In the spring of 1981 a former actor stood at the podium of American power and presented a cure for a nation in economic disarray.

Ronald Reagan, all jowls and buoyancy and beaming confidence, offered a theory that felt so simple, so deceptively simple it curved around to magic: cut taxes, cut government and the economy will heal itself.

It was a gamble, cloaked in optimism, grounded in ideology. And somehow, for a time, it seemed to work. But that's the thing about gambles. They come with risks.

And Reaganomics-Reagan's economic policy stitched together by belief in free markets, supply-side theory, and the enduring promise of American exceptionalism-was nothing short of audacious.