A man to whom the world owed so much

In the February 7 2011 article, 'Ronald Reagan: A centenary to celebrate', The Daily Telegraph eulogised Reagan thus:

"A man to whom the world owed so much."

Don't know about the world. The richest two perecent of America, perhaps.

Thing is Reaganomics and Thatcherism loosened things up considerably for the fattest of the fat cat trough-gobblers and this led inexorably to the world-wide recession our grandchildren will still be dealing with fifty years hence. Not much of an 'owe-so-much' legacy if you ask me.

The Telegraph article suggested that Reagan's 'courage... helped liberate millions of people from Communism.' Well, let's not be churlish. It may have helped. A bit. But Gorbachev, a very different kind of Soviet ruler, was the key, the catalyst that saw the brute rule of the Bolsheviks dismantled. The Ronnie Reagans, who funded and encouraged both sides in the slaughterous Iran-Iraq war and created a nasty, unnecessary civil war in Nicaragua in the process (whilst lying through his teeth about it to Congress) was not.

By the way, George Bush's infamous Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was a product of the Reagan era. Check out one of his profitable, little sidelines here: Aspartame: Donald's Very Own WMD