Posted on 08/04/2009 4:04:51 PM PDT by GOP_Lady
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On Today's Show... |
August 4, 2009
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"I'm going to tell you what, folks.
The Democrats in this country are now dripping with contempt for the public, and they do so at their own political peril, by the way.
These Democrats, if they show this contempt too much, are going to pay big time."
"That Obama/Joker poster ought to be framed and hung in a museum.
It's art, after all, isn't it?
And maybe somebody ought to write a book about Obama.
It could be called, 'Barack Obama is a Big-Eared Idiot'."
"Obama said, 'I'll leave it up to you, Helen, how you want to distribute the cupcakes.'
What is it with this administration and cupcakes?"
"You notice who the Democrats now hate: the insurance companies:
Why, they're making a profit! Record profits!
Well, if they're making record profits, why don't you guys in congress study them?"
The chipmunks are back! Yeah!
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Continually repeat ... It's not about me. I'm the President. |
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And of course State-Run Media, the Associated Press: "Consumers Increase Their Spending in June." Oh, wow, oh, wow they so giddily report this, they're so happy it's a roaring comeback out there. Yeah, consumers increased their spending in June for the second straight month even as incomes fell sharply. "The Commerce Department said Tuesday that consumers boosted their spending 0.4 percent in June, slightly ahead of analysts' estimates. That comes after spending rose 0.1 percent in May." The department says that personal income fell 1.3%, after rising by the same amount in May. Now, what do we make of this? Well, you've come to the right place, ladies and gentlemen, because the real number here is US personal incomes tumbled 1.3% in June, more than forecast, and the biggest drop in four years, signaling that consumer spending will take time to recover.
Okay, so if we've got 1.3% fall in income, how did consumer spending go up? Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's very simple. There is no recovery. There is no rescue. Spending is up primarily because I'm sure you've noticed gasoline prices are up. It's something that you have no control over buying. You've got to buy it. They want to pass this off as though discretionary spending, people are getting lose -- nope, nope, nope. Not at all. There is no recovery. Income is down. Tax receipts are down. Spending and the deficit is up. Obama has added $1 trillion to the national debt in six months. Unemployment continues up after how many trillions of dollars have been spent.
And this from CBS News, of all places: "So rapid is the pace of deficit spending by the federal government, that the National Debt has increased over a trillion dollars since President Obama took office. On Inauguration Day, the Debt stood at $10.626 trillion. The latest posting from the Treasury Department shows that as of July 31st, the debt hit $11.669 trillion. During the last administration, it took over 2 ½ years for the National Debt to increase a trillion dollars." What was Mr. Obama's budget? What was the name? "A new era of fiscal responsibility," is how he titled his budget.
And to continue the great news, this is from the French News Agency: "US companies are increasingly turning to offshoring their functions to achieve cost savings and few US companies plan to bring those jobs back to the United States, said the Conference Board Monday. The number of US companies with a corporate offshoring strategy in place more than doubled from in the past three years. Of the companies surveyed, 53 percent had a corporate offshoring strategy in place, up from 22 percent in 2005, said the Conference Board. 'Sixty percent of companies that had already offshored say they have aggressive plans to expand existing activities, and very few plan to relocate activities back to the United States.'"
Now, why do you think this is? We're in a recovery now, don't forget. We've been rescued. Now we're rebuilding. President Obama said so. Economic plan is working. This is right out of Saul Alinsky, folks. You sell what you want to sell by using terms that are comfortable to people within their own experience. They really think that the power of this guy's personality, his aura and his credibility is going to pull them out of the fire on this. So we got more taxes, we have more taxes coming. We have health care mandates coming, and it's going to help this situation? People are fleeing this situation.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
| • AP: Consumer spending rises in June, incomes drop • CBS News: $1 Trillion More in Debt Since Obama Took Office • AFP: Offshoring by US companies surges: survey |
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
Now, I happened to see on Drudge's website today, they got a new health care logo. So I clicked on it, and I went to the White House website, Organizing for Health Care because I wanted to see a bigger version of the health care logo. And it's got the standard Obama logo, the circle with the three red stripes and the blue sky at the top. But then it's got things in it I haven't seen since World War II. First off, this guy's obsessed with crowds. You ought to go look at this. I can't show it to you on the Dittocam, it's too small. But you can get an idea if you go to Drudge's page or just MyBarackObama.com, Organizing for Health Care. It has three stars. It's got wings, sort of a AMA type logo or something, and then it's got masses of zombie-like people lined up behind the logo and between what is a bright blue sun with radiant rays shooting out from it. The guy is obviously obsessed with crowds. The picture here is designed to put forth the image that people are clamoring for it and supporting it in massive numbers, but this guy and his logos and the posters and so forth, this is just odd. I haven't seen this type of thing since World War II.
