Who Did it Better? Wilson Vs. Reagan

No matter where you stand politically, this year has been the year that we have seen the rise in political education. Whether it’s researching past presidents, history of economic policies, researching historical autographs for sale, or researching historical documents, people are taking the time to understand the current political situation and how we got here.

Economic policies are on the tip of just about everyone’s tongue. It’s an important platform to pay attention when someone is running for presidential office. So, let’s compare Democrat Woodrow Wilson and Republican Ronald Reagan and see for ourselves, who did it better?

Wilson Looks Out for The People

Woodrow Wilson was our 28th President from 1913 to 1921. He was considered a Progressive that set about to change the face of our government. Prior to his presidency, our economic policies were considered Laissez-Faire. What that means is there was no government involvement in American businesses and how they functioned. We lived with a truly free market. But with that came a price. Long factory hours, poor and often dangerous working conditions and child labor were running rampant and Woodrow Wilson sought to change it. In 1916, Wilson signed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act. This act banned the sale of items from any factory, cannery, or shop that employed children younger than 14 and any mine that employed children younger than 16. It used the government’s ability to control interstate commerce but was unfortunately found unconstitutional in 1918. This led to the Revenue Act of 1919 that could levy heavier taxes on businesses that employed children. However, in 1922 it was also found unconstitutional as it overstepped the States’ rights to regulate trade.

Both Acts would have had a profound impact on the economic climate of the time. Many businesses argued that, at the time, it would’ve forced rising costs to running their business. In hindsight, we know that they would’ve saved a ton of money in damages and loss of labor due to unnecessary accidents and illnesses. Promoting a healthier relationship between business owner and employee has a history of being far better economically.

Considering the “guns and butter” principle, there is a clear indication that had the Acts stayed in place we would’ve seen a very positive economic growth that could’ve have lessened the impact of the Great Depression that would happen after his Presidency.

Reagan Made It Trickle

Ronald Reagan was our 40th President from 1981 to 1989. At one time, he was a liberal but his views on Communism in the entertainment industry quickly led him to a conservative mindset. On the day of his inauguration, he said something many of us agree with. “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

Reagan employed trickle-down economics in his platform and it initially appeared to work. Trickle-down economics is the theory that benefits for the wealthy will trickle down to everyone else, creating a bit of a hierarchy to each of us based on our earnings. The benefits for those at the top include tax breaks for businesses, high-income earners, capital gains, and dividends. During Reagans administration, those same tax cuts did stop the recession of 1980. However, the downside was that we experienced what is called stagflation. Stagflation is when unemployment and inflation rose to the double digits. It wasn’t until Clinton coming into office in the early 90’s that we began to see a vast improvement on our economic situation.

With “guns and butter” principle, Reagan was successful on the national level. But the state levels were suffering the high unemployment and high cost of living.

Did either do it better? Probably not. Both were successful in some manner and both failed in some way, even if it was just the legality of an Act or the oversight of high costs to lower income earners. Both have certainly played their part and had a lasting effect. Hopefully, you have learned more about how these policies affect us and use that the next time you are in the voting booth.