The most effective affirmative action policy the government can deliver is to provide incentives for growth in the private sector. Discrimination shrinks in a full-employment economy.

• The real median income of black families increased 17% during the Reagan economic expansion, after falling 10% during the Carter Administration.

• By the end of the 1980s, female entrepreneurs employed more workers than all of the Fortune 500 companies combined.

• The unprecedented 91 months of growth during the 1980s produced 16 million new jobs, pulled four million people out of poverty, increased women's earnings 8% faster than men's, and doubled the number of black families earning more than $50,000.

• Between 1983 and 1989, real wealth among white families rose 24% - but it increased 35% for blacks and 54% for Hispanics.

Source: Ralph Reiland (Robert Morris College), "Economic Force of Upward Mobility," Washington Times, October 4, 1995.