Ronald Reagan is a hero for conservatives and reactionaries. Over time the policies he enacted have shown great success. Let us start with social programs. Reagan hated social programs including social security, Medicare, and Medicaid. While credited with saving social security, realit is considerably different. The reality is that social security was a pay as you go system before Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan changed that to a pay as you go and pay before you go. Today the trust fund for social security holds over 2.6 trillion dollars in treasury bonds, the safest investment in the world. There is minor problem, though. The money invested by social security is not counted as a part of the national debt. The money collected by social security counted as an offset to the deficit that the Reagan increases in defense spending and tax cuts for the rich caused. So the money was spent and there is no trust fund for social security. The social security debt of 2.6 trillion dollars does not exist and should not be paid. Hardly anyone in the main stream media talk about the money in the social security trust fund and democrats hardly ever discuss the trust fund. Except for a small discussion about a "lock box" in 2000 for social security we know today there never was a lock and there certainly was never a box. The discussion is all about how to destroy social security. Reagan succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Even President Obama is willing to discuss cutting, though not slashing, social security benefits because we all must sacrifice.
Reagan is also credited with ending communism in the Soviet Union. The myth goes that by increasing defense spending in the US the Soviet Union was forced to increase defense spending which caused the difference between the standard of living in the Soviet Union and the West to grow. People revolted because of this difference. The truth is that the difference in the standard of living would have grown much more rapidly but for the massive spending on defense. If that spending had gone towards education, infrastructure, medical needs, housing, research, development, inexpensive energy, etc. then the difference in the standard of living would have grown dramatically. The failure of the Soviet Union came from central control of productivity that rewarded those at the top and discouraged those beneath them. The same problem the US is having today, to much control by a few companies that rewards those at the top and discourages those at the bottom.
Now to turn to economics. Reagan ran on the premise that tax cuts for the rich would solve all the budget problems of the economy and save the US from economic ruin. George H. W. Bush (otherwise known as Bush Sr.) called this VooDoo economics. It was. But the ultimate tragedy was the "Laffer Curve" named for Reagan's economist. The curve showed how everything would improve if only we cut taxes. Some may say the Laffer Curve was aptly named; I say it was not. The curve was no laughing matter, the policies implemented were not corrected until Bill Clinton and then only at the margins. Today while not calling it the Laffer Curve, the republicans are calling for tax cuts as the bromide for what ails us. Such policies, like bromide, are toxic to our health. Reagan succeeded again.
Jimmy Carter was the first deregulation president. Reagan raised deregulation as a major issue and coupled deregulation to his anti-union policies. Remember the FAA controlers strike? Reagan destroyed the union. Today there are fewer unions and far fewer union workers. The battle cry is destroy the unions the unions that are left. Deregulation brought the hub and spoke system to airlines - poorer service with more incremental charges. But deregulation of the financial industry led to disaster. No one was watching as the industry took huge profits from stupid investments. Reagan succeeded again, and in the process brought the world economy to its knees.
The Reagan policies are not heroic, they are demonic. Over the short and moderate term they will cause great suffering by all but a few. Over the long term they will result in the end of capitalism.