The Period between 1980 and 1990 in the US

The period between 1980 and 1990 was important to the history of the US. Politically, it was the period when the US people had the opportunity to see three sitting presidents, which is a rare case in its history. It was the period when Jimmy Carter handed the presidency to Ronald Reagan who was also succeeded by George Bush. The country also faced a number of economic and social challenges during the period due to the poor management of the economy by Carter’s administration. For instance, there was an acute shortage of oil while at the same time the country experienced the Iran-contra affair, which was the most prominent scandal during Reagan rein (Mitchell, 2001). In addition, the US faced some economic difficulties such as high rates of unemployment during the period that almost led to the collapse of the economy. Therefore, numerous socio-political and economic issues that took place during the period attracted my interest.

The 1981-1982 recession was the major economic event that took place during the period. Reagan inherited the economic recession that began in 1979 and he took some drastic measure that led to further recession in 1981 (Mitchell, 2001). For instance, in order to finance the huge budget deficit, the government borrowed heavily from the domestic market, which led to the high-interest rate in the country. Another economic event was the expansion policy that was initiated by the Reagan administration to stimulate the economy and to solve the problem of recession. In addition, there was high unemployment rate in the country that rose above 10%, as many workers were laid off due to the recession (Deming, 1996). As a result, there were a lot of economic events that took place between 1980 and 1990.

References

Deming, W. G. (1996). A decade of economic change and population shifts in US regions. Monthly Lab. Rev. , 119 (11), 3-14.

Mitchell, D. J. (2001). The Real Reagan Economic Record: Responsible and Successful Fiscal Policy. The Heritage Foundation.