Reagan, the fall of the Soviet Union and Debt;

The Reagan administrations of the 70s were the most popular in living memory. They are memorable for bringing down the Berlin Wall, and the fall of the Soviet Union. The arms race that won that war was fought in the middle of an energy crisis, and among other things, Reagan lowered the speed limit to reduce inflationary pressures. Nowadays, we need to remember that IF we wish to save Gas THEN we can drive 55 at any time even in a 70 mile an hour zone. The way Reagan lowered the speed limit was to argue that reduced highway speeds resulted in reduced highway fatalities. He compared this death rate unfavorably with the death rate from an unpopular war - Vietnam. If Vietnam was unpopular, then highway deaths were more unpopular, and so the speed limit was lowered. Despite his efforts, the money had to come from somewhere, and in this case, it came from deficit spending which resulted in debt. The deficit went into the economy by means of government spending. This stimulated the economy in the same way that public works projects might, but the military industrial complex that got all the contracts was not an economic think tank, and the economy did better than it arguably should have. We should not forget the fall of the Soviet Union as a triumph of capitalism, but we also should not overlook the price. In closing, the good honest horse sense with which Reagan conducted himself (the sense to look after an animal... not the sense of a horse's intellect,) is arguably corellated with the British book "PARKINSON'S LAW." I privately always suspected he had read it at some time or the other.