New York, April 5—When I was growing up, soon after the Second World War began, Americans were most directly hit by a) the shortage of gasoline, which then was rationed to two and a half gallons per week; and b) the disappearance of automobile tires, thanks to the Japanese stranglehold on our sources of rubber. The story went the rounds of a Yankee motorist in the wilds of New Hampshire who pulled up to a rural garage, and in view of the attendant first carefully counted his coupons, then looked up, and said: “Two gallons, regular.” “Why only two gallons?” the attendant asked. “Why do you think. Rationing.” “What rationing?” “The war, for God’s sake.” “What war?” “I suppose you never heard of Pearl Harbor!” “Pearl Harbor? Where’s that?” The motorist stopped, his hands trembling, voice hoarse, smiled sweetly and purred out: ‘‘Never mind the gas. Just give me four brand new tires.”
We have an entire cover story in Newsweek magazine on the problems of the poor in America. There is merely one sentence, almost buried in the text, that makes any reference to the Reagan Administration’s fight against inflation. It is this: “They [i.e., defenders of Reagan] argue that already Reaganomics has succeeded in reducing the rate of inflation, itself the most regressive form of tax on the poor.” That’s how much treatment they give to Pearl Harbor. Most of the balance of the story is devoted to the hardships on the poor caused by Reagan, and the “benefits” flowing to the rich.
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