The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed

Customer Reviews

Contrary to the reviewer below, I don't think Stockman argues that the Laffer curve was "discredited" in an intellectual sense, but rather that it was only applicable in an inflationary economy; Paul Volcker's tightening actions at the Federal Reserve denied this crucial condition. As to the reviewer with the childish "liberal propaganda" claim, Stockman clearly makes the point that Republicans and Democrats alike were unwilling to make the drastic spending cuts needed to offset the revenue loss. (And regardless of your political affiliation, I'm not sure how you can defend the economic wisdom of a president who doesn't understand such rudimentary concepts as the difference between current and constant dollars). And as to the idea that Rosy Scenario wasn't all that important, how else would you explain that the mounting debt feared by Stockman actually materialized? Say what you will, Stockman's predictions turned out to be right. It would be wrong to characterize Stockman's book as an attack on Republicans, or supply-side economics per se. It is rather a warning to would-be ideologues who would attempt to impose their dreams on an uncooperative world, a lesson that both liberals and conservatives should take to heart.

Its obvious that Reagan swallowed the Laffer Curce hook line and sinker (see the Flynt Michigan Speech) but it seems he never had the will or the understanding for spending cuts and hard money.

The stongest feature of the book is Stockmans admission and exposition of the fact that even if all of the spending cuts he asked for were enacted, triple digit deficits would have accumulated anyway.

Moreover, the foolish Rosy scenario assumption (which was the real cause of the deficits) boggles the mind and I credit Stockman for fessing up to it. It is astounding that such intelligent men thought they could create unprecedented economic growth overnight, and then had the nerve to base the federal budget on such assumptions. Unfortunately the current president fell into this same trap, at least in part, during the tax cut debate this spring. (Nearly every economist except those in OMB and CBO realizes that the surpluss projections were nonsense.)

All in all this is a very good, very well documented and very honest book. A good companion is Daniel Patrick Moynihan's "Came the Revolution: Argument in the Reagan Era"

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