I actually think Obama is in the process of becoming a caricature. I do. I think he's becoming a caricature of himself slowly. You know this poster of Obama out there as the Joker? People are all bent out of shape about this. It turns out that Vanity Fair back in 2008 sometime did their own artwork in a cover story of Bush as the Joker, as Heath Ledger Joker and it was praised as a great piece of art. Now, this is a poster, and they're saying this is racist, this is humiliating, you don't talk about the president of the United States. The very people who spent seven years mocking everything about George W. Bush telling us how to assassinate him in books, doing movies about his being assassinated, calling him Hitler are just outraged about this, but there's nothing racist about this Obama poster. In fact, if you've seen The Dark Knight -- have you seen The Dark Knight, Snerdley? All right, you know the character of the Joker in that movie, the Joker in that movie took every opportunity to remake Gotham City, didn't he?
He had a big damn chip on his shoulder about his childhood and about a bunch of other things. His goal was to undermine the whole system. I think whoever did this is pretty brilliant, actually. And to effect the change that the people of Gotham City didn't want, the Joker created chaos upon chaos. The whole city was focused on him and what he was going to do next. He viewed crisis as an opportunity. So the Joker orchestrated crisis after crisis after crisis. And the Joker wore a mask. I mean whoever put this poster together is pretty smart because there are some similarities here to what the Joker did in that movie and what Obama is doing to this country. And, by the way, Obama has admitted to wearing masks. In Dreams from My Father: (paraphrasing) "It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned. People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied; they were relieved, such a pleasant surprise to find a well mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time." This is his tactic for fooling white people. This is the mask.
They are just livid over this poster out there now. Well, bloggers and some of the cable network people are talking about it, but this thing that Vanity Fair ran doesn't even look like Bush. It looks like David Corn, the guy who used to write for The Nation. On a normal day it looks like David Corn. But they mocked Bush doing this the same way. From the UK tabloid, the Daily Mail: "Spoof Poster of Obama's Face Painted as The Joker Branded 'Dangerous and Mean-Spirited' -- A poster depicting Barack Obama as Batman villain The Joker has been called 'mean-spirited and dangerous' by the U.S. President's supporters. … The creator of the image remains unknown, but the website that first published the image crashed yesterday because so many had been attempting to view it. It has since been spotted in Los Angeles and Atlanta." A poster. A poster has been spotted. A poster spotted in Los Angeles. Oh, and a poster spotted in Atlanta. They're trying to figure out who did it. Thomas Lifson: "Open mockery of Barack Obama, as disillusionment sets in with the man, his policies, and the phony image of a race-healing, brilliant, scholarly, middle-of-the-roader."
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Let me ask you a question, folks. Why is it art when some cretin dips a crucifix or a cross in a jar of urine? He got a federal grant to do it. It's hung in some museum in New York. Remember that from back in the nineties? Andres Serrano, a crucifix dangled in a jar of urine in a museum. It was called art. Federal tax dollars granted him the money that was not necessary to do it. But a poster of Obama as the Joker paid for by someone on his own and hung on telephone poles or wherever in Los Angeles and Atlanta is over the line! That poster ought to be framed and hung in a museum. It's art, after all, isn't it? Maybe somebody ought to write a book about Obama. It could be called: Barack Obama is a Big-Eared Idiot. I'll bet the libs would love that! Barack Obama is a Big-Eared Dumbo. I bet the libs would love it.
