National Security: The economy

When Ronald Reagan took office four decades ago, the American economy was a dumpster dive. Inflation was 11 percent. Interest rates for home mortgages exceeded 16 percent, effectively shutting down construction. Unemployment was climbing, and would reach 10 percent in just a year and a half. It began to look as if the Reagan presidency would follow Carter as a single term. The root cause of this economic disaster could be traced back to the Johnson Administration in 1965 when LBJ adopted a â€