A more honest budget accounting was put in place during Reagan's terms. Does any one really believe that Carter had a 60 Billion deficit in 1980? Items accounted formerly as "off-budget" were under Reagan accounted for as "on-budget."
Reagan's Admin. brought alot of the smoke and mirrors of the phony Soc Sec "trust fund" to light as well.
I look forward to the day when the lie is put to the whole Soc Sec scam for all to see and appreciate. Just know the exposure therof first took place on Reagan's watch.
Last point: Tax cuts under Reagan more than doubled revenues. Blame the Congress for spending those revenues AND MORE which resulted in the reported deficits. Rememeber, the President can't "spend" anything, only Congress.
The president "can't spendz?" Well, Bush ain't helping. He is turning out to be a bigger spender than Clinton but the the new GOP/Keynesian mantra seems to be that deficits are good.
This makes sense.
What about the argument of hugely increase military spending due to the Cold War arms race. It has been ages since I took an economics course, but I'm pretty sure I remember Reagan being blamed for the deficit specifically due to the arms race.