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Your Nov. 25 editorial “Santa Claus in Washington” aptly criticizes the fiscal recklessness of the current administration and Congress. But it is inaccurate to point back reverently to the Reagan years as a period of budgetary responsibility. True, Reagan slashed social spending, especially in urban areas like Chicago. But he also ramped up military spending and cut taxes aggressively, ultimately ballooning our national debt during the 1980s.
The Bush administration should not be viewed as an irresponsible departure from the golden Reagan years but an unfortunate repeat of what the first President Bush once called “voodoo economics” (Reagan’s supply-side economics).
