Everything is Reagan's Fault

Julia and Eliza finally confront the question: is Ronald Reagan responsible for all the world's evils? To investigate, the girlies delve into Reaganomics, the groundbreaking idea to give rich people more money, and trace how its legacy has trickled down into the capitalist swamp we all wade through today. The girlies also examine Reagan's abysmal impact on human life including his murderously indifferent AIDS response, his systematic defunding of welfare, his IDGAF environmental policies, and many other evils. Digressions include Eliza's upcoming consultation with a pet psychic, Australians getting mad at vowels, and a callback to Nancy the throat goat. To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today. This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.  ADDITIONAL READINGS Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion How a Historian Uncovered Ronald Reagan's Racist Remarks to Richard Nixon Killing Asylum: How Decades of U.S. Policy Ravaged Central America Ronald Reagan Made Central America a Killing Field The Cold War 's Last Battlefield: Reagan, the Soviets and Central America THE IRAN-CONTRA REPORT: Chronology; After 13 Years of Hide-and-Seek, a Bitter Chapter of U.S. History Ends The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander The war on drugs, explained When Oliver North avoided prison time for his role in the Iran-contra scandal You're Wrong About Podcast: Iran-Contra SOURCES A Timeline of HIV and AIDS A troublesome legacy: The Reagan Administration's conservation and renewable energy policy  A Snapshot of Federal Student Loan Debt  Actor's Illness Helped Reagan To Grasp AIDS, Doctor Says  Aid To Dependent Children: The Legal History Conservative Transition in American Social Policy  Decades of Distortion: The Right's 30-year Assault on Welfare  FAIRNESS OF REAGAN'S CUTOFFS OF DISABILITY AID QUESTIONED  How Ronald Reagan's Time at General Electric Pushed Him to Conservatism How Ronald Reagan Tried to Shrink Government Spending Looking Back On When President Reagan Fired The Air Traffic Controllers Presidential Approval Ratings — Gallup Historical Statistics and Trends  Proposed cuts to public housing threaten a repeat of the 1980s' housing crisis Reaganomics and the Welfare State Reagan Administration's Chilling Response to the AIDS Crisis  Ronald Reagan and the Commitment of the Mentally Ill REAGAN DEFENDS FINANCING FOR AIDS Reagan, Deregulation and America's Exceptional  Rise in Health Care Costs Reagan Order Defines Drug Trade as Security Threat, Widens Military Role Reagan Was a Disaster for the Labor Movement. A Second Trump Term Could Be Worse.  Republicans view Reagan, Trump as best recent presidents Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Declining Union Organization Ronald Reagan From the People's Perspective: A Gallup Poll Review  Ronald Reagan Has Shaped U.S. Labor Law for Decades  Ronald Reagan's Legacy: The Rise of Student Loan Debt in America Ronald Reagan: Life Before the Presidency Ronald Reagan on economics and political parties, 1962  Ronald Reagan's shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness  The ideas in Project 2025? Reagan tried them, and the nation suffered The Origin of Student Debt: Reagan Adviser Warned Free College Would Create a Dangerous "Educated Proletariat"  The Reagan Administration's Budget Cuts: Their Impact on the Poor  'The Reagans': TV Review.  The Shadow of Ronald Reagan Is Costing Us Dearly The Welfare Queen Who Is Receiving Social Safety Net Benefits? Will History Repeat Itself? Like Reagan's Repeal of Carter's Achievements in Advancing Solar Energy, Will Trump Kill Biden's?.  Why Are Workers Struggling? Because Labor Law Is Broken