Trump-O-Nomics—–Bastard Progeny Of The 1980s Fiscal Pivot, Part 1

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Ronald Reagan ran for president in both the 1976 primaries and the 1980 general election as a firm advocate of balanced Federal budgets. During the latter campaign he promised black ink by 1984, and then presented a detailed plan within 25 days of his inauguration to make good on this promise.

At the time, the Federal debt was $930 billion and it had taken 39 president and the first 192 years of the Republic to get there. As it turned out, however, that history was but a fiscally sober prelude.

During the policy confusion of the Reagan years it vanished entirely, metastasizing ultimately into what is now Trump-O-Nomics. The latter, of course, is a flaming repudiation of the GOP’s old time religion of balanced budgets, sound money and small government.

It is also, as we will see, the bastard progeny of the 1980s. The outcome from this disastrous pivot and transformation has been the very worst imaginable: That is, the Federal budget has become a Fiscal Doomsday Machine racing on auto-pilot toward inexorable disaster, while the process of fiscal governance in Washington has been broken beyond repair.