Reagan Waging ‘Phony’ War Against Spending: Stockman

WASHINGTON — Former budget director David A. Stockman, accusing President Reagan of continuing to wage a “phony war against spending,” claims Reagan will have left a $1.5-trillion legacy of red ink by the end of his second term.

“The next President will inherit a publicly held federal debt nearly triple that accumulated by all of Ronald Reagan’s 39 predecessors,” Stockman contends in a new chapter he wrote for the paperback edition of his book, “The Triumph of Politics.”

The paperback, scheduled for release Jan. 1, four days before Reagan submits his $1-trillion fiscal 1988 budget to Congress, is a broad and blunt indictment of “Reaganomics” from one of its early architects.

In it, Stockman claims that Reagan is not serious about budget-cutting--and never has been.

“The White House has no semblance of a program or political will to spend any less,” he wrote. “Ronald Reagan cannot possibly be considered an anti-spender.”