Editing 78-12-B4 (section)

= Government Cost =

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=== Transcript ===
Is it possible a tax revolt was already on the way and that
California's Proposition 13 just set the date for its happening? What
city in America has the highest level of per-capita earning? What city
has the highest percentage of household income over $25,000, the highest
average household income, the highest percentage of white collar 
employment, the most banks and Mercedes-Benz automobiles per capita? Well,
one city is first in all of these things -- Washington, D.C.


Of course Washington was smart enough, as some one once pointed
out, to latch onto the fastest growing industry -- government.
Washington has the highest average income and the majority of its earners
work for government or in related fields. Maybe it's only coincidence
but Sacramento, capitol of the most populous state -- California, is
among the top five cities in those same categories.

I remember about 15 or 16 years ago reading an item about a young
man, age 19, in Arkansas who was charged by the government with 
overplanting his five acre cotton allotment by a fraction of one acre. In
those days the government would survey land to make sure farmers hadn't
exceeded their acreage allotments. The government sued the young man
to collect penalties of $52.38. They spent $61.10 on travel expenses
for deputies to serve the papers. In the meantime, bad weather and boll
weevils had ruined the crop. No cotton was picked and the young man
had joined the navy. I thought at the time it was quite a comedy of
errors and much ado about nothing. I certainly didn't realize then it
was just standard operating procedure. Today it's "ho-hum", when you
discover that CETA (the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) is
putting up $31,000 to build a 30 foot high concrete monolith in Salem,
Oregon. It's for rock and mountain climbers to practice on.

In Fall River, Massachusetts, the State Department of Public Welfare
spent $450 a day on room and board for a 15-year-old-boy. No, the
young man hadn't been charged with any crime. He was classified as
a child needing services. So while officialdom was trying to decide
what to do with him, he was put up in a motel with two $8.00-an-hour
guards. For more than a week he swam in the motel pool, fished in a
nearby cove and lived high on the hog. At one breakfast he put away
a dozen pancakes and half a dozen eggs.

Then there is the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system
known as BART. So far it has cost double the planned amount, $1.6
billion. It has only attracted half the passengers it expected and
serves only 2% of the trips in the district. It was supposed to reduce
auto traffic but less than one-third of its riders came from automobiles.
About half switched over from buses. Now the BART ride costs twice as
much as the bus and half again as much as the private car. The transit
system could buy a fleet of new buses capable of handling all of BART's
passengers until 1980 for less than half of what BART is losing each
year.

I know you can match me with hundreds of equally silly examples
and that's why there is a tax revolt. 

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>08/07/[[Radio1978|1978]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[Radio_Commentary_Books#Reagan.27s_Path_to_Victory|RPtV-356]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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