As politicians from both parties celebrate Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday this Sunday, February 6, 2011, one key and very painful fact which will be largely overlooked is that Reagan made America a debtor nation for the first time in its history. Ronald Reagan is the father of the debtor nation.
Jonathan Weisman of the Washington Post summed it up when he wrote in 2004, "The fiscal shift in the Reagan years was staggering. In January 1981, when Reagan declared the federal budget to be 'out of control,' the deficit had reached almost $74 billion, the federal debt $930 billion. Within two years, the deficit was $208 billion. The debt by 1988 totaled $2.6 trillion. In those eight years, the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the largest debtor nation." Today the national debt stands at over $14 TRILLION or more than $40,000.00 for every man, woman and child living in the United States.
Perhaps Reagan got us into this mess due to his inability to understand reality. In 1984 he gave a speech to the Christian charlatans who are religious broadcasters. In his address to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention he was praising the liar and con-man Pat Robertson when Ron said, "In his book, 'The Secret Kingdom,' Pat Robertson told us, 'There can be peace; there can be plenty; there can be freedom. They will come the minute human beings accept the principles of the invisible world and begin to live by them in the visible world.'" Maybe Ron's reliance on the invisible/non-existent principles of Pat Robertson and the Bible helped destroy America's very real and visible economy and made it a debtor nation for the first time ever.
In his speech to the Christian charlatans Reagan went on to brag that he declared 1983 to be the "year of the Bible." (He also rambled on implying George Washington was a Christian who got on his knees and prayed at Valley Forge when this is not true. George Washington was not a Christian, he was a Deist.)
Based on this speech, Reagan strongly believed the Bible to be "The Word of God." He said to the televangelists, "1983 was the year more of us read the Good Book. Can we make a resolution here today? -- that 1984 will be the year we put its great truths into action?"
One of the "great truths" of the Bible, one of its primary reasons for being, particularly the Old Testament, is the promotion of Israel over all. It seems Ronald Reagan made one Bible prophesy come true. Isaiah 61:6 has God promising the Hebrews/Israel that they will "eat the riches of the Gentiles." Reagan helped make this a reality in 1985 when he helped push through the first ever "free trade agreement" with Israel. This was the first in a long line of devastatingly harmful agreements and treaties which are still harming working people. In his thought provoking and enlightening book, Spy Trade: How Israel's Lobby Undermines America's Economy, Grant F. Smith points out that this Reagan backed agreement with Israel has cost American workers over 1 million jobs over a ten year period.
Jonathan Weisman of the Washington Post summed it up when he wrote in 2004, "The fiscal shift in the Reagan years was staggering. In January 1981, when Reagan declared the federal budget to be 'out of control,' the deficit had reached almost $74 billion, the federal debt $930 billion. Within two years, the deficit was $208 billion. The debt by 1988 totaled $2.6 trillion. In those eight years, the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the largest debtor nation." Today the national debt stands at over $14 TRILLION or more than $40,000.00 for every man, woman and child living in the United States.
Perhaps Reagan got us into this mess due to his inability to understand reality. In 1984 he gave a speech to the Christian charlatans who are religious broadcasters. In his address to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention he was praising the liar and con-man Pat Robertson when Ron said, "In his book, 'The Secret Kingdom,' Pat Robertson told us, 'There can be peace; there can be plenty; there can be freedom. They will come the minute human beings accept the principles of the invisible world and begin to live by them in the visible world.'" Maybe Ron's reliance on the invisible/non-existent principles of Pat Robertson and the Bible helped destroy America's very real and visible economy and made it a debtor nation for the first time ever.
In his speech to the Christian charlatans Reagan went on to brag that he declared 1983 to be the "year of the Bible." (He also rambled on implying George Washington was a Christian who got on his knees and prayed at Valley Forge when this is not true. George Washington was not a Christian, he was a Deist.)
Based on this speech, Reagan strongly believed the Bible to be "The Word of God." He said to the televangelists, "1983 was the year more of us read the Good Book. Can we make a resolution here today? -- that 1984 will be the year we put its great truths into action?"
One of the "great truths" of the Bible, one of its primary reasons for being, particularly the Old Testament, is the promotion of Israel over all. It seems Ronald Reagan made one Bible prophesy come true. Isaiah 61:6 has God promising the Hebrews/Israel that they will "eat the riches of the Gentiles." Reagan helped make this a reality in 1985 when he helped push through the first ever "free trade agreement" with Israel. This was the first in a long line of devastatingly harmful agreements and treaties which are still harming working people. In his thought provoking and enlightening book, Spy Trade: How Israel's Lobby Undermines America's Economy, Grant F. Smith points out that this Reagan backed agreement with Israel has cost American workers over 1 million jobs over a ten year period.
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