Whether it was right or wrong, "Reaganomics" had a logic. Each policy would
aim at one problem. Tight money would cure inflation. Low taxes would stimulate
saving and work effort. Small government would "crowd in" investment. Free trade
would make us efficient. Smart people believed this and they had the authority
of respected economists like Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek to back
them up.
But now those ideas are dead, buried, abandoned. Deregulation brought us
miseries in finance, transport, energy and the climate. Free trade agreements
dole out favors to big farmers and big pharma. The financial crisis finished off
what was left of monetarism, the idea that the Fed should only worry about
inflation. And everyone has given up on waiting for low taxes to unleash the
creativity of the ultra rich.