This post--stolen from Amos on another thread--describes exactly why Reagan must be listed as the worst of modern presidents:


Paul Krugman, Nobel prize winning writer for the NYTimes, writes:

"..."This bill (the Garn-St. Germain bill) which was the beachead in de-regulating financial organizations, is the most important legislation for financial institutions in the last 50 years. It provides a long-term solution for troubled thrift institutions. ... "All in all, I think we hit the jackpot." So declared Ronald Reagan in 1982, as he signed the...

He was, as it happened, wrong about solving the problems of the thrifts. On the contrary, the bill turned the modest-sized troubles of savings-and-loan institutions into an utter catastrophe. But he was right about the legislation's significance. And as for that jackpot — well, it finally came more than 25 years later, in the form of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression