> I think this [Reagan-era] ideology is bad: bad for the economy, bad for society...<p>I think Regan is popularly overrated in a lot of areas, but if you're looking to analyze the impact his policies had on the economy, you have to note two important points:<p>1. Total federal tax income <i>rose</i> after the Reagan-era tax cuts. There's plenty of potential reasons why, but you've got to give serious thought to the idea that we were at an inoptimum point in the Laffer Curve before that:<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve</a><p>2. It's absolutely a fact that as people get wealthier, their spending shifts from consumption to investment. So it's pretty straightforward to see that larger fortunes <i>without falling tax yields</i> means more funds for investment.<p>Even if you don't like Reagan, you've got to give serious thought to the idea that the Reagan-era cuts played a significant part in the rapid growth of the technology sector that's come to fruition the last 20 years. That's created one of the largest increases in wealth for everyone in the United States in history.<p>But anyways, ex-libertarian here. I'd be in favor of more government spending in infrastructure and sciences. I think Reagan's domestic policy is overrated. But you've got to give some serious thought to the idea that the tax cuts led to a lot of the economic growth of the last 20 years - higher tax yields and higher private wealth leading to higher investment is really good mix for economic growth.