You see, you libs don't get to tell us what we can and cannot do; what we can and cannot say. You have set the standard. You want to play the game by your rules? We're more than happy to. You elect people to high public office who are often disgusting, who have pathetic backgrounds and so forth. You embrace artists who are on the public dole defacing images of Jesus. You fund street protests and organizers, and we're supposed to play by different rules? We're supposed to just take it lying down.? We choose not to. If I'd have known this guy that did the poster, I would have commissioned it. I've always wanted to be a patron to the arts, but the arts have never been interested in me, other than my own art of broadcasting. I am an artist here, and it's artistry each and every day. Yeah, somebody do it. Let's write the book, Barack Obama is a Big-Eared Idiot, and let's see how the libs react to that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Koko Jr. from the website just reminded me of a story from the Associated Press on April 13th, 2005: "The Secret Service sent agents to investigate a college art gallery exhibit of mock postage stamps, one depicting President George W. Bush with a gun pointed at his head. The exhibit, 'Axis of Evil: The Secret History of Sin,' opened last week at Columbia College in Chicago. It features stamps designed by 47 artists addressing issues such as the Roman Catholic sex-abuse scandal, racism and the war in Iraq. None of the artists is tied to the college." The Secret Service was looking into this. We'll post this. Koko Jr., put this on the website right now, too, just the graphic of this story so people can see. They're all upset about a poster over of The One, a poster of The One depicting him as a Joker.
Meanwhile, we've had to sit here and we've had to pay for people putting chocolate all over themselves and writhing around nude on stage and having that called art. We had to watch and be told how artistic it was for a crucifix to be put in a jar of urine that we had to pay for with an NEA grant and some of the other debasements of our culture that the left has given us. By the way, did you see The Dark Knight in high definition? I have seen it in Blu-ray high definition just like I'm watching this administration in high definition, and the chaos is the chaos.
END TRANSCRIPT
We've got Obama and a former reporter from ABC now working in his White House communications office, Linda Douglass, attacking Drudge for daring to point out on his website that Obama has said numerous times -- and we'll play the tapes again -- that he favors a single payer system. She says Drudge is taking it out of context. Dick Durbin is out there saying insurance companies are making sure all these people show up at these town hall meetings, it's the insurance companies. They're the villain. Alinsky rule number 13: pick the target, freeze it, isolate it, destroy it. Insurance companies are now that target for the Democrats as the Alinsky rules come to life again for the month of August. And Chris Matthews is out there wondering where are all the poor people who want health care showing up at these town meetings, where are all the Obama supporters?
Where are they? Hey, Chris, did you ever stop to think that this whole health care issue since the nineties has been trumped up and is something it isn't? Can you not read the polls your own stupid network does about how many people like their health care and don't want it changed and they don't want to lose their doctor, and they don't want to lose their insurance, they don't want to lose the plan that they have. Far more people like their health care in this country than you do. The reason people aren't clamoring and showing up at town meetings for this is 'cause they don't want it. What's surprising to me is that ACORN hasn't gotten involved here on this. It's interesting how they've dropped the ball. And also, I find it fascinating that all these Democrats, exactly what we said last week, they're starting to refer to these town hall meetings as unruly mobs, we can't promise security. No, no, no. These are orderly people. These are genuine voting American citizens.
What these Democrats are accusing you of doing who go to these town hall meetings is exactly what Obama taught people to do. He is the community agitator, he's the community organizer. Obama is the guy who taught people how to show up at events like this over and over again and rip 'em apart and tear 'em down, disrupt 'em and make sure they don't happen. And now the table's been turned, it's happening to him only this time it's not ginned up, it is genuine. It's real. People do not want this. And Chuck Schumer, Chuck-U Schumer, (paraphrasing) "I don't care, we're going to get it done by the end of the year. It's going to happen one way or the other. If the Republicans don't want to help us, fine. We're going to get it done. Screw you." The Democrat Party has now got a new slogan to the American people. It's, "Screw you!" Actually, that has been their modus operandi for as long as I've been alive. But now they're out there actually saying it in so many words. "Screw you! To hell with you."
