Reagan's Economic Program

President Reagan acted quickly to limit the size of the federal governemnt. His first act as President was to place a freeze on the hiring of federal employees. At the same time, he began to ease government controls on many business activites. He set up a task force headed by Vice President George Bush to review federal regulations. As President, Reagan moved to fulfill his campaign promise to get the economy going again. In February 1981, he told Americans

"Since 1960 our government has spent$5.1 trillion. Our debt has grown to 648 billion. Prices have exploded by 178 percent....[We]know we must act and act now. We must not be timid"

To take care of the problem, Reagan proposed a new exonomic program, which came to be called "Reaganomics"