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Inflation - 13.5
Consumer confidence Index - 64.5
Consumer price Index - 82.4
GDP - 0.2%
GDP per capita - $12,575.6
Unemployment rates - 7.1%
Interest rates - 18%
Business Cycle - Peak
Discount Rate - 12 -
The economic program proposed by the Reagan administration at its inception in 1981 was designed to reduce government spending and taxes relative to the economy’s total output. As a first step in implementing the program, the administration proposed a phased reduction in tax rates over the three years from 1981 to 1983. This was to be accompanied by reductions in the level of spending proposed by the Carter administration for fiscal year, 1982. However the 1981-82 recession intervened.
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The American economy was suffering through a deep recession. Business bankruptcies increased to over 50 percent of the previous year. Farmers were particularly negatively impacted due to a combination of reasons, including a decline in agricultural exports, falling crop prices and rising interest rates.
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The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 slashed the highest rate from 70 to 50 percent.Then, the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
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President Jimmy Carter announces the embargo on sale of grain and high technology to the Soviet Union due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
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Ronald Reagan, the former Republican governor of California, beats President Jimmy Carter and independent candidate John B. Anderson, also a Republican, in a landslide victory, ousting the incumbent from office. The victory in the Electoral College, 489 to 49, as well as an 8 million vote margin in the popular vote over Carter, ensured a mandate for the new president.
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Inflation - 10.3
Consumer Confidence Index - 70
Consumer Price Index - 90.9
GDP - 2.6%
GDP per capita - 13,965.8
Unemployment Rates - 7.6%
Interest rates - 12%
Business Cycle - Expansion
Discount Rate - 13 -
The inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States occurs in Washington, D.C. It was followed by the release of the fifty-two Americans still held hostage in Tehran. The Iranian hostage crisis, which lasted four hundred and forty-four days, was negotiated for the return of $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
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Inflation - 6.1
Consumer confidence index - 68
Consumer price index - 96.5
GDP - 1.9%
GDP per capita - 14,410.2
Unemployment rates - 9.7
interest Rates - 8.5
Business Cycle - Trough
Discount Rate - 10 -
The highest unemployment rate since 1940 was recorded at 10.4%. By the end of November, over eleven million people would be unemployed.
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Inflation - 3.2
Consumer confidence index - 87.5
Consumer price index - 99.6
GDP - 4.6
GDP per capita - 15,531.2
Unemployment rates - 9.6
interest Rates - 9.25
Business Cycle - Reagan spent on defense
Discount Rate - 8.5 -
By 1983 the economy rebounded. The American economy enjoyed a sustained period of economic growth as the annual inflation rate stayed below 5 percent for the remainder of the 1980s and part of the 1990s.
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Inflation - 4.3
Consumer confidence index - 97.5
Consumer price index - 103.9
GDP - 7.3%
GDP per capita - 17,099.3
Unemployment rates - 7.5%
interest Rates - 8.25
Business Cycle - Expansion
Discount Rate - 8.5 -
The opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games is held. The games run by Peter Ueberroth, prove a financial and U.S. success, despite a retaliatory boycott by most allies of the Soviet Union due to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow games.
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Inflation - 3.5
Consumer confidence index - 93.2
Consumer price index - 107.6
GDP - 4.2%
GDP per capita - 18,231.8
Unemployment rates - 7.2%
interest Rates - 7.75%
Business Cycle - Expansion
Discount Rate - 7.5 -
Inflation - 1.9
Consumer confidence index - 94.8
Consumer price index - 109.6
GDP - 3.5%
GDP per capita - $19,087.4
Unemployment rates - 7%
interest Rates - 6%
Business Cycle - Reagan cuts taxes
Discount Rate - 6.25 -
Still, serious problems remained. Farmers' problems continued, and their suffering was compounded by serious droughts in 1986. There was also the fluctuations of the federal budget, that made many worry about the stability of the economy.
