Underground Informer
Volume 5 Issue 18
November 5, 1994
Page 7


Rush Limbaugh the Anti-Christ? Part 2 (continued from previous page)
                                                                     By Pip...

Pip leaping in again:

     Again this sounds great, but the fact is it's not what Reagan did.  We 
didn't open new markets to our goods, and if re-awakening this industrial 
giant means closing out the steel industry and selling off the remains, then 
I'm missing how this novel theory was intended to work.  The short-term 
recovery sponsored by Reagan was done through a defense buildup. One has to 
ask, given the failure rate of the steel mills, who we bought the steel used 
in American weapons from.  Could it be Japan?

     A lovely speech indeed, or should I say a lovely series of highlights of 
a speech edited to prove a point?  As a speech, it's a very nice bit of flag-
waving.  To be sure, it's a credit to the speech writer's skill and the 
actor's ability who delivered it.  As to its being proof that these promises 
were fulfilled, well, that's like saying the movie "The Green Berets" proves 
that we won in Viet Nam. 

Rush picking up from the end of the Reagan speech:

      "And there wasn't [compromise], folks.  We had a massive, 25 percent 
across-the-board tax rate reduction.  It took three years to implement it, and 
it led to an unbridled period of growth that has been the single strongest and 
most prolonged recovery coming out of a recession since World War II.  I have 
a little paragraph I want you to read along with me.  It's from the Heritage 
Foundation's 'Issues '94' booklet, and it's a synopsis of the accomplishments 
of the Reagan  administration.  'Reagan implemented deep, across-the-board tax 
cuts, across-the-board domestic spending cuts, de-regulation, and sound 
monetary policies to restrain inflation.  Reagan implemented these policies 
quickly, and the economic boom that resulted created more than 21 million new 
jobs.'

     "Remember what you heard president Clinton say.  Let's look at some 
numbers; let's take a look at how these jobs break down.  If I can see the 
first chart:  job creation by administration and income level.  This will 
compare Carter and the first term of Reagan.  The categories are under $7,000 
a year, between $7,000 and $28,000 a year and over $28,000 a year." 

This is the chart hes talking about: 

                        Job Creation by Administration
                               and Income Level
                                (1984 Dollars)

Percentage of jobs created paying: 

                   Under             $7,012-        Over
                   $7,012            $28,048        $28,048  

Carter
1977-80            41.77%             68.2%          -9.9%

Reagan
1980-84             6.0%              46.2%          46.1%

Source:  Joint Economic Committee based on data from Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

OK, now back to Rush:

     "Look at the Carter line.  In his term he created 41 percent of the jobs 
under $7,000 a year; he created 68 percent of the jobs between 7 and 28.  Look 
what happened after 28:  we lost 10 percent of those jobs.  Now look at 
Reagan's numbers.  Follow the line here; 1980 to '84 first term is what we'll 
look at.  All those jobs under $7,000--only 6 percent of the jobs Reagan 
created fall into that category, and yet everybody says Reagan created only 
cheap little hamburger-flipper jobs.  Now follow me on down:  middle class 
income $7,000 to $28,000 a year, 46 percent of the jobs.  And look at over 
$28,000 a year; 46 percent of the jobs Reagan created fall into that category.  
When you hear that all Reagan did was create a bunch of cheap little flipper 
jobs, it isn't true.  Compared to Carter, the United States was much better 
off under Reagan.

Pip again:

     OK something isn't right here, lets look at the chart again now that you 
have had a chance to hear how Rush used it. I think I'll make a few notes.

                        Job Creation by Administration
                               and Income Level
                                (1984 Dollars) [Could this affect the totals?]

Percentage of jobs created paying: 

                   Under             $7,012-        Over
                   $7,012            $28,048        $28,048  

Carter
1977-80            41.77%             68.2%          -9.9%

     How interesting.  You add 41.77 and 68.2 and you get 109.97 percent.  
Isn't 100 percent the standard?  Let's see now, 109.97 minus 9.9 gives 
us...why, its 100.07 percent, just 0.7 percent over 100 percent of all the 
jobs created.  How very odd.  Perhaps that's where the 1984 dollars come in.  
I wonder how this chart changes when one uses the 1980 dollar as the standard?

Reagan
1980-84             6.0%              46.2%          46.1%

     Stranger still, the Reagan line adds up to 98.3 percent, so 1.7 percent 
is missing.

(Continued on next page)

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