1980 and 2012

My generation, the boomers, has been a lucky one. Today, after an election that probably means some rough luck for the country, it is appropriate to honor the man who was responsible for much of our good luck. Thirty two years ago in 1980 the country was in much worse shape  than it is today. The economy was in a debilitating inflationary depression with double digit inflation and high unemployment. Mortgage and other interest rates were in the mid teens.  The country was in a losing Cold War struggle with an aggressive and expansionist Soviet Union. Statist, anti-growth, left wing policies had dominated recent administrations of both parties, and pundits of all sorts were pronouncing that the nation was in a terminal decline. 

That November the country  elected Ronald Reagan president and gave his party a majority in the senate. He gave the government new policies, new directions, and a new viewpoint. Within a few years inflation came under control;  interest rates declined; anti-growth policies were changed; and the nation began a quarter century of growth and prosperity. The Soviet Union was completely defeated in the Cold War, and the occupied nations in central and eastern Europe were liberated.

We early boomers got to spend much of our working years  in times that were more prosperous, more full of opportunity, and freer from the threat of nuclear war than almost anyone would have guessed in 1980 – a lucky bunch of people indeed. Reagan gave us peace and a quarter century respite from many of the depredations of rapacious government, and many of us used that respite to put the lie to the commonplace belief of 1980 that  most of our generation would have less success and lower standards of living than their parents. Now, the country is again plagued by statist, anti-growth, left wing policies and has just re-elected a president in the mold of Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon.

We can be grateful indeed for the respite Reagan helped give us and hope that our children and grandchildren will someday be as lucky. We owe it to them to try to make that happen. We also owe it to them and ourselves to use our wealth, knowledge, and experience to prepare for the possible rough times ahead and to help the people we care about get through them as well as they can.