The 1980’s weren’t a bad time to be living. In fact it was during this decade that some popular things came to be. However, as with any other period in time, this era was not without its black spots. This decade saw how a communist “threat could affect America’s economy, while the entertainment industry helped balance it out. Communism spreading anywhere was viewed as a threat to the very idea of freedom everywhere.
Freedom was and is still the very foundation of American life. Capitalism is based solely on freedom. And the opposing end of freedom was communism. The very thought of communism was as horrid as killing to many people of America. However that is exactly what communism was doing; killing the very ideology of a free American life… or at least that is what was happening in the mind of every American citizen. It was during the 80’s that the Reagan administration was in office, and they wasted no time throwing money at foreign governments who opposed communism. Among these were Grenada, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, in what came to be known as the Reagan Doctrine. During the year of 1986, it was revealed that the U.S. had sold weapons to Iran in order to save a few hostages. The money was used to fund the Contras, Nicaraguan rebels. That may have helped across seas and oceans, but what was Reagan doing within the U.S. borders?
The most major thing Reagan was doing was what came to be known as Reaganomics. The main idea of the whole plan was to balance the federal budget. The actions he was going to take were reducing government spending, marginal tax rates, regulation, and circulating money. As stated these were supposed to help balance the budget, as well as increasing saving and investing, increase economic growth, restore...
... middle of paper ...
...rew to immense popularity and made plenty of pocket change. Later in the 80’s, other games began to take the spotlight. The age of the home consoles had come. To this day we can see how much consoles have grown in popularity. Nearly every household in America can be found with at least one console. Many who can afford it have even more. Out of the 1980’s,one of two main icons can be picked from this paper. Whether you prefer the happy-go-lucky Reagan with an inflated hope to help the economy, or Pac-Man, constantly dodging his enemies, you wouldn’t be wrong in saying that neither is bigger than the other. The 1980’s wouldn’t have been the same without one or the other. No matter what happened, communism never became a threat, as many American had feared during the decade of the 1980’s. “When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.” –Ronald Reagan
Ronald Read ran a campaign based on lowering taxes, and strong national defense. In his first inaugural address, he emphasized the important to conserving the power of an us control our own destinies. He also says that government is not a solution to the problem that they are the problem. During his term, he decreases the size of federal government and supported policies and reforms that he believed empowered individuals. Reagan also worked to reduce federal spending on home programs, due to his concerns about the constitutionality of those programs. He called for finances cuts, mostly from great Society programs. while not touching Medicare and Social security, Reagan authorized cuts in federal schooling programs, food stamp programs, workplace programs, and other non-military domestic programs. Believing the U.S. had left out the military after the Vietnam war, and because the cold battle continued, Reagan asked for increased funds to reinforce the military. The decrease in taxes and growth in army spending ended in the biggest budget deficits in the united states’ records to that time. The deficits persisted each year, however Reagan vowed to veto any tax increases Congress
Though these acts helped America during an economic downturn, they had consequences which are still being felt today. During Reagan’s presidency, the distribution of wealth shifted unfairly towards individuals with higher incomes and has not shifted back since.... ... middle of paper ... ... Though he was the cause of much pain and suffering, one should not forget that he was the one to maneuver us out of a situation we had never been in.
When President Reagan took office, the U.S. was on the back end of the economic prosperity World War 2 had created. The U.S. was experiencing the highest inflation rates since 1947 (13.6% in 1980), unemployment rates reaching 10% in 1982, and nonexistent increases GDP. To combat the recession the country was experiencing, President Reagan implemented the beginning stages of trickle down economics – which was a short-term solution aimed to stimulate the economy. Taxes in the top bracket dropped from 70% to 28% while GDP recovered. However, this short-term growth only masked the real problem at hand.
President Ronald Reagan had a huge impact on our country and the rest of the world while serving as the 40th president of the United States of America. Our country exhibited peace through strength to nations everywhere. The American people prospered economically with less government intervention. Crime rates dropped dramatically and family values were restored. Ronald Wilson Reagan will go down in history as a great president of the United States of America.
were inseparable from economic strength. However, Reagan's defense policy. resulted in the doubling of the debt of the United States. He used the money for... ... middle of paper ... ...
The government would inaccurately portray communism many times to make them look more egregious than they really were. “In the wake of the Cold War, Americans felt it was their patriotic duty to buy consumer goods to help the economy grow. In turn, the U.S. became the world’s dominant economic power” ("Cold War Influences on American Culture, Politics, and Economics"). Americans started to become more patriotic before the Cold War and did whatever they had to do to stop communism. In this instance, Americans bought more consumer goods to boost the economy, and to also show that the American way of life was superior to the communist way of life.