They're just dripping with contempt for the American people, for the public. When the left organizes, whether it be the public sector unions, the AFL-CIO, ACORN, the rest, they're all encouraged, they're admired, they're even funded by the taxpayers. When hardworking people, for the first time in many cases, become involved and active, they are denounced. Let me tell you something. Democracy doesn't belong only to the leftist agitators. It also belongs to the people who pay the bills and make this country work. There is something boiling over out there now. The only question is whether it lasts. Obama's own aggressiveness has resulted in a reaction. The American people know full well now what this health care plan's all about and so much else of his agenda, and the numbers of people who are now informed is growing and they want no part of it. When he goes out and does these town hall meetings himself, he makes no acknowledgment whatsoever that there's opposition to this. He does not recognize that there's opposition, try to take that into account to soothe people, even by lying to them. He just assumes, his attitude is, everybody is in full-fledged support.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here is Gary in Waynesboro, Virginia, as we start on the phones today. Great to have you, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Happy studly dittos, man, you're looking good.
RUSH: Thank you very much. I'd rather have a woman say that to me, but I'll take it.
CALLER: Well, don't consider it a man crush, now.
RUSH: I'm not.
CALLER: Okay, it will help your golf swing, too, by the way, being a former golf pro. Hey, I saw the Bill Press -- Megyn Kelly really grilled Bill Press this morning on Fox. He epitomizes a poster child of what is wrong with these liberals. He said these things were orchestrated, he says it's going to hurt the Republican Party. And I just sit there going, "What is this? No wonder no one listens to him." I mean, gee whiz. You know. He insults my intelligence, like all of them do, like he insults your intelligence. I just get sick and tired of it.
RUSH: Well, you gotta learn to watch the stuff for the entertainment value and you have to understand that the press is not persuading anybody. He's given a script, too. They all say the same thing.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: They all say the same thing: it's going to hurt the Republican Party, this is being trumped up by the insurance companies, these are not real. The real question, Chris Matthews inadvertently came up with the real question: Where the hell are the Obama supporters? I think it's sound bite number seven, if I can get the pages to come apart. Yeah. Grab audio sound bite number seven. Last night on Hardball.
MATTHEWS: Where the hell are the people that want health care, the poor people out there, the people that work hard but don't have health care, the union people, where are they? I haven't seen one placard, let alone one protest demonstration for health care.
RUSH: 'Cause they've all got it! The union people have health care out the wazoo. Where are all the poor people that want health care? Did you ever stop to think it ain't the issue you think it is? Do you know what people are concerned about, Chris? Their jobs. They're concerned about their families, they're concerned about income, they're concerned about eating, they're concerned about getting to work, they're concerned about having a workplace to go to, and they are miffed that that sector is being destroyed right in front of them before their very eyes, and this fraud and deceit of health care is being sold at the same time. This nation is not made up of as many stupid people as you libs think. You're the ones out of touch; you're the ones that really do not understand it. Where are the placards? The union people have their health insurance. What he's really asking is, "Where's ACORN? Where are our agitators? Where are our people showing up?" and that is a good question. The Obama people have dropped the ball on that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: It is as I said earlier, ladies and gentlemen, the libs, the Democrats, from the White House all the way down to Congress and state capitals, are now dripping with contempt for the public, a public that has become increasingly active about their own futures, the public, who are attending these town hall meetings. And these Democrats dripping with contempt do so at their own political peril. They and their media cronies have no clue what the public is feeling. They can smear 'em, they can degrade 'em, but they still have the power to throw these political hacks out of office, and many of them are going to lose their power as a result. Let's listen to Dick Durbin. Yesterday in Washington and unidentified reporter for a website asked Dick "Turban" a series of questions, and during the interview Turban said this about town hall protests against health care reform.
