What can we say about the example below:

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan cut taxes for American citizens in an attempt to "starve the beast" and slow down government spending. This proposal only sort of worked out. Government spending made up 22.9% of the GDP in 1981 and over an 8-year period, decreased by 0.8%. So, did government spending decrease? Yes, but not by a lot. During Reagan's 8 years as president, the economy did thrive, but I'm not certain that we can attribute that economic success to the "starve the beast" method. I do believe the "starve the beast" proposal did mildly help the economy though.