Using documents 4-6, make three claims about the problems President Reagan identified as economic concerns. Support each claim with evidence from at least one document. See the example below. Document 4 The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history...Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment... Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement…. In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem… The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.…But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals. Well, this administration’s objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work....All must share in the productive work of this “new beginning,” and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. ...It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise. Document 5 …Reagan’s economic program had two major components: tax reductions and budget cuts, which took center stage, and monetary policy, which was as important but held a lower profile. Within weeks of becoming President, Reagan asked Congress to cut marginal tax rates over the next three years by 30 percent and to trim the budget for the coming year by $41 billion. He and his team confidently predicted that these actions would stimulate economic productivity.… After compromises that slightly lessened the tax cuts and restored some of the proposed budget cuts, Congress quickly passed both bills. The heart of Reagan’s economic program was now in place. He had obtained a 25 percent reduction in taxes over three years. Supposedly, Congress had also made $38 billion in budget cuts but these were more than offset by other spending increases… The federal budget still was not balanced, however, and Reagan’s advisers contemplated other measures to increase revenues. In 1984, the Treasury Department began pulling together a proposal that would lower corporate and individual tax rates but broaden the federal government’s tax base—and enlarge its revenues despite rate reductions—by closing loopholes that allowed individuals and corporations to avoid taxes and eliminating deductions that the government considered tax shelters. This plan emerged as the essence of Reagan’s tax reform proposal… Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 promising to curb the growth of government regulations, especially those that affected private industry and businesses. He believed that a web of regulation was strangling private enterprise in the United States and harming the nation’s economy.… Despite Reagan’s anti-regulatory rhetoric, the administration’s success in eliminating and simplifying regulations was mixed. His success varied from agency to agency; in some of them, Reagan appointees managed to slow the regulation...

Question

Using documents 4-6, make three claims about the problems President Reagan identified as economic concerns. Support each claim with evidence from at least one document. See the example below. Document 4 The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history...Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment... Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement…. In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem… The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.…But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals. Well, this administration’s objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work....All must share in the productive work of this “new beginning,” and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. ...It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise. Document 5 …Reagan’s economic program had two major components: tax reductions and budget cuts, which took center stage, and monetary policy, which was as important but held a lower profile. Within weeks of becoming President, Reagan asked Congress to cut marginal tax rates over the next three years by 30 percent and to trim the budget for the coming year by $41 billion. He and his team confidently predicted that these actions would stimulate economic productivity.… After compromises that slightly lessened the tax cuts and restored some of the proposed budget cuts, Congress quickly passed both bills. The heart of Reagan’s economic program was now in place. He had obtained a 25 percent reduction in taxes over three years. Supposedly, Congress had also made $38 billion in budget cuts but these were more than offset by other spending increases… The federal budget still was not balanced, however, and Reagan’s advisers contemplated other measures to increase revenues. In 1984, the Treasury Department began pulling together a proposal that would lower corporate and individual tax rates but broaden the federal government’s tax base—and enlarge its revenues despite rate reductions—by closing loopholes that allowed individuals and corporations to avoid taxes and eliminating deductions that the government considered tax shelters. This plan emerged as the essence of Reagan’s tax reform proposal… Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 promising to curb the growth of government regulations, especially those that affected private industry and businesses. He believed that a web of regulation was strangling private enterprise in the United States and harming the nation’s economy.… Despite Reagan’s anti-regulatory rhetoric, the administration’s success in eliminating and simplifying regulations was mixed. His success varied from agency to agency; in some of them, Reagan appointees managed to slow the regulation...

Answer 1

Claim 1: President Reagan identified inflation as a major economic concern during his administration.

Evidence: In Document 4, President Reagan mentioned that the United States was suffering from "the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations" in the nation's history and that this inflation was causing idle industries and unemployment.

Claim 2: President Reagan recognized the need for tax reductions and budget cuts to stimulate economic productivity.
Evidence: In Document 5, it is stated that Reagan's economic program included tax reductions and budget cuts as its major components. He asked Congress to cut marginal tax rates by 30 percent and to trim the budget by $41 billion, with the confident prediction that these actions would stimulate economic productivity.

Claim 3: President Reagan aimed to reduce government regulations to benefit private industry and businesses.
Evidence: In Document 5, it is mentioned that Reagan took office promising to curb the growth of government regulations, especially those affecting private industry. Despite mixed success in eliminating and simplifying regulations, Reagan believed that a web of regulations was harming the nation's economy and inhibiting private enterprise.