DURBIN: I hope my colleagues won't fall for a sucker punch like this. These health insurance companies and people like them are trying to load these town meetings for visual impact on television. They want to show thousands of people screaming socialism and try to overcome the public sentiment, which now favors health care reform. That's almost like, you know, flooding the switchboards on Capitol Hill. It doesn't prove much other than the switchboards have limited capacity. So we need to have a much more balanced approach that really allows members of Congress to hear both sides of the story rather than to be sucker punched or sidetracked by these types of tactics.
RUSH: There's another compassionate, responsive, "I hear you" kind of Democrat. You people are nothing but a bunch of phony baloney, plastic banana, good-time rock 'n' roller sucker punchers. You know, you Dems, you liberals out there, you don't get to tell us what we can do and what we can't do. You don't get to tell us what we can say and what we cannot say. You have set the standard. You elect people to high public office who are often disgusting, who have pathetic backgrounds, and so forth. You embrace artists who are on the public dole defacing images of Jesus in jars of urine, you fund street protests and organizers, and we're supposed to play by different rules? Look, if some friends of Obama want to show up at these things, it's their business, nobody's keeping them out. If some supporters of Obama health care want to show up, these are Democrat town hall meetings for crying out loud! They're Democrat town hall meetings. Here's more from Turban, he showed up on MSNBC later on and he got this question: "There are reports out there that there was a memo sent out actually encouraging people opposed to some of the policies being explored by the administration to carry on this way, to yell at the Democrat lawmakers. What's your take on that, and what will happen over the next few weeks? The polling shows people are a little hesitant from what we're hearing there."
DURBIN: There are health insurance companies that are making more money out of the current system than most companies in America. They don't want to see it change. They are very profitable and they don't want to see this reform so they are helping to organize these rallies, they're being supported by a lot of people who are coming out and screaming and trying to shout down any discussion. But if we're going to get to meaningful health care reform we have to get beyond the shouting, sit down and read the bill carefully and do the best we can to get it passed in September.
RUSH: Health insurance companies are making more money, they're behind all of this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You notice who the Democrats now hate, it's the insurance companies: Why, they're making a profit. Somehow they're making a profit, record profits. If they're making record profits, Senator Durbin, why don't you study 'em and find out how more businesses and people can make profits. It's not 'cause they're ripping people off. It's 'cause they're providing something people need and want.
END TRANSCRIPT
So the White House is asking its supporters, these groupies that hang on their website if they get an e-mail, they hear anybody talking about fishy stuff, disinformation about the health care plan, send their name, send a copy of their e-mail to the White House. Now, the problem with this claim of disinformation about health insurance reform, control of personal finances to end-of-life care, the White House have gotta understand, people have read the House of Representatives bill. It's all in there! None of this is being made up. I'm going to tell you who this bunch reminds me of. There's a parallel going on in the world right now to this bunch that's running this country and the parallel is Iran. They supposedly had a fair election. The people of Iran didn't think it was fair. They think it was a fraudulent election and they started protesting in the streets. Even the people of Iran, this was too much to swallow, the mullahs were just putting one over on them, they wanted a reform candidate to win, they didn't dig any of this, they didn't think Ahmadinejad was the legitimate winner, they started protesting, and what was the result?
The government went out and started cracking heads, started putting people in jail. Some people have died as a result of government treatment when they were in protests. Now you've got the White House asking people, its groupies, to be informants? Let me read this again from the White House website: "There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."
Well, I would hate to see what they're going to get now at flag@whitehouse.gov. I wonder what kind of e-mails they're going to get now. They're looking for tattletales, they're looking for snitches, they're looking for informants, they want their groupies to tattle on you if you happen to be telling the truth about what's in the health care plan. "The White House has, as yet, offered no explanation of what it is they plan to do with the tips on policy opposition they hope to receive from citizen informers. Jake Tapper pointed out on Twitter this morning, the title of that post on the White House is a quote from John Adams' 1770 'Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials.'"
