To admit that the economy is perking up faster than anyone had expected would not move Congressmen to vote for his spending and tax cuts.
Thus, in his speech to Congress, that eternal sunny optimist Ronald Reagan spoke dolefully of "continued" double-digit inflation in the six months since his election, of "almost 8 million people unemployed," of mortgage interest rates, averaging almost 15%, keeping families from buying their dream houses.
Well, yes—but. The inflation rate dropped to 7.5% in March (down from 14% in November), and the unemployment rate has inched down from 7.6% just before the election to 7.3%.
Output of goods and...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
