Reagan doubled the size of the economy and inflation dropped below 2%
GDP and Average Wages
The nominal GDP [1], in real terms, doubled from 1980 to 1992, during the 12 years of Reagan-Bush, from 3.2 to 6.5 trillion dollars. Inflation went from a high of 13.5% in the prior Jimmy Carter era, to below 2%. At the same time, wages doubled for the average person from around 12,000 to 22,000 a year (not gdp per capita, but average wages), and tax rebate systems which gave unusual taxbreaks to certain groups of people the government favored, were eliminated, streamlining the tax code. Tax Revenue actually went up slightly during this time period as a percentage, as the weird tax codes before they allowed some people to pay nearly nothing and others up to 70%, were eliminated, resulting in a fair tax burden across the board. Despite the erroneous notion that Reagan implemented "Trickle Down Economics", which no economist or major right-wing figure ever used this term to describe their economic plans, and that this somehow hurt the poor to the benefit of the rich, the average person really saw their wages go up dramatically in this time period, and tax revenue actually increased overall, despite Reagan cutting taxes nearly in half. One of the biggest economic booms in America soon followed, and just an economic sanction on the Soviet Union managed to cause them to collapse in 1991, in addition to various internal matters.
Despite the idea Reagan was somehow terrible for the economy, when it doubled in size and inflation dropped below 2%, or that he was responsible for deficit spending when we almost had a budget surplus by the time Bush left office at the end of 12 years, or the idea that the poor lost out when their wages doubled while inflation had dropped, is fairly absurd. Not only that, but it is easily disprovable. And while it's been so far as taught in schools that "Reagonomics" was terrible for the country, it was anything but. Basic common sense Republican policies DO work. It turns out when you let the average person have more of their own money, it boosts the economy. Similarly, whatever president drops the social security income tax from 15% to 2% or lower will see one of the massive booms in American history, as the social security tax is money taken out of the economy that isn't even reintroduced via tax spending until decades later. A retiree who paid 80 bucks a month in to the system in no way can pay for 2000 dollar checks, due to inflation, and therefore it would be best to spend the money, now, and get economic growth from it.