So this has happened before in human history. Parents whose minds weren't right, parents who were saying things against the regime, their children were supposed to inform on them. So now the Obama administration is genuinely, legitimately asking for informants. Man.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to go back to our archives, ladies and gentlemen, the Grooveyard of Forgotten Favorites, April 28th, 2003, Hillary Clinton.
HILLARY: (screeching) I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic, and we should stand up and say, "WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DEBATE AND DISAGREE WITH ANY ADMINISTRATION!"
RUSH: It still hurts my deaf ears listening to that. But that's just how things change.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • RedState.com: Call For Informants: If You Oppose Obamacare, Even in "Casual Conversation," the White House Wants to Know About It |
RUSH: Nothing is being taken out of context. It's Barack Obama in his own words as you'll hear in just a second. But let's take a look here at what's happening. First place, Obama is using a former member of state-controlled media to try to sell his lies. Rahm Emanuel is out there bullying the networks to cover Obama's purposeful lies about destroying private sector health insurance. Obama called Bob Iger and Les Moonves and Jeffrey Immelt, the CEOs of the corporations that own the three networks, to pressure them to carrying that Wednesday night press conference. They didn't want to do it. You have Kathleen Sebelius deliberately lying to Americans in town hall meetings about Obamacare, and Sebelius has one of the most amazing op-eds today in the Washington Post. Second-to-last paragraph, Kathleen Sebelius who got tarred and feathered with Arlen Specter the other day: "President Obama and I are working closely with Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate and health-care experts to make sure we get the details of health reform right. But we can't let the details distract us from the huge benefits that reform will bring. The urgency behind reform has nothing to do with the schedule of Congress and everything to do with the needs of the American people."
She basically says forget the details, we want peace of mind. Forget the details. No wonder members of Congress aren't reading it. Details don't matter. But of course they do matter to the people this is going to affect. So after Rahm and after Kathleen Sebelius, you've got Robert Gibbs deliberately lying to the media about Obama's intentions to raise taxes on all Americans because he's going to. Obama's lying about his attempt to jam socialized medicine down our throats. This isn't Hardball politics. This is the Bernie Madoff method of taking money under false pretenses. There is an open fraud being conducted on the American people by this administration. It is nothing but a campaign of pure fraud and deceit each and every day and it has been joined by the Democrat Party at large. They're not telling one truth that matters as they try to sell this plan and now they send Linda Douglass out there to try to counteract. All Drudge did was post video of Obama saying what he said. Here's more Linda Douglass.
DOUGLASS: There are people out there with a computer and a lot of free time and they take a phrase here and there, they simply cherry-pick and put it together and make it sound like he's saying something that he didn't really say. Now, for example, here's a clip that they probably won't show you.
OBAMA: Here's a guarantee that I've made. If you have insurance that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance. If you've got a doctor that you like, you will be able to keep your doctor. Nobody is trying to change what works in a system. We are trying to change what doesn't work in the system.
RUSH: That is nothing but pure deceit. I don't know about you, folks, there are a lot of personality characteristics in other people that bug me just like fingernails on a chalkboard. Arrogance is one, cockiness when it's not deserved and deceit. When I am deceived, especially in people that I'm open and up front with, I just lose it. This is a campaign of pure fraud and deceit that is being orchestrated by this administration to take away as much freedom and liberty as possible and transfer it as power to themselves. And in the process, destroy the best of something in the United States and the world, and that is our health care system. Okay. So she plays a clip of Obama in recent times, saying you get to keep your insurance. No, you don't get to keep your insurance. And I'll demonstrate that in just a second. But let's go back and let's listen to Obama himself, first in 2007. It's in March, and it's a Service Employees International Union health care forum. Here's Barack Obama as candidate.
OBAMA: My commitment is to make sure that we got universal health care for all Americans by the end of my first term as president. I would hope that we set up a system that allows those who can go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort, but I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There's going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out.
