Editing 79-01-B5 (section)

= Miscellaneous I =

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=== Transcript ===
We're indebted to a Florida Congressman [[wikipedia:Skip_Bafalis|Skip Bafalis]] for some news
from the Social Security administration you might have missed. With
all the talk about wage controls and the fight to lower the inflation
rate, Social Security has made some interesting projections. For
example, if we could get the inflation rate down four percent -- it's
close to 10 percent now -- and if wages could be held to a five and
three-fourths percent annual increase, our grandchildren will see by the year
2050 the average worker earning $656,000 a year. Now before you cut
them out of your will as too rich to need any help from you, listen to
the rest of Social Security's projections. A loaf of bread will cost
$37.50, new cars will sell for around $281,000 and up, and if you step
into a phone booth to call your wife to tell her you are on your way
home, you'll drop $9.50 in the slot.

The Congressman points out this is not some comic strip fantasy.
It is exactly what will happen unless government starts now to spend
only what it has. I'm sure anyone who lived in Germany between 1918
and 1923 will agree with Representative Bafalis.

Another item makes me doubt that our government is earnestly making
that 180 degree turn. The Labor department has announced that a federal
job placement program cut public welfare payments by $400 million last
year. But the program only costs $378 million.

Incidentally, the recent 5.5 percent pay raise for federal workers
means the average salary for federal civilian employees doubled in less
than 10 years from $9,367 to $18,300. I wonder if they were included
in that Social Security projection.

On an entirely different subject, the [[wikipedia:American_Petroleum_Institute|American Petroleum Institute]]
filed suit against the [[wikipedia:United_States_Environmental_Protection_Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] under the [[wikipedia:Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)|Freedom
of Information Act]]. The Institute charged that the agency was suppressing
a scientific study for fear it might be misinterpreted. Possibly you are
aware that the E.P.A. has set ozone standards which industrial groups
claim simply can't be met. Apparently, Industry is right. The suppressed
study reveals that 80 percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys
and auto exhaust pipes, but from plants and trees.

Professor Patrick R. Zimmerman of Washington State University,
a key scientist in the study, did [https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/91010V73.PDF?Dockey=91010V73.PDF careful research] in the Tampa - St.
Petersburg, Florida region. This is a relatively urbanized area, but
even there he found that 68 percent of ozone-causing substances came
from vegetation, and only 32 percent was man-made. It is his estimate
that nationwide 80 percent of air pollution comes from natural sources.

A spokesman for E.P.A. says the agency always intended making the
report public and any misunderstanding was the fault of "misguided,
mid-level employees." Maybe so, but let's have the truth before we
spend umpteen more billions of dollars trying to solve an unsolvable
problem. Or shall we cut down all the trees? 

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>01/??/[[Radio1979|1979]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[rrpl:public/2024-07/40-656-7386263-014-013-2024.pdf#PAGE=14|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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