76-09-A5 - Revision history

Reagan admin at 20:19, 16 February 2026

2026-02-16T20:19:39Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:19, 16 February 2026
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	Last Fall the Census Bureau released figures indicating that in the war on poverty, poverty is winning. The Bureau said that in spite of the billions and billions of dollars we take from the workers and producers and redistribute to those below the poverty line there are more poor people than there were a year ago. The present total according to the Census Bureau is roughly 25.9 million of our fellow citizens.		Last Fall the Census Bureau released figures indicating that in the war on poverty, poverty is winning. The Bureau said that in spite of the billions and billions of dollars we take from the workers and producers and redistribute to those below the poverty line there are more poor people than there were a year ago. The present total according to the Census Bureau is roughly 25.9 million of our fellow citizens.

	Now comes a different figure from a different source. According to the New York TIMES, the Congressional Budget Office (which I will refer to for the rest of this broadcast as the C.B.O.) says the Census Bureau only uses cash income in arriving at its figure of 13.8% of Americans living in poverty. But in the last ten years non-cash help -- fringe benefits with a definite cash value - have gone up from less than $~~2Y2~~ billion to more than $40 billion. So adding in such things as food stamps, housing aid, Medicare and Medicaid, C.B.O. says that after taxes only 6.9, not 13.8% of Americans are living below the poverty line. That figures out to just half the number of poor the Census Bureau found or just under 13 million people.		Now comes a different figure from a different source. According to the New York TIMES, the Congressional Budget Office (which I will refer to for the rest of this broadcast as the C.B.O.) says the Census Bureau only uses cash income in arriving at its figure of 13.8% of Americans living in poverty. But in the last ten years non-cash help -- fringe benefits with a definite cash value - have gone up from less than $2½ billion to more than $40 billion. So adding in such things as food stamps, housing aid, Medicare and Medicaid, C.B.O. says that after taxes only 6.9, not 13.8% of Americans are living below the poverty line. That figures out to just half the number of poor the Census Bureau found or just under 13 million people.

	There is an interesting point which prompted me to use the term a few seconds ago about "after taxes". C.B.O. found that the poverty total was only 6.7% of the population before subtracting taxes. It jumped to 6.9% after taxes were paid. The principal tax paid by the poor is the Social Security tax. Somehow it seems that one of the aids to the truly poor would be to exempt them from giving that money to government, which government then returns to them in the form of grants. But, that's probably too simple a solution for government to think of.		There is an interesting point which prompted me to use the term a few seconds ago about "after taxes". C.B.O. found that the poverty total was only 6.7% of the population before subtracting taxes. It jumped to 6.9% after taxes were paid. The principal tax paid by the poor is the Social Security tax. Somehow it seems that one of the aids to the truly poor would be to exempt them from giving that money to government, which government then returns to them in the form of grants. But, that's probably too simple a solution for government to think of.

Reagan admin at 13:28, 13 December 2025

2025-12-13T13:28:06Z

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+Our government has set a level of income below which everyone is to be considered as living in poverty. Incidentally, that income level is 800% higher than the world's average income - not the world's poverty level -- its average income.
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Reagan admin: 1 revision imported

2022-03-29T23:55:48Z

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2022-03-29T09:30:00Z

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[[Category:Radio Episodes]]
- [[Main Page]] \ [[Reagan Radio Commentaries]] \ [[Radio1977|1977]]

<TABLE WIDTH="80%"><TR><TD>[[76-09-A4|<< Previous Broadcast]]</TD><TD ALIGN="RIGHT">[[76-09-A6|Next Broadcast >>]]</TD></TR></TABLE>

= Poverty =

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=== Transcript ===
No Transcript Currently Available

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<TD WIDTH="10%" ROWSPAN="2"> </TD>
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=== Details ===
<TABLE BORDER="0" WIDTH="80%">
<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>01/19/[[Radio1977|1977]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[Radio_Commentary_Books#Reagan:_In_His_Own_Hand|RihoH-391]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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