Top Ten Reasons Why Ronald Reagan Was an Overrated President

The trickle-down (or pyramid) theory only works for the wealthy. Corporations see their profits grow in the stock markets for a while, but economic profit growth does not mean economic growth. Giving money or tax cuts to the richest does not ensure money will flow to the bottom of the pyramid, which represents lower incomes and the working class.

Reagan tried this, and since then we have seen a growing separation between the rich and poor. The wages of the working class have stagnated while the profits of the rich have increased. The huge US debt today is a result of Reagan's policies, supported by neo-liberalism believers like Margaret Thatcher. The bank crashes, real estate crashes, and stock crashes of the 2000s are the butterfly effect of Reagan's policies in the 1980s.

It is shameful that under the Trump administration, they are trying to do it all over again with their so-called tax cuts for corporations. While we were slowly recovering from the Reagan effect, the Trump tax cut will put us in a worse state in the future.

The Reagan administration helped fund a rebel group to remove the Soviets from Afghanistan. It worked, and the Soviets withdrew. The problem was, after they withdrew, the U.S. did practically nothing to help rebuild Afghanistan.

No cash for education, healthcare, infrastructure, roads, etc. So the Afghani people turned to a group known as the Taliban. One of the soldiers who fought for the rebels against the Soviets was Osama bin Laden. Reagan inadvertently helped create Al-Qaeda.

Percentage-wise, Reagan added more debt than any other president in history. It was so bad that after cutting taxes, he was forced to increase taxes in other areas multiple times.

It's weird how Republicans, who mostly identify as fiscal conservatives, worship a man who was incredibly irresponsible with money.

Tax cuts and increased military spending increased the federal government's debt by trillions of dollars.

One reason Carter was so unpopular is that his term was plagued with stagflation, which means high inflation and economic decline, defying all laws of economics. Reagan is often credited with ending stagflation and causing the 1980s economic boom.

Wrong. Volcker, the head of the Federal Reserve, did. He was appointed by Carter but was reappointed by Reagan. Volcker hiked interest rates, which ended inflation. With inflation gone, the economy quickly recovered, leading to the 1980s boom.

There might be a reason why the middle class only saw their incomes go up by around 1-2% in the 1980s. Reagan was a major union buster. He constantly attacked unions and sided with management in almost all cases.

Under his administration, the unionization rate began to drastically decline, which might be why middle-class wages have been near-stagnant for decades.

Reagan wanted to sell weapons to Iran, a country that promotes terrorism, and use the profits to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, an extremist right-wing guerrilla group that committed acts of terror and barbarism. Congress denied Reagan's request to sell to Iran and passed a law against it.

Well, he did it anyway and effectively broke the law. On top of that, he funded two groups that supported terrorism. Well done, Ron.

Reagan supported right-wing dictatorships around the world. In his view, it was necessary to suppress the expansion of communism. Tell that one to Guatemala, whose people were slaughtered by their dictator, who was personal friends with Reagan.

He also gave asylum to Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator of the Philippines.

He was a disgusting, phony, self-serving, undereducated charlatan of a man. He said trees cause pollution and that ketchup is a vegetable for poor children whose only means of food were the hot lunches they were served in school.

He totally ignored the scourge that was AIDS, a death sentence at the time. He was racist, simple-minded, and uncaring. He absolutely ballooned our deficit, and trickle-down economics is the most often debunked, inadequate economic theory in existence. I hate him almost as much as I detest Trump.

Many praise Reagan for single-handedly ending the Cold War, which is far from true. While he might have helped end the Cold War, several other factors aided in the demise of the Soviet Union.

Whether it is the deficit, wealth inequality, political polarization, the war on terror, or the war on drugs, it can all directly be traced back to Reagan's presidency in one way or another.