The Reagan Reverie (a.k.a. “Revolution?”) continues: Republican (fascist/socialist) President Reagan delivers his farewell address to the nation, boasting of his accomplishments after eight years in office:

       In July 1980, I promised the American people, “I will not accept the excuse that the Federal Government has grown … beyond the control of any President, Administration or Congress. … We are going to put an end to the notion that the American taxpayers exist to fund the Federal Government.

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       We have delivered on that promise.

Reagan then went on to list some of those accomplishments:

       I formed the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) to utilize fully the capabilities of the Government’s Inspectors General to reduce waste, fraud, and mismanagement. … Since its formation, the PCIE has saved, or put to better use, funds totalling [sic] over $125 billion. …

       The application of business-like practices to manage the Government’s annual cash flow have [sic] saved $4.3 billion since 1983. In FY 1988 alone, the Government realized interest savings of almost $1 billion.

       The Government now accepts credit cards.

       Applicants for Federal loans, contracts, grants, and jobs are now prescreened for their creditworthiness.

In addition, the Federal Government is now engaged in aggressive efforts to collect money owed it.  These efforts include the use of private sector collection firms … and contracting with private attorneys (government licensed legal counsel) for debt collection.

       Since 1982, an additional $3.7 billion owed the Government has been collected through these initiatives.

       Efficient use of computers, information technology, and management information systems are benefiting numerous programs that touch the lives of many Americans, including modernization of the social security system; redesign of the income tax system. …

       [I]n 1988, 2 million tax returns were filed electronically, reducing processing time and providing refunds in less than 3 weeks. …

       The Government’s performance of commercial activities under this program is becoming part of every Federal agency’s operations and saved the Government over $830 million in 1988 alone. And, we have increased the number of Government contracts awarded competitively from 44 percent in 1982 to almost 60 percent in 1988. [emphasis added]

       NOTES:

• Some revolution!  “The Government now accepts credit cards.”
• In his message, Reagan bragged of “saving billions [176,000,000,000 to be specific] of dollars for the American taxpayer and providing better and more efficient services to every American.”  Making government “more efficient” is not what Reagan originally campaigned on; he promised to “get government off our backs.”  Were Reagan to have strictly adhered to his Oath of Office, and rigidly adhered to the strictures of constitutional government, he would have eliminated all unconstitutional spending (entitlements and 90% of the military budget) which would allow for elimination of the unlawful Federal personal income and payroll taxes and eliminate the 152,639,000,000 “dollar” annual deficit, leaving an 86,560, 000,000 “dollars” in revenue to fund a constitutional military, administer justice and general government, was well a reduce the national debt.  Instead this is what Reagan left as his legacy:
  • spending for the Department of Education (which Reagan promised to abolish) more than doubled to 22,700,000,000 “dollars”;
  • Social Security spending rose from 179,000,000,000 “dollars” in 1981 to 269,000,000,000 “dollars” in 1986;
  • farm program spending raised from 21,400,000,000 “dollars” in 1981 to 51,400,000,000 “dollars” in 1987;
  • Medicare spending rose from 43,500,000,000 “dollars” in 1981 to 80,000,000,000 “dollars” in1987;
  • Federal entitlement spending rose from 197,100,000,000 “dollars” in 1981 to 477,000,000,000 “dollars” in 1987;
  • foreign aid spending rose during his tenure from 10,000,000,000 “dollars” to 22,000,000,000 “dollars”;
  • Reagan forced an 8,400,000,000 “dollar” increase in the annual “contribution” to the International Monetary Fund;
  • it took 31 years, from 1946 to 1977, for the publicly held share of the national debt to triple, yet Reagan was able to accomplish the same feat in only eight years;
  • taxes at the end of Reagan’s tenure were a larger percentage of the Gross National Product than when he first took office;
  • the number of Federal employees (French for “government workers”) grew by 230,000—about a ten percent increase;
  • the number of drug offenders in Federal prison rose almost four-fold, from 6,000 in 1980, to 22,000 in 1988.

       [restored 1/21/2023]