79-07-A7
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Transcript[edit]Even with the world divided into two camps -- the authoritarians and the free worlders -- we find that government, any government, has certain characteristics common to all. The U.S. Commerce department claims that one American out of eight is living below the poverty line set up by our government. The percentage figure is 12.3. Professor Morton Paglia of Portland State University, writing in Policy Review, says that isn't true. What the professor really said was "this is nonsense". He sets the figures at one out of 27 or only 3.6 percent. How does he explain this? Very simple. If you count "in kind" benefits such as food stamps, medical care and public housing as income -- which it is -- you come up with the professor's figure. You'd think the Department of Commerce would be able to see that. On the other side of the world the men in the Kremlin, Amnesty International and the International Labor Organization (from which American labor withdrew because of the I.L.0. 's Communist tinge) are in a bit of a dispute. The Amnesty group charged the Soviet Union with sending organizers of free labor unions off to mental hospitals. The International Labor group ignored the charge. The Soviets argue that since the U.S.S.R. is a workers' paradise only a madman could want free unions. And the psychiatrists at the mental hospital closed the case in favor of the Kremlin by finding that Vladimir Klabanov, a union organizer suffered from "a mania for struggling for justice". Going even further around the world our newly established friendhip for the Red Chinese apparently hasn't caught on with everyone on the mainland. The greatest exodus from China since the famine of 1962 is taking place. More than 30,000 Chinese have managed to swim, or climb the fences to get into Hong Kong. Now, on around the world we go and wind up back on the shores of the Potomac. Congressman George O'Brien of Illinois says that the 1980 budget reveals that in the battle against bureaucratic gobbledygook -- gobbledygook is winning. The administration is seeking funds to help communities that are growing rapidly because of energy development projects. Now that's pretty easy to understand. But not when the budget writers translate it . Then it comes out like this -- "Inland, Energy Impact Assistance Funds for the implementation of impact mitigation strategies and for infrastructive improvements". Well, we may have to pay for that , but we sure won't know what it is. The administration also wants a CHAP, which it turns out is a "Child Health Assistance Program'". Then there is an item called OJARS -- that's the Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics. But the administration wants to get rid of something called HTGR. That's a high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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