Reagan

• Affirmative action


  Law, policies, guidelines created to end discrimination, particularly those that provide barriers to opportunity (i.e. education and employment)
• Deregulation


  Initially meant low prices, but as businesses grew, they set fixed prices so they didn't have to compete; also cut services to maximise profit (less stuff offered for same amount of money)
• Rural areas suffered most from deregulation
• Savings and Loans Collapse

  Reagan applied Carter's deregulation of banks to Savings and Loans institutions, which offered high interest rates on savings (good for savers but bad for long term loaners and struggling businesses), and had to make risky investments and lend money at very low rates but still offer high interest to savers, so many S&Ls failed
• Competitive Equality in Banking Act 1987

  1. Had to cover money lost by S&Ls, but by 1988, they lost $10 billion

  2. 1989: property market collapsed so places that lent money for property struggled

  3. Bush: signed FIRREA, bailing some organisations, closing others and setting up new federal regulators at the cost of $150 billion
• Buying power of dollar weakened

  Foreign imports were cheaper, so number of foreign goods rose, American companies losing business, US companies bought out by foreign companies
• Between 1980 to 1985, 250 textile plants forced to shut down = 300,000 jobless
• America became a borrower as opposed to banker
• Rise in foreign imports was argued to be good because of more choice, made USA attractive to trade with
• Congress agreed to deregulate oil prices but blocked plans to remove regulation on environmental issues at nuclear power stations
• Local governments didn't want to pay for projects that would have otherwise been federally funded
• Reagan didn't introduce many new regulations; only passed the Food Security Act to help falling value of farms because Congress forced him to pass it
• When Bush came into power, people were less keen on deregulation and federal withdrawal
• Cuts to welfare and funding


  Made situation of poor families worse
• OBRA


  1. Took $35 billion out of federal spending, cut spending on projects for the poorest

  2. Changed the Aid to Families with Dependent Children programme: less people eligible, capped payments
• Workfare


  Wanted to change 'welfare' to 'workfare' because dependency was undesirable, required one parent to be working before paid family benefit, much work was below minimum wage and sometimes less than benefit = more struggle, impossible to find childcare so even harder to work, OBRA allowed states to make working on state projects requirement if people wanted the welfare payments
• January 1987: 42 states running work programmes – didn't make working on the programmes a requirement to claim benefit, most required the people to be actively looking for work
• Social Housing


  1970: 2.4 million low-income homes available, 1985: 3.7 million families qualified but none available because of federal cuts on building low-income housing, 1978: $32.2 billion spent on low-income housing, 1988: $9.2 billion spent, Increased homelessness
• Homelessness


  1988: only $1.6 billion spent on homeless, 1987 McKinney Act: set up Federal Emergency Management Food and Shelter Program run by FEMA, FEMA matched state grants to homeless projects: states had to choose which project to run, fund it, then federal money was given, Also set up project for transitional housing with emphasis on elderly, disabled, veterans, Native Americans, families with children, Also gave emergency care and education for homeless, job training for homeless veterans
• 1980-1987: mortgage debt increased by 30%


  Rate of repossession quadrupled
• Removal of regulations


  Longer working hours, Leisure time decreased from 26 hours to 16 hours per week
• Hard for single working mothers who were pressured to do part-time or temp work but these people were not eligible for any benefits
• Two-tier wage structure


  Old employees kept their original wages and benefits but new workers were offered lower salaries and fewer benefits – take it or leave it situation – felt they had to take jobs because of decreased job security
• Unwilling to extend civil rights legislation, Withdrew 40% of funding for bilingual education, Stopped buses for black and Hispanic students to go various schools to promote racial segregation, Did not support Equal Rights Act and against abortion
• Many criticise Reagan for not caring about the AIDS epidemic until his friend, Rock Hudson, died of AIDS
• Many black people advanced because of 'quota' system – they ticked the boxes so many felt they were only being hired because they were black
• Rap movement emerged because black youths were rebelling against the fact the administration did little for black rights
• Big businesses profited from deregulation

  They could buy up or merge with other businesses
• Small businesses struggled


  Because of rising interest rates on long-term loans
• Farming also affected badly

  By high interest rates and non-intervention
• 1980: 17% farmers got 60% of subsidy fund
• Bad drought in 1893
• 1986: National Save the Family Farm Coalition set up
• Suicide rate quadrupled in farming industry
• Car and textile industries going downhill


  Against foreign imports
• Exports dropped


  With the change of value of dollar
• No tariffs on foreign imports
• Defence, technology and service industries (coffee shops, estate agencies) flourished
• Population shift to South and West because industries were doing well there so more jobs
• 1987: California and East coast only had 5.6% of unemployment as compared to the national rate of 7.8%, Those areas had 75% of new businesses and 60% of new jobs