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History - America > Reagan > Flashcards

Reagan Flashcards

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1
Q

Who were the Republican Party for?

A

Big business

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2
Q

What was a problem that Reagan had with the current tax system?

A

Too complicated, full of loopholes, helped industries at the expense of others, voters and big business feared it would lead to tax increase

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3
Q

What were the purposes of the Tax Reform Act 1986

A
  • stop inflation
  • reduce unemployment
  • increase personal wealth
  • increase productivity
  • encourage personal saving and investing
  • reduce federal spending and defecit
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4
Q

Some reasons Reagan did not want to (or could not) completely get rid of the welfare system

A
  • Congress wanted to keep some domestic programmes
  • Polls revealed people did not want to reduce Social Security or Medicare
  • American consumers preferred cheap imported goods
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5
Q

How did Reagan respond to Trade Deficit 1981?

A
  • persuade Japanese manufacturers to limit exports to US
  • Japanese opened manufacturing plants employing Americans in US
  • 25% tariff on imported goods
  • 3% tariff on imported cars
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6
Q

What happened to Trade Deficit under Reagan?

A

rise from $38 billion (1982) to over $150 billion each year in second half of decade

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7
Q

How did Reagan see deregulation? As a way to…

A

As a way to:
- cut expenditure
- decrease the size of ‘big government’
- allow unfettered capitalism to flourish

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8
Q

Total percentage of cutbacks in staff of regulatory agencies

A

29%

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9
Q

What happened to Social Security payments?

A

bipartisan investigatory commission recommended:
- raising retirement age from 65 years to 67 years by 2027
- taxing social security benefits paid to the well-off
- delaying cost of living increases
1983 these proposals became law

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10
Q

What happened to Defence Expenditure under Reagan? What happened to the federal budget deficit because of this? What act were Congress forced to pass? (BBaEDCA)

A
  • increased $157.5 billion in 1981 to $303.6 billion in 1989
  • federal budget deficit soared
  • Congress forced to pass Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficits Control Act 1985, enforced spending cuts
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11
Q

What were Reagan’s aims as stated in State of Union Address 1981?

A
  • tax cuts to revive the economy
  • reduce the size of big government
  • deregulation of state and federal government
  • build up America’s Cold War defences
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12
Q

What was Reagan’s economic philosophy known as?

A

Reaganomics

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13
Q

1981 Budget - how many cuts to federal programmes?

A

212

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14
Q

Name of Act that cut taxes in 1981

A

Economic Recovery Tax Act 1981

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15
Q

Why did Congress get on well with Reagan? Why was he popular?

A
  • tougher than Carter, Ford or Nixon
  • handled Congress well
  • cultivated many swing voters in House
  • increased pressure on congressmen by targeting districts through radio and TV
  • poll ratings were high due to assassination attempt
  • ‘great communicator’
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16
Q

What happened when 12,000 air traffic controllers went on strike despite this not being allowed in their contract?

A

Reagan had them all fired, called in military to do their jobs, until replacement could be trained

17
Q

Why were many worse off during Reagan years?

A
  • ‘revenue enhancements’ hit the less wealthy hard
  • cuts in federal programmes hurt single mothers with children
  • only 50% of American families maintained their standard of living in the 1980s
18
Q

Why was life hard for many workers in the Reagan years?

A
  • opposed minimum wage
  • hostile to labour unions
  • judiciary made it harder for women, minorities, the elderly and disabled to sue employment over discrimination
  • deregulation made poor worker safety measures
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration invariably decided for business and against labour
19
Q

What happened to national debt under Reagan?
What happened to federal expenditure under Reagan?
Where did Reagan borrow money from?

A
  • Federal expenditure rose $699.1 billion (1980) - $859.3 billion (1987)
  • Reagan financed his tax cuts and weapons purchases with money borrowed from Japan and Germany
  • National debt tripled to more than $2.6 trillion
20
Q

What was unemployment in Reagan’s first 2 years?

A

10%

21
Q

What was inflation in Reagan’s first 2 years?

A

in double figures

22
Q

What happened to businesses in Reagan’s first 2 years?

A

they crashed

23
Q

What happened to the number of homeless in Reagan’s first 2 years?

A

increased

24
Q

Why was their economic growth under Reagan?

A
  • tight money policies at Federal Reserve Board
  • new oil source discoveries
  • massive defence expenditure, prosperity to US
25
Q

What was inflation in Carter’s last year vs Reagan’s last year?

A

13.5% vs 4.7%

26
Q

What was unemployment in Carter’s last year vs Reagan’s last year?

A

7% vs 5.2%

27
Q

How many new jobs were created under Reagan?

A

7 million

28
Q

Limitations of Reagan’s deregulation policies - why couldn’t he cut Social Security so what did he do instead?

A
  • knew it would be political suicide to get rid of Social Security and Medicare, elderly voters big proportion
  • collaboration with bipartisan Congress measure to cut Social Security and increase payroll taxes to get around this
29
Q

How did Reagan achieve a reduction in the size and role of the federal government?

A
  • cut taxes
  • curtailed domestic programmes
  • Halted New Deal interventionism, began to reverse it
30
Q

Which gov. department did Reagan attempt to get rid of but failed?

A

Department of Education BUT reduced staff by 25%, cut its programmes and decreased education block grants to states by 63%

31
Q

What happened to civilian employment in federal government?

A

rose by 3%

32
Q

What happened to staff for national defence?

A

grew by 11.5%

33
Q

What happened when Reagan reduced level and range of benefits for Aid to Families with Dependent Children?

A
  • 13 million children lived below the poverty line (1984)
  • many being children of single black mothers
  • conservatives believed AFDC encouraged promiscuity
34
Q

What did Reagan not cut?

A
  • Social Security
  • medicare/medicaid
  • veterans’ benefits
  • school lunches
  • Operation Head Start
35
Q

Why did Reagan want to deregulate? Who started it?

A
  • believed capitalism was being stifled
  • Carter had begun deregulation
36
Q

Who did Reagan appoint that agreed with deregulation?

A

Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt

37
Q

When did Reagan not get his way?

A

when he vetoed the $18 billion Clean Water Act by Congress overrode the veto with the 1987 Water Quality Control Act

38
Q

What was the Savings and Loans Scandal?

A

1982 Reagan signed bill increasing amount of federal insurance available to S&L depositors, authorised S&Ls to engage in risky business, collapsed in late 1980s, required a $132 billion bailout from public funds

History - America (2 decks)

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