Ronald Reagan Domestic And Foreign Affairs. Essays -

Ronald Reagan: Domestic And Foreign Affairs. Ronald Reagan: Domestic and Foreign Affairs I have decided to write my research paper on the topic of Ronald Reagans Domestic and Foreign Affairs. The reason that I choose this topic was because I have always been personally interested in Ronald Reagans time in office and the national crisis he had to deal with. Reagan was awesome when it came to foreign policy because he knew how to negotiate with foreign leaders and their countries to get what he wanted. There were several instances during his time in office that he had the chance to use his ability to get the country out of danger. Domestic Affairs is another part of Reagans presidency that was very important. He was able to take the country, which seemed to be in an economic slump and turn their economic status around. The economic growth of the United States is still holding true today. There is only one question that I wanted to answer with this paper. Was Ronald Reagan an effective leader when it came to domestic and foreign affairs? Domestic Affairs From the day that Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States, in November 1980, he had a huge task ahead of him, to develop an economic plan or policy to implement into the national economy. President Reagan felt that he needed to base his economic program on the basis of supply side economics (Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica.com, 2000). This theory is a very complex idea that President Reagan developed himself, so many people gave it the name of Reaganomics (Encyclopedia American, gi.grolier.com , 2000). The theory of Reaganomics called for a significant reduction in all forms of taxes and an adequate cutback on governmental spending so there will be more money in the hands of the American citizens. The main goal of the supply side economic theory is to give a boost to the United States economy, which would cause the economy to expand. This economic expansion and boost would occur through citizens who would spend the extra tax money on products and services in thei r geographical region or who would invest money into businesses in their area. The only problem for the government using this theory would be the initial revenues that the government would lose from the tax cuts. In theory the economic growth would eventually increase taxable incomes, this increase in taxable incomes should cause the governmental revenues to grow in the long run. With the idea of Reaganomics in mind President Reagan persuaded Congress to pass the Economic Recovery Tax Act, which is the first major step in his plan. This Tax Act called for a 25 percent tax cut that was implemented over a three-year period (David Mervin, 1990, 133-7). The only problem with this tax cut is the fact that it mainly benefited the upper - income taxpayers and large corporations. The reason that these groups were targeted is because there is more of a chance that they will invest their money in business programs that will promote economic growth. After this tax cut took effect the American people in the lower - income tax brackets were not pleased with the results. They seemed to be faced with an increase in their tax rates even though most of them were in the income categories below the national average. On the other end of the spectrum the people that were in the upper tax brackets were experiencing significant tax cuts. The largest tax break that the upper class experienced was about 6 percent. The second part of Reagans plan was to cut government spending on a variety of different programs. I have listed some of the most significant and recognizable programs: job training, college loans, medical programs, child daycare centers, and nursing homes (Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica.com, 2000). The main reason that Reagan targeted these programs was because he felt that they made individuals more dependent on governmental support and in turn was weakening the structure of American families. President Reagan, after long speeches and deliberations, persuaded congress to lift some of the many regulations that were placed on industries. The main objective of this deregulation was to help the industries save money as well