From the day that Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States, in November 1980, he had a huge task ahead of him, to develop an economic plan or policy to implement into the national economy. President Reagan felt that he needed to base his economic program on the basis of supply side economics (Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica.com, 2000). This theory is a very complex idea that President Reagan developed himself, so many people gave it the name of Reaganomics (Encyclopedia American, gi.grolier.com , 2000). The theory of Reaganomics called for a significant reduction in all forms of taxes and an adequate cutback on governmental spending so there will be more money in the hands of the American citizens. The main goal of the supply s...
The American political economy of freedom seemingly was at risk. Thus, the Truman administration switched to an “adversarial relationship”. However, the foreign policy challenge, as Dean Acheson stresses, “was to foster an environment in which our national life and individual freedom can survive and prosper (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 63).
Reagan’s ethos was created throughout his two terms but solidified in his second and final one. Reagan presents his ethos throughout his rhetoric by stating facts with authority and also in a way that made him credible to the audience. One of the parts in his speech is headlined with a cold and awakening fact directed at the Soviet Union. In a 1956 speech given by Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, the statement “We will bury you,” was aimed at Western ambassadors who stood for freedom. In Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate, he specifically calls out the previously stated notion that the Soviets would essentially, “bury the free world.” Reagan profoundly proclaims this: “In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind--too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.” The great appeal this presented to the
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the 1980’s? The crazy hair styles, the new and improved things that were being created made this time alive, and fun. To be born in the 1980’s would have a been a privilege, who wouldn’t want to be known as “The decade that defined…. “US!” The 1980s was a decade that began on January 1, 1980, and ended on December 31, 1989. This decade was a great social and economic time period for people living in the 80’s. The world was becoming more developed as well as everyone in it. This decade became the “Look at me” generation of status seekers. The 80’s made a new breed of billionaires and money makers. “The decade began with double-digit inflation, Reagan declared a war on drugs, Kermit didn't find it easy to be green, hospital costs rose, we lost many, many of our finest talents to AIDS which before the decade ended spread to black and Hispanic women, and unemployment rose,” according to Peggy Whitely of Lone Star College. Although this time seemed like all fun and games, there were many problems. People say we lost the meaning of “We” and it suddenly became “I.” Citizens were realizing that you couldn’t depend on others around you; they were coming up with new ideas, and inventions to allow things to be more efficient. Although the 1980’s suffered a huge change for the American people, the fads and fashion part of the people strived, as well as the inventions. These two things will be some of the most historical, yet fascinating parts of the 80’s generation in American History.
1984, by George Orwell, depicts the psychological progression of Winston Smith, a rebellious citizen among an oppressive government. In such a government, each ministry deals with the polar opposite of its namesake, stupidity is as necessary as intellect, and Big Brother is always watching. Conformity is not the ultimate goal of the Party. It is a side effect of Two Minutes Hate, relentless torture, and a lack of meaningful relationships aside from the love of Big Brother. Orwell so vividly illustrates the crushing brutality of the Party in order to warn the reader that an absolute government with the power to drive a citizen to his or her breaking point will inevitably destroy the core of human drive and independence. Those with the power to exploit personal fears and control levels of commitment through torture can crush anyone, for “in the face of pain, there are no heroes” (Orwell 213).
While the materialism of the 20’s faded into the economic depression that followed, and the glow of the 1950’s was dimmed by the onset of communist fever, both decades proved to be successful and iconic in the way that they brought about massive prosperity, and because youth found new ways of expressing themselves and inviting progress. Unfortunately, not all outcomes were good, and both eras triggered an onslaught of racial tension that would continue well into the future.
There was general prosperity in America following the Second World War, however in the 1970s inflation rose, productivity decreased, and corporate debt increased. Individual incomes slipped as oil prices raised. Popular dissent surrounding the economic crisis helped Reagan win the 1980 election under promises to lower taxes, deregulate, and bring America out of stagnation. Many New Right supporters put their faith in him to change the system. To start his tenure, Reagan passed significant tax cuts for the rich to encourage investment. Next he passed the Economy Recovery Tax Act that cut tax rates by 25% with special provisions that favored business. Reagan’s economic measures were based on his belief in supply-side economics, which argued that tax cuts for the wealthy and for business stimulates investment, with the benefits eventually tricking down to the popular masses. His supply-side economic policies were generally consistent with the establishment’s support of free market, ...
The nineteen eighties were known for new music genres becoming popular, space travel, new technologies, and a galore of fun and interesting things. This is the life of an average human in the nineteen eighties but as you dig deeper into the eighties and look between the lines you will discover many things about the nineteen eighties, such as its economic, social and political state. In the nineteen eighties Canada benefited greatly and saw great prosperity socially and politically but economically there were many negatives as well as positives.
West, Cornel. “The ‘80s. (Cover story).” Newsweek 123, no. 1 (January 3, 1994): 46. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 11, 2014).