I know that I have been a bit mean to the leading GOP candidate, Newt Gingrich,  in the past and I am not proud of it but I wish I could say something kind on his behalf but alas….I CANNOT!

Personally, I think he is an arrogant and demented little toad…..his most recent delusion was that he helped defeat communism…..his exact quote was…..

“I helped Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp develop supply side economics. I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress.”

I believe that in his own mind he believes exactly what was said….but the facts do not quite confirm his assertion….

One indicator that has been tabulated, if not quantified, to everyone’s satisfaction is that of the Soviet economy. It is know, for example, that in the 60s and 70s Soviet productivity in steel and coal caught up with and even surpassed that of the United States. But declines already had commenced in labor productivity and the quality of machine tools, while advances in science and technology increasingly proved illusory.

Nevertheless, economic reports drawn by Western experts basically found that the Soviet situation, while somewhat gloomy, was still redeemable. These half-way optimistic measurements were even seized upon by the Soviet leadership to buttress their own traditionally overly optimistic assessment. Consumer goods, meanwhile, increased in number during these years but the distribution system was so broken down that milk rarely got delivered before souring and, though Soviets produced more shoes than anyone else in the world, customers were forced to stand in line time and again to buy several pairs because the sizes were so askew that it was necessary to acquire many pairs to make a fit. Housing meanwhile was atrocious with couples required to wait years before qualifying for a small apartment; the wait for cars also dragged on interminable, and after one finally arrived, it was not unusual for it almost immediately to experience mechanical problems.

Defense costs, furthermore, were eating up an inordinate portion of Soviet expenditures. Because of the difficulty in measuring the Soviet GNP it was not always clear what percentage was being spent to this end. Experts now claim the West routinely underestimated the numbers. It is now believed that in years just prior to 1991 as much as 30 percent of the economy went toward the defense sector putting an enormous burden on the average citizen in terms of delayed consumer satisfaction. Then there were the costs incurred by shoring up overseas adventures such as those in Africa, not to mention the drain of the war in Afghanistan and the expense involved in maintaining Castro’s lifeline.  (Thanx to Tom Lovell for the facts mentioned)

In other words the USSR killed itself….but I guess if you point to the expenditures in the arms race as a major contributor then it is possible to make the connection that Gingrich assisted because all spending bills originate in the House and he was a member to that part of the government…but to say that he helped defeat communism is just as ludicrous as me saying my writings 40 years ago gave birth of the OWS  (although I would like to believe that…I know it is not necessarily true)….

So, with all that said….I still stand by my assertion that Gingrich is an arrogant demented toad….

Coming soon to a blog near you……”The Man Who Invented Supply Side Economics”…….