76-18-A2

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Cover Up

Transcript There seems to be a cooling of the zeal on the part of those who were once ready to cleanse government of covering things up. The fires have gone out and the cauterizing tools are covered with rust. Some time back I called attention to the 500-page report of E.R.D.A. (the Energy, Research and Development Administration) which gives nuclear breeder reactors a clean bill of health. The report had been -- forgive me -- covered up by the Administration since last February, because the Administration had decided breeder reactors were a dangerous "no-no". Then an enterprising journalist threatened to invoke the "Freedom of Information Act" and the E.R.D.A. report was made public. The bulk of the press greeted it with thunderous silence. The Administration had said the reactors were dangerous and that's the way it had to be. Now we learn E.R.D.A. has more secrets. We owe this discovery to a journalist with the Wall Street Journal. Last April the Journal did an editorial on 1001 years of natural gas. The Journal was immediately rushed by a variety of frantic officials -- public and private - - who were panicked by the thought that someone might scuttle their crisis -- energy crisis that is. The Journal was curious and curiosity paid off. It seems that way back in January about 70 E.R.D.A. people were assigned to a task force to study potential supply and demand. Their task force was called "MOPPS" for "Market Oriented Program Planning Study", and for about five days in April they had solved the energy crisis. To brief this down, MOPPS had learned that at various prices -- higher than the price fixed by government but not as high as artificial gas for example -- there would be no natural gas shortage. E.R.D.A.'s top officials sent the members of MOPPS off on other business, redid their charts and, lo-and-behold, we had the energy crisis back just the way the administration said it was. So much for energy. On another subject we find the Joint Economic Committee of Congress -- chaired by Representative Bolling of Missouri -- sitting on a 59-page study that has to do with the minimum wage for four months. The report was written by Professor Walter Williams of Temple University at the request of the committee. Just so you'll know all about him and in view of what he has to say on the subject of minimum pay, he is black. Professor Williams' report contends the minimum wage law hurts the employment chances of teenagers, racial minorities, and the physically handicapped. The study also looks unkindly upon the social reformers solutions for these groups, manpower training programs and public service employment. He says the best way to help marginal workers is to abolish state and federal minimum wage laws and to reduce monopolistic union practices. His report cites survey after survey showing how the minimum wage hurts young people. Naturally, his findings struck at the deeply-held beliefs of the majority party committee members and one minority member, Senator Javits of New York. The report remains bottled up and staffers have admitted openly it is because the report is contrary to the doctrinaire liberalism of the majority and it is counter to the Administration's economy program. Other members of the committee urge its publication, especially since it bears a notation that it does "not necessarily reflect the views of the Joint Economic Committee. Isn't there something in the 1st Amendment about the right to publish? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-18-A2 Production Date 08/15/1977 Book/Page Online PDF Audio Youtube? No
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