In 1982 Ronald Reagan gave his first State of the Union (SOU) speech to the Congress. It was a good summary of the policies for a sustained economic recovery and the kind of approach that has historically worked well for the United States.
Reagan defined four key principles to guide his government:
- Control federal spending
- Cut taxes
- Reduce regulation
- Keep a strong dollar and the good credit of the United States
Point 2 and 3 have been tried by successive orthodox Republican governments, and also by the current president.
Point 1 has been neglected by both parties, paying with additional debt increased government spending in partisan priorities -social programs or defense-
Point 4 is particularly important at the present. The dollar and trust on the good faith and credit of US are key to avoid a damaging rise in the interest we pay on our debt and the ability to control inflation, and the Secretary of the Treasure has made imprudent and ill-informed comments on the benefits of a weak dollar. President Trump's own comments during his campaign dallying with defaulting US debt as a last resort have never been clearly recanted.
This SOU might be a good time to do it.
