I'm one of the biggest Reagan fans going, but I'm really starting to wonder if most of what he did economically was restore American pride (as if that wasn't enough). Sure the tax changes helped, but I'm coming to think that it was the explosion of government spending and consumer credit that caused the 30 year economic expansion. If you look at debt like an addictive drug, those were the early, party days when just a little taste had a huge effect. Now it's like we're nearing the end of the addiction when everything revolves around getting more and more, and the effect is only to stave off possibly fatal withdrawal. We need more and more just to get back to "normal".
