Some on the Right point to trade deficits with other countries and the decline of American manufacturing as evidence that free trade doesn’t work; that the reduction of trade barriers and the optimizing of our economy and workforce into services has “screwed over” our countrymen. 🇺🇸

The truth is complicated. When Reagan became president on January 20, 1981, he inherited the Nixon-Carter mess of “stagflation.” The economy was in recession and prices were inflating in the double digits. 💸

To combat this, Reagan implemented policies recommended by Art Laffer (see Laffer curve) and Kurt Hauser, policies commonly known as "Reaganomics."

A combination of cutting the highest marginal tax rates and maintaining tight money–high interest rates and discipline with monetary policy–eventually led to strong and stable economic growth and the flourishing of all Americans in the 1980s.