Sigh....

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-economy-fix-americans-pick-reagan-over-roosevelt-164905667.html

So, a poll of typical historically illiterate Americans shows that they narrowly would prefer Reagan to FDR if they could choose any president to come and save them from the Hard Times.

Two things.

First, I assume that they are thinking, "Well, Reagan handled that '82 recession well."  (If they are thinking at all.)  The '82 recession was created by the Federal Reserve to kill inflation, and was easily ended by simply lowering interest rates.  Interest rates topped out over 20% during that crisis.  This is categorically different.

Second, maybe they are assuming... Ah, hell, I give up.  Many have noted that Reagan the president is too liberal for today's GOP.  That Reagan - the moderate who sat down with Tip O'Neill and saved Social Security - is just who we need today.

Horse poop.

Reagan was a comparative moderate because he had a Democratic House and Senate.  Reagan was a comparative moderate because the country had not lurched so far to the Right yet.  Reagan was as conservative as the times and circumstances allowed.

Put Reanimated Reagan in the White House with a GOP House and a near GOP Senate and watch the "austerity" fly.  Watch Social Security and Medicare get gutted.  Watch more and more tax cuts for "job creators".

This mess we are in, this mess of wealth inequality and high deficits and deregulated financial markets destroying the world economy?

That is pretty much the Reagan legacy.