This page was last updated on August 29, 2012.
Greatness of Reagan a fallacy; Thomas M. Finch; Beaver County Times; August 29, 2012. Along with others, this letter appeared on the BCT website on August 29, 2012, but did not appear in the print edition until May 30, 2012.
The BCT has published at least 37 letters from Mr. Finch since December 2004. At least 29 of these letters were anti-Bush and/or anti-Republican and they never disappoint. Here is one example. You can find the remaining Finch letters I critiqued in the critique archives. As usual, this letter is little more than a string of leftist talking points. I wish he could get a regular column in the BCT. I also wish he could get at least five minutes per day on a local radio and/or TV station.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Paul Dici’s ramblings about the presidential greatness of Ronald Reagan, and casting Democrats and labor unions as economic villains — both historically and today — is a fallacy. If we examine the facts, instead of just accepting his ‘Tea-publican’ hero-worship fairy tales at face value, the picture changes.”
[RWC] When Mr. Finch writes “if we examine the facts,” you can be assured of entertainment.
“It irks me to see the myth perpetuated that Reagan single-handedly ‘won the cold war’ and ‘tore down the Iron Curtain,’ like he was some swashbuckling, two-gunned hero, just like an episode of ‘Death Valley Days.’”
[RWC] Heck, I thought everyone knew former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev engineered the USSR collapse. <g>
“The collapse of Communism occurred for lots of reasons; mainly from the weight of its own ineptitude, but Reagan claimed all the credit. Ronnie’s greatest legacy to the Republican party of today is that he proved if you have the financial backing to spread enough lies, it makes the truth irrelevant. Just tell people what they want to hear — like Romney’s doing now.”
[RWC] The comment “The collapse of Communism occurred … mainly from the weight of its own ineptitude” is interesting. When lefties called for appeasement in the 1980s, they touted the economic and military strength of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union collapsed, lefties changed their story and claimed the USSR was in its death throes and Mr. Reagan had nothing to do with its collapse. The fall of the USSR was the work of many people over a long period of time, but to claim President Reagan did not make a major contribution is to lie or speak out of ignorance.
When did Mr. Reagan claim any personal credit for the fall of the USSR and the Iron-Curtain countries? What lies did Mr. Reagan tell and what lies is Mr. Romney telling?
“Blaming unions and cheap foreign steel for the decline in American manufacturing is an insulting half-truth — at best. Greedy manufacturers using cheap labor abroad, and pocketing the profits instead of upgrading their plants is where the blame should go. Walmart has sunk many small U.S. factories, then donates millions to elect more Republicans -- that is Reagan’s actual anti-middle-class legacy.”
[RWC] Company management, labor union management, government, and the employees themselves were to blame. Consider the following points.
· Everyone knew the high steel demand/low supply bubble after World War II would be temporary. After all, pent-up consumer demand from the Depression and the war and the need to rebuild caused the bubble.
· European and Japanese steel mills destroyed during the war were rebuilt using the latest technology, providing cost and quality advantages compared to U.S. mills.
· Steel demand dropped in 1958, a clear sign the high demand bubble ended.
· Steel imports from Europe and Japan began in earnest during the four-month 1959 steel industry strike, a clear sign the supply shortage ended.
· Imports continued to rise even after the strike ended because consumers liked the quality and price.
· Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and southeastern Ohio steel producers were at a transportation cost disadvantage relative to producers on the Great Lakes.
· Courting both consumers and unions, lawmakers bullied companies to increase wages and benefits without increasing steel prices, squeezing mediocre profits and delaying long overdue modernization.
With so many clear signs, company management, union management, and lawmakers of the day can’t claim they didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t change course. Instead, they chose to act like the post-war period was the norm.
That said, downsizing the U.S. steel industry was inevitable even if we made all the right moves. However, heeding the signs may have allowed a planned, though still painful, evolution.
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.