To be fair Reagan is a capitalist only mostly just at face value. He increased government size and power more than Obama did. For example, not just did he increase spending but he also partnered with and strenthened the Deep State which has given us great benefits to American Liberty such as Iran Contra, subversion and lies leading to endless pointless wars, and even domestic surveillance.
>"Commercial banking firm’s continuing desire for greater powers received support when Ronald Reagan became President and appointed banking regulators who shared an “attitude towards deregulation of the financial industry.”[1]
His legacy of deregulation often decreased competitiveness and paved the way for the 2008 financial crisis. He even willfully used "left wing" Keynseian economics of tax+spend+cut taxes to get short-term gains at the expense of future generations.
As far as I can tell his consistency appears to be that of an authoritarian, which throws this whole analysis off the rails... In my opinion.
It's very hard to reign in all of these beasts he let loose.
"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."[p. 10]
"War is a racket. ...It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." [p. 23]
"The general public shoulders the bill [for war]. This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations." [p. 24]
General Butler is especially trenchant when he looks at post-war casualties. He writes with great emotion about the thousands of traumatised soldiers, many of who lose their minds and are penned like animals until they die, and he notes that in his time, returning veterans are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who stayed home.
>"Commercial banking firm’s continuing desire for greater powers received support when Ronald Reagan became President and appointed banking regulators who shared an “attitude towards deregulation of the financial industry.”[1]
His legacy of deregulation often decreased competitiveness and paved the way for the 2008 financial crisis. He even willfully used "left wing" Keynseian economics of tax+spend+cut taxes to get short-term gains at the expense of future generations.
As far as I can tell his consistency appears to be that of an authoritarian, which throws this whole analysis off the rails... In my opinion.
It's very hard to reign in all of these beasts he let loose.
1-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Glass–Steagal...