How long has the New York Times been lying to its readers? I saved a Bill Buckley column from April 20, 1992 about a NYT headline, "The 1980s: A Very Good Time for the Very Rich; Data Show the top 1 percent Got 60 % Gain." Dick Armey, who was chairman of Economics at N. Texas U. saw the report and asked a few questions, such as: "In assessing gains, how did they treat capital gains?"

WFB says: "You guessed it. The CBO used the prices paid for an investment and made no adjustment for inflation from purchase to the selling." The chart tells the true story:

Average After-tax Adjusted Family Income during Carter years (1 equals the poverty threshold):

Bottom 20 percent, 1977: 0.89; 1980: 0.85 (a decline)

Top 1 percent, 1977: 21.76; 1980: 43.88 (a 100 percent gain)

Under President Carter, the top 1 percent was the only group that had gains, but under Reagan their 100 percent gain was reduced to 60 percent! But the Left still denigrates Reagan's "voodoo economics." The article continued:

"During the Carter years, there was no no net growth in wealth, except among the wealthiest 5 percent." There was no growth in real family income for "the poor," 1977-1980, but in the first four years of the Reagan administration, average incomes rose from 3.09 times the poverty line to 3.38 times, and to 3.55 times by 1989.The "accursed supply-side economics." Like Dick Armey, Reagan was an economics major – not "just an actor."

In 1992, however, Bill Clinton ran on "the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer" narrative. Buckley said that Clinton had that line tattooed into his brain, and "it became the beginning, the middle, and the end of every stump speech, also available for overtures."

Call that talking point a myth or a fable. A LIE. The article in the New York Times should have read: "Populist politicians and ordinary citizens have long suspected that the rich have been getting richer [disproportionately]. In fact, the trend is in the opposite direction."

P.S. As Rush used to say, it's hard to talk about numbers, and when you talk economics to liberals, their eyes tend to glaze over.

PPS: As an aside, I gave $10 in 1980 for Reagan's primary campaign in Wisconsin. You can't exactly call $10 "pay to play," but I got invited to the inaugural Gala (couldn't afford to go though). Have a blest day.