What I miss about the 80's....

What I miss about the 80's....

I was around 30 years younger

What I miss about the 80's? Am I still on topic?

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I miss the 80's a lot. It was a time of great optimism for my generation, just finishing high school and we had just elected the best president in my lifetime.

1981 was the year of the The IBM PC - Home Computer. it was the start of a massive revolution in technology to come, and the government was cutting regulation and taxes - businesses were investing and hiring.

Anyone who wanted a job could get a job- and if they didn't like that job- they could get a better job. The massive inflation and interest rates that the Carter years policy had brought us were winding down, and for the first time in many years people my age could see thenselves someday able to buy a house. My teachers in high school were telling us it was not going to be possible to buy a house, but thanks to Ronald Reagan and his policies- it really was a possibility again.

In August of 1981- MTV came on the air- a major improvement for kids my age who were children of the radio era. MTV actually played music in those days. I was caught up in the New Wave era with the new music, which started as a protest to Disco- which many of us hated, it was also a leftover from the Carter days. We had our MTV, and we were gettin our money for nothing and our chicks for free!

The country also felt good about being American starting in 1981- with yellow belly Carter out of the way- Reagan instilled respect for America again. the hostages were released straight away - Reagan made it clear to Iran through back door channels that the bombs were gonna start flying if they held any Americans after he became president. No more scardy cat ass kissing to our enemies!

I won't listen to any of the left's downplaying of the 80's - Reagan was the very best this country had produced- was he perfect? No. But we didn't have anything better, and we have not had anything better since him- so quit with your bullsh**.

I lived it- I was THERE! I saw it all go down, you can't re-spin it or rewrite histor in my mind, try that crap on generation Y. Communism and Socialism was on the run in the 80's, thank's to Reagan. Reagan did more for our economy- did more to reduce the nuclear threat- did more to end the iron curtain- and he did more to discourage a welfare state and promote a healthy business climate that lead to job creation than any one else in his time- and since his time. He did more for our freedom as Americans than any other politician I know.

All of that technology we see today is a result of the research and development that went on in the 80's- under a business friendly climate. I don't see anything near the massive scale of it ahead in our future- but you could see it coming back then. I read one poster badmouthing star wars- I wonder if she is aware that our military now has the capabilities she says are impossible- my friend saw the proton lazers being tested in the 80's- from his F16. We have lazer capable satellites in orbit right now- a direct result of Reagan's star wars program. The russians also knew we were testing this capability- it was a major reason why the nuclear arms race took a quick 180 under Reagan.

Reagan hated nuclear weapons- and he negotiated the worlds largest reduction of them.
http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/president-reagans-legacy-and-us-nuclear-weapons-policy

I would bet that most teenagers would be glad to trade the future I saw back in 1980 for the one they see in front of them today- Thanks to people like Reagan.

The 80's were a great time to grow up in Amerca- socialism and communism was in retreat and the free market was the rule of the day- somthing we are sorely lacking right now.

Ahh, nostalgia. It's not what it used to be.

And Wayne- in the 80's a kid like me could go to college, earn a degree and pay for it by working at night, without having to go 100K in debt.

This isn't nostalgia, it's fact- I did it.

I really think the left hates Reagan so much precisely because his policy did turn the economy around, he did bring down the iron curtain, he did the most to reduce the nuclear threat, calm inflation, calm interest rates, make the dream of owning a house a reality again. He brought jobs back- and businesses were investing again.
Oh- and under Reagan, Oil fell to a low of 8 dollars a barrel!

He made America somthing we could be proud of- not ashamed of.

His policies worked- and that's what the left hates so much!

Speaking for myself, I certainly don't "hate" Reagan. He was a great communicator, honing his skills for years with nationally syndicated radio editorials that spoke to the conservative cause. He was the right man at the right time. I think it's funny that the right refers to Obama as a "community organizer" but never refers to Reagan as an "actor."

I thought he was dead wrong on his civil rights stance. He opposed certain civil rights legislation, saying "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so."

He did give great speeches here at home and abroad, though.

As good as Obama is at running his mouth- he is not respected like Reagan was, here at home or around the world.

I think the reason this is is because Reagan ment what he said- and he backed it up with policy. And if Reagan made a threat to a gaddafi or the like- he backed it up with action. Reagan also knew who our friends were - and he knew who our enemies were - even with alzheimer's he was not as confused as Obama.

hmmmmmm.....I lived through the 80's too, I was raising a family at the time.....in Texas....I remember the recession (it was particularly bad in Texas as we watched our house decline in value by more than 50%, I remember the savings and loan crisis, things in this country were not all that rosy in Reagan's early years. And what did Reagan do.....why he raised taxes, which actually did help, and his popularity started rising because he manages to get the economy moving and people were doing better.

So is that the fear we see from Republicans now, that Obama will raise taxes to get us out of recession like Reagan did, and that will work, and Obama will get re-elected, and the economy will improve? horrors......that really would be bad for the Republicans.

Reagan lowered tax rates- my taxes went down so I don't know what "make believe" world your living in- probably that leftist revisionist world.
http://www.house.gov/jec/fiscal/tx-grwth/reagtxct/reagtxct.htm

Yes the early years were a bit tough, but not as tough as the Carter years, I remember the gas lines, I remember the un-employment lines- (by the way we don't see those anymore because of the internet). I remember 18% mortgages, I remember inflation near 20%.

The recession and housing downturns- while they were sharp- were also very short lived. This was back before bailouts or "too big to fail"- and the market was allowed to function. We also had a housing downturn here in Evergreen- nowhere near 50%, but I remember the for sale signs, and I also remember it was less than a year before all those signs were gone. The free market worked pretty fast!

This also had much to do with policy at the top.

Two bills passed in 1982 and 1984 together "constituted the biggest tax increase ever enacted during peacetime," Thorndike said.

The bills didn't raise more revenue by hiking individual income tax rates though. Instead they did it largely through making it tougher to evade taxes, and through "base broadening" -- that is, reducing various federal tax breaks and closing tax loopholes.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/08/news/ec ... /index.htm

Sound familiar?

So you are right, the tax increases didn't effect the middle class, they targeted corporate loopholes, and tax evaders.....kinda like what Obama wants to do.

And Texas was not so lucky as Evergreen.....when we sold our Texas house in 1992 to move to Evergreen, we didn't even get back 70% of what we had into that house that we had bought in 1980.