Ronald Reagan

====Deregulation====
Reagan sought to loosen federal regulation of economic activities, and he appointed key officials who shared this agenda. [[William Leuchtenburg]] writes that by 1986, the Reagan administration eliminated almost half of the federal regulations that had existed in 1981.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=602–604}} The 1982 [[Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act]] deregulated [[savings and loan association]]s by letting them make a variety of loans and investments outside of real estate.{{sfn|Pemberton|1998|p=130}} After the bill's passage, savings and loans associations engaged in riskier activities, and the leaders of some institutions embezzled funds. The administration's inattentiveness toward the industry contributed to the [[savings and loan crisis]] and costly bailouts.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=175}}