Was 'Big Government' reduced?

Was 'big government' reduction clearly beneficial?

• New federalism - less federal interference in state and local affairs, business, finance and all aspect of people's lives
• Sounded positive to a nation suspicious of government intervention
• Meant less funding for state and local government projects and less regulation of business expanionism
• Less control over foreign imports 
• Less social welfare for most needy

How was 'big government'reduced in short term?

• removed 23,000 pages from Federal register - cut federal regulations almost in half
• brought down cost of petrol and heating fuel through deregulation
• created federal strike force to combat government fraud and waste - saved $2billion in 6 months
• replaced federal agencies with private sector ones and federal employees with volunteers

Rising deficit - failed to control overall rising debt

Problems of removing controls

• Big companies bought smaller…