Editing 78-15-A5 (section)

= The Escalator =

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=== Transcript ===
It's easy to say that everything that can be said about inflation has
been said. But we shouldn't stop talking about it till someone in Washington
does something about it. Jawboning labor about holding down wages or management
about holding down prices is a pretend game to keep our attention away
from the real cause of inflation--which is government.

Economist and journalist Warren T. Brookes has put together some figures
I think will interest you. He takes the case of an actual worker in Brockton,
Massachusetts who earned just about the national average--$200 a week--in 1976.
His net after state and local taxes plus social security was $161.69. Although
Mr. Brookes didn't say this let me interject--our worker would still be paying
additional taxes out of that $161 when he started spending it because of the
hundreds of taxes buried in the price of everything we buy-131 in a loaf of
bread, 116 in a suit of clothes, for example.

But let's follow our worker from January 1, 1976 until this past June.
Due to cost-of-living pay raises, his gross income of $200 had become $246--
again about the national average. That was a raise of around 23 percent. But
those visible federal, state and local taxes had gone up 43.2 percent due, in
large part, to the fact that his raise put him in a higher tax bracket. So
his net, after-tax weekly income increased about $30--or did it? There was
inflation over those two and a half years. In actual purchasing power he had
only increased that $161.69 by $1.38. Maybe this is why the per-manhour
productivity in American industry is slowing down. There is no longer any
incentive.

Now Mr. Brookes takes the case of an insurance company clerk in Boston.
He's drawing $15,000 and a promotion ups that by $1500. Taxes will take $570
of the raise and inflation takes $1050--he's $120 poorer than he was.

Third case, a middle management man earning $18,414 10 years ago and now
getting $27,964--a 50 percent increase. Surely he must have bettered himself
even though inflation has reduced his purchasing power by almost $5000. But
let's not forget that tax bite. His taxes went from $4136-a-year, 10 years
ago to $9554 today. He is more than $1000 poorer than he was 10 years ago
when his after tax net income was only $14,278. 

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>10/31/[[Radio1978|1978]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[rrpl:public/2024-07/40-656-7386263-014-011-2024.pdf#PAGE=39|Online PDF]]</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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