Ronald Reagan came to the presidency as a long-time critic of arms control and detente with the Soviet Union, the preeminent U.S. strategic adversary during his eight years in office. Throughout the 1970s, Reagan had argued that the United States was falling behind the Soviets in the nuclear competition and that U.S. long-range ballistic missiles were becoming increasingly vulnerable to Soviet attack. During his 1980 election campaign against President Jimmy Carter, Reagan contended that the unratified Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II (SALT II) was “fatally flawed.” As president, Reagan accelerated strategic nuclear modernization plans and launched modern efforts to build a national missile defense system through his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), raising tensions with the Soviet Union and prompting widespread public concern about the possibility of war between world’s two major nuclear superpowers.
.
***********.armscontrol.org/act/2004_07-08/Reagan

The aims of the U.S. strategic buildup were twofold: to reduce U.S. vulnerability by expanding the number and diversity of nuclear weapons and to increase Soviet vulnerability so that the United States could acquire the capability to fight and win an extended nuclear war.
------------------------------
nothing there about financially hurting the Soviet Union.

The 1986 oil price collapse benefited oil-consuming countries such as the United States, Japan, Europe, and Third World nations, but represented a serious loss in revenue for oil-producing countries in northern Europe, the Soviet Union, and OPEC.
---------------------------------------------------
Saudi Arabia tried to gain market share -theywouldn't try to help the US at the expense of their own economy

same memo, I posted earlier, from wiki:
Administration abandoned the established policy of pursuing detente withthe Soviet Union and instead instituted a massive arms buildup; it alsofomented proxy wars in areas of Soviet influence, while denying theSoviets desperately needed oil equipment and technology. !.Then, inthe mid-1980s, Washington persuaded Saudi Arabia to flood the worldmarket with cheap oil. Throughout the last decade of its existence, theUSSR pumped and sold its oil at the maximum possible rate in order toearn foreign exchange income with which to keep up in the arms raceand prosecute its war in Afghanistan.
don't agrue with me - argue with the CIA memo...:-)

Why would Saudi Arabia try to hurt their own economy, just to help the US?
.
Argue with the CIA memo or wiki?

The Saudis were the enmies of the Soviet Union, they wanted them to fail because the Soviets invaded Afganistan...

СССР развалился в первую очередь из за неэффективной, затратной экономики. Плюс наложилось несколько "денежных" факторов - к гонке вооружений добавились: война в Афгане, Чернобыльская авария, антиалкогольная компания. На это ушли колоссальные деньги. Все это произошло в 1979-1986 г.г. Вот из за этого все и рухнуло.

<FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #f0eee1">Sorry, деньги ушли на Чернобыль и Афган. Из за "борьбы с пьянством" государство не получило огромных денег.

and in the process destroy their own economy? they flooded the market to regain market share, and maybein the processshow OPEC who's boss...
"During the first half of the 1980's, Saudi Arabia disproportionately reduced its output in an attempt to achieve OPEC's price goals. Throughout that same time period other OPEC members continually cheated on their agreements. Finally in 1986 the Saudis opened the valves."
***********.wtrg.com/opec.html
.
even if what you claim is true (and I don't believe it is), it was the Carter, not the Reagan administration that initiated theUS oil policies, which according to you, led to the ultimate demise of the Soviet Empire... So kudos to the peanut farmer.

Мне кажется, всё значительно проще... Ельцину нужно было развалить СССР, чтобы Горбачёв лишился власти... Хотя предпосылки для этого создал сам Горбачёв либерализацией общества, за что ему низкий поклон!