We have seen (and solved) Bidenomics before

Reckless government spending. Incessant money printing. Historically high interest rates. The worst inflation in 40 years.

Despite the Biden administration’s best efforts to deceive them, the American people know that Bidenomics isn’t working.

Lucky for the next Republican president, this means that he or she already has a roadmap offering a way out: the policies of President Ronald Reagan, famously known as the four pillars of economic growth.

By prioritizing tax cuts, deregulation, reducing domestic social spending, and combating inflation, President Reagan was able to restore prosperity for American working families in the 1980’s after the similarly catastrophic Jimmy Carter administration. In its new white paper, “Reaganomics for the 21st Century,” the Club for Growth Foundation describes how America currently faces remarkably similar challenges to those Reagan faced as a new president. The next president should apply lessons from his leadership to restore confidence that our best days are ahead of us.

When Reagan took office in 1980, the tax rates were even more punitive than they are now, with an exorbitant top personal income rate of 70 percent and a stifling federal corporate tax rate of 46 percent. Through two terms, Reagan was able to lower tax rates for all taxpayers. He dropped the top marginal rate down to 28 percent and the corporate tax rate down to 34 percent. In doing so, between 1980 and 1988, he actually increased the amount of revenue that the government received from earners making over $200,000 per year.

More importantly, the Reagan tax cuts helped trigger an economic boom. The U.S. experienced a record economic expansion, with millions of jobs created and family incomes rising to record levels after the malaise and stagnation of the Carter years. Households earned more money, and they got to keep a greater share of their earnings. Net worth also increased substantially, putting America’s middle class in a very strong position.

Unfortunately, tax rates have crept upwards since Reagan left office. According to a report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, America’s top marginal tax rate is now equal to 46 percent when factoring in payroll tax rates and marginal income tax rates at the state level. The obvious solution is to reduce those tax rates and end what is known as “double taxation.”

As with the Biden administration, inflation also plagued the Jimmy Carter administration in the 1970s. As a result of its fiscally irresponsible policies, prices climbed by nearly 50 percent in just four years under Carter. In response, Reagan provided the political protection that the Federal Reserve needed to bring inflation under control through restrictive policy, even though it was unpopular. As a result of his bravery (which cost him dearly in the 1982 midterm), annual inflation fell from 12 percent when Reagan took office in 1980 to 4 percent in 1988 when he left.

To stop today’s skyrocketing prices — which resulted from the needless, unbridled spending that Biden extended well beyond the end of the pandemic — lawmakers should assist our next president by implementing legislation that limits how fast the Federal Reserve can expand the money supply. The bottom line is that politicians and central bankers have too much discretionary power. To protect consumers from inflation and monetary instability, the Federal Reserve needs to stop intervening in the real economy and focus on its mission of maintaining a sound dollar.

Additionally, the next president needs to untangle the regulatory labyrinth of red tape. Reagan and Carter deregulated airlines and trucking, which allowed the economy to flourish. But regulations ballooned under both Bush and Obama. President Trump was only able to begin to undo that burden. The next president should set a goal of actually eliminating 50 to 75 percent of the regulations that are unnecessary to protect the health and safety of Americans.

Perhaps most importantly, the federal government just needs to stop spending so much. Both our bloated federal government bureaucracy and its entitlement programs have become unsustainable. For all the widely trumpeted concerns that our democracy is supposedly eroded, very little has been said about how our economic freedom is at stake.

As Judy Shelton, a former economic advisor to President Trump, wisely noted in a recent op-ed, “It’s clear where this is going. When government is unconstrained by budgetary discipline and monetary-policy makers punish the private sector with high interest rates to rectify the errors of fiscal policy, democratic capitalism can’t last long.”

This is why our organization exists — to fight to save not only our economic system, but also our political system that depends on it.

David McIntosh is president of the Club for Growth.