Introduction
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the second President in American postwar history, who ruled two terms. He left office with high public credibility, and greatly contributed to the fact that Vice President George Bush in 1988 was elected as his successor. If you follow the comments of some journalists, political scientists and historians, you would see that any other President after Franklin D. Roosevelt had not implemented a big change in the life of American society than Ronald Reagan. It was about the "conservative revolution", and even "Reagan revolution". In these cases, as a rule, among the main reasons that contributed to dramatic economic growth in the United States and strengthen their influence in the international arena, allocate a socio-economic program of the Reagan administration, known in history as "Reaganomics".
Before the inauguration of US President Ronald Reagan the US economy had a lot of troubles. In 1973-1974 the oil cartel OPEC, which then accounted for 90% of the world's oil exports, restricted production and increased oil prices almost $8 per barrel. In relative terms, the price of a barrel of oil for a few months has increased 4 times. Then in 1979-1980, OPEC was able to impose an even more significant increase in prices — almost $21 per barrel. Thus, a barrel of oil, which was sold in 1972 for 2.5 dollars, was estimated in 1980 to $34. The impact of higher oil prices was so all-encompassing that has become an important factor of stagflation 70-ies. (Edwards, 2012)
Reagan in White House
Reagan made the beginning of his presidency more than shocking: his initial success in economic and social policy in the Congress really was impressed with the "conservative revolution". So, 18 February 1981, a month after his inauguration, Reagan presented to Congress a Program of economic recovery, which included four key elements:
reform to reduce Federal spending;
the package of proposals on creation of new jobs and tax cuts on personal income of 10% per year for three years;
long-term program of deregulation;
the obligation to conduct, in cooperation with the Federal reserve policy of monetarism with the aim of rebuilding a stable system of monetary circulation and the recovery of the financial markets. (Campagna, 1994)
Cardinal principles of this strategy were formulated in the strategic document of the US administration, published in February 1981 and called "America's new beginning: a program for economic recovery". The main objective of the strategy is to strengthen the shaky position of US imperialism on the world stage. The concept of economic policy of the US administration, often called "Reaganomics" has a clearly expressed class character. Its main provisions reflect the interests of monopolistic bourgeoisie and are used to set objectives methods directed against the social gains of the working masses.
Among the first steps of President Reagan that initiated the beginning of "deregulation" were the repeal of price controls on us oil and control the level of the minimum wage; weakening the standards for fuel economy of cars and their safety; lowering the standards required of water treatment n air industrial, construction, energy and other companies.
Overall, the program was founded on the belief of the Reagan’s administration that the "main cause of all economic problems is government." The core was the idea that "only by reducing the growth of the state to achieve greater economic growth". In his inaugural speech Reagan stated: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price." ("Ronald Reagan: Inaugural Address", 2016) Such arguments apparently acted on the Congress and Reagan managed to achieve the adoption of the main lines of its economic program with the approval of the budget for the first half of 1981.
Cons of Reagan’s policy
At the same time, at the first stage of Reagan's presidency we have seen some resistance in Congress, so popular policy of the President. For example, in the final version of the reform included the tax cuts only 5% in 1981 and 10 percent in 1982 and 1983. Such action of Congress as "liberal reducer" prevented the implementation of Reagan's policies "undiluted". This trend intensified after the collapse of the coalition vote, when the country faced a budget deficit and the beginning of a deep economic crisis. The first serious negative result of such a policy that became known was the air traffic controllers' strike on 3 August 1981. In 4 hours after they presented their demands to the Federal Aviation Agency, Reagan spoke to the air traffic controllers. In his address to the strikers, the President stressed that he is a Union member and at one time organized and conducted the strike, however, in this case air traffic controllers violated the law, since I work in the public sector. The President gave 48 hours to all the strikers returned to their duties, and alternatively, offered them a job loss and prosecution.
As a result of 5 thousand dispatchers at the appointed time returned to work, and the remaining 11.4 million continued the strike and were dismissed. A total of 19 thousand people saved a total of 8 thousand, which, however, did not prevent the government 10 days to recover 70% of all flights by bringing in military and air traffic controllers retirement age.
Thus, it is necessary to admit that the strike failed miserably, Reagan proved that the Executive branch is able to cope with the unlawful demonstrations of citizens without prejudice to their political prestige. In addition, this case reassured employers of different levels that there are no essential workers, and the presidential administration would further encourage the protection of the interests of corporations.
Conclusion
Socio-economic reforms of Reagan, his methods and the implications were extremely ambiguous. During our research it became clear that, to cope with a problem, the government certainly faced with other, often more complicated, and along with the undisputed success of the Reagan administration there have been serious mistakes that have affected negatively on the economy and society.
There is no doubt that "Reaganomics" first and foremost, the interests of capital, however, its results won as corporations and ordinary citizens that gives us the right to determine the socio-economic reforms of Reagan as generally successful. "Reaganomics" has played an important role in the development of the United States in the 80-ies and was an example of successful implementation of conservative ideas in practice.
References
Campagna, A. (1994). The economy in the Reagan years. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Edwards, A. (2012). Early Reagan: The Rise to Power. New York: Morrow.
Ronald Reagan: Inaugural Address. (2016). Presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 15 July 2016, from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43130
