts and spending for about 100 years.
If we cut back federal spending towards making the feds constitutional and legal, then like coming off of alcoholic addiction and going cold turkey, coming off of illegal federal spending will cause short term economic reaction but in the long term, like being free of addiction, economic health and wealth.
We MUST take the long-term view of doing the right thing with the right objectives. Stopping doing the right thing with the right objectives because of temporary short-term economic recession would be a FATAL MISTAKE, like an alcoholic going back to alcohol because he doesn’t want to go through the temporary pain of getting free of the addiction.
Of course!
I am just worried that, if by the midterm elections there is still recession, some people will decide that Trump stuff does not work, and vote Dems!
Small downturns messed up Reagan presidency in 1982 and even got Clinton elected!
Reagan’s key policy actually kicked in before he took office, and caused both the recession, and the rise in interest rates.
Economically, Reagan’s term in office divides into two very different time periods. His first two years in office, he was breaking the runaway inflation that he inherited from President Carter. During President Carter’s last year in office, inflation ran over 12%, and was accelerating. Reagan’s tight money policy broke the 12% and rising inflation down to about 4% and steady. The cost of this was two very hard years. The whole time the inflation rate had been built up under Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter, everyone knew the cure was going to hurt. We finally got a president who was willing to spend the political capital to slay the dragon, and he did. Breaking the inflation rate was an important contribution to the prosperity the United States enjoyed until President Obama, but it was painful to get it done.
It was Paul Volker who did the operational work. Once he knew that Reagan was shortly going to take office, he hit the brakes. The Federal Reserve is supposedly independent of the President, but presidents usually get the monetary policy they want. The Fed is independent enough to allow the Fed to pursue a policy for a short time, even if the president doesn’t want it. Volker would have had to be crazy to do this, if he did not have assurance that Reagan was going to back him, but he was able to start the job, before Reagan actually took office.
The last six years of President Reagan’s term in office, were the start of the Reagan Boom. Obvious contributors to the boom were the drop in inflation, the Reagan tax cuts, and the deregulation effort he pursued. I have seen him credited with the fact that the entitlement programs didn’t rise even faster than they actually did, but the increase in the entitlement programs still accounted for more than all of the deficit.
You do know there are a handful of companies causing the stock market gyrations. Reagan had double digit problems...double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, double digit unemployment. None of which we have even today.
Bush 41 gave us Clinton.
I agree with everything you said, which is why I referred to it as a necessary corrective recession. We’re taking the excesses out of the system, and maybe just in time before it wrecked the economy. The ballooning national debt and out-of-control deficit are really scary and I’m shocked that the ratings services have not issued another credit downgrade on us.
Just pointing out that there will be some pain going forward. Its the medicine that’s required to restore our economic health.
I remember double digit unemployment, double digit inflation, and double digit interest rates. I was young, married, with a baby. We ate a lot of sausage & beans. Only way to get us out of the “malaise” of Jimmy Carter. Swore I’d never vote for a “grinnin’ Southern Governer” But then Clinton was elected.
Yes, of course I’m aware, however Reagan didn’t have the sky high national debt that, even with relatively low interest rates, is causing us debt service problems. And the deficit is a becoming ridiculous.
Its a miracle that the U.S. credit rating hasn’t been downgraded.
Expect some pain. That's part of the road to recovery.
Some can deal with the pain better than others. We are an impatient country that is not much used to sacrificing. Just saying.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.