RE-WRITING HISTORY

Here are a few odd sentences in the Wall Street Journal, dealing with Reagan’s legacy of massive budget deficits:

Mr. Reagan’s unique contribution was to stick to his economic program, and to support Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, in the face of enormous political pressure to turn tail on both. Growth resumed as he expected, and tax revenues actually increased faster than GDP from the low point in 1983 through 1989. As for the deficits, they did finally vanish once defense spending fell after the Cold War ended and a GOP Congress slowed the growth in other spending for at least a couple of years in the mid-1990s.

What the Journal doesn’t mention is that Reagan, Bush and Clinton all had to raise taxes to accomplish this. Reagan, we should recall, raised taxes, after his initial cut. He was not an abolutist. He also helped reform the tax system in 1986, an idea now anathema to today’s Republican party, which is busy funneling as many tax breaks to interest groups as it can.