When Ronald Reagan was elected on a platform of “government is evil, taxes too high, and regulations too strict,” it was hailed as the beginning of the “Republican Revolution”. Economic damage started almost immediately. Reagan instructed the FSL I C to ease up on the inspection and grading of assets of the S&L industry, and guess what? The bank examiners did just that: they backed off on examinations, and when it became known that “anything goes” in the home loan biz, the crooks took over and literally wiped out the savings and loan industry, costing taxpayers $250 billion or so. Similarly, the law that kept commercial banking honest was soon repealed, paving the way for the housing bubble and resulting in the great recession we are still suffering. Every day, the Reagan/ Bush tax cuts take their toll on America: school closings, municipal bankruptcies, funds slashed for social programs in education and anti-poverty. And all the while, the cream of American productivity continues to be skimmed off by the wealthiest few, and middle-class income actually declines. Republicans seem perfectly happy with this situation, after all, it is Democratic voters (mostly minorities and the poor) that are getting skewered by conservative austerity. Until we restore a progressive tax system, there is no way we can go back to an America like we had in the 1970s.Those were the good old days.