Yeah, that&#x27;d definitely be the Reagan administration you&#x27;re thinking of. The UK was doing something similar at roughly the same time under Thatcher, or so I&#x27;ve heard.<p>That era was famous for its very-indebted Yuppies (and the origin of the idea of &quot;Yuppies&quot; as we think of them.)<p>Some of this can&#x27;t be blamed on the politicians. Easy credit and the rise of credit cards generally did a lot for this. But politicians <i>did</i> get to decide how credit regulations worked. It took awhile to outlaw live (not pre-approved -- you could pick them up and just use them!) credit cards arriving at people&#x27;s houses, for instance. You could literally steal one out of somebody&#x27;s mailbox and go rack up money in their name.<p>Not any more, obviously. But they lasted longer than you&#x27;d think. Credit was pushed <i>very</i> hard at consumers, and politicians <i>do</i> control the extent to which that&#x27;s legal, even if they&#x27;re not really to blame for it being possible.