RUSH: Now, it's not incidental and insignificant who he's speaking to here. He's speaking to the SEIU, one of the many unions that donated I think a total of $65 million. These are the people that community organize and agitate and go out and cause all kinds of problems to upset normalcy in community after community after community. These are his buds. These are the people he tells the truth to. These are the people he wants to know what's really going to happen because they're for it, and he says right here, I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. Now, you don't have to take anything out of context, and you don't have to make anything up. I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately but we're going to do it in 15 to 20 years, and when you take employer coverage out there's no more private, it's all single payer, it's all government. Let's go back to 2003, this clip does not help Linda Douglass' case. This is the piece de resistance. June of 2003, AFL-CIO conference, not insignificant again who his audience is, his buds, union agitators and organizers to whom he wants to tell the truth. This is an audience he does not want to deceive. This is an audience he wants on his side forever. Here's what he said.
OBAMA: I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan, that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately, because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.
RUSH: Now, somebody tell me how in the world anyone could take that out of context. That is a full 43 seconds, no edits, we didn't take sentences out of order and assemble them in a way we wanted. A single payer health care plan, universal health care plan, that's what I'd like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately, because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House. Now they've done that, now they're going for single payer health care. I don't know why they did this. We think of these people as brilliant in the Alinsky sense. All they're doing is calling attention his lies. All they're doing is calling attention to his deceit. All they're doing is causing people to go back and get these full fledged clips and play them all over the place, radio, television. Linda Douglass looks like a sap. Linda Douglass looks like what she is, a propagandist former employee of state-controlled media.
On page 16 of the House bill, it's right there, and you've heard people quote from it. I'm going to summarize it, page 16 : private insurance will become illegal. Insurance companies cannot write new policies, people will lose their existing policy if they change jobs, if they change coverage, or if they change prices. Once any aspect of your private health insurance changes after this bill goes into effect, you can't renew it. You have to go public option. On page 29 of the House bill, it is admitted that our health care will be rationed. On page 42, the health choices commissioner will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. Page 58, every person will be issued a national ID health card, and it will probably have that stupid logo that reminds me of World War II, frankly, when you look at it, you'll say the same thing. The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer to pay. Yes, my friends, the federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer, meaning from your account to them. They will be able to debit your account for health expenses. That's on page 59, go get the bill. I'm summarizing here for you.
On page 72, all private health care plans must conform to government rules to participate in a health care exchange. Any individual who doesn't have acceptable health care defined by the government will be taxed two-and-a-half percent of their income each year. Officers and employees of government health care bureaucracy will have access to all American financial and personal records, page 195. Page 203, the tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as a tax. I'm quoting from the actual bill. I've got numerous examples but I'm way over time here. But, Ms. Douglas, you've been made a sap on this, and you've only caused even more attention to be focused on what your boss actually intends and what is in the House bill. It's there. This campaign of fraud and deceit is exactly why the American people are up in arms, and it's exactly why you and your party are looking at them with deep contempt. This wasn't part of the plan. The American people weren't supposed to figure all this out. They are just supposed to bow down and say, "Thank you for caring about us."
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Six posts to yourself so far!
MAN: The problem here is when you expect the government to give you insurance to keep you well, to tell you what you can, cannot eat, tell you when and when you have to exercise, you've given away your personal rights, you've given away your personal responsibility to wellness. Wellness is an individual right and you must take responsibility for it. The government does not grant you rights to life, liberty, or wellness, these are God-given rights, and to keep 'em you've gotta take them to yourself. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: Well, the crowd went nuts here. And of course the Democrat line now is, "Well, of course these insurance companies are stoking these people up and giving them facts and figures." Here's another great question, but Ellison doesn't answer it.
MAN: Representative Ellison, are you willing to put your family on this government system which is different from the one you currently use? If you are not willing to put your family on the system, why should the rest of us?
ELLISON: All right, next point. (cheers and applause)
MAN: Well, answer the question!
RUSH: He didn't answer the question. Folks, let me warn you, asking the question is enough. How can you trust their answer anyway if they do answer it? Obama said that he would put himself and his family in the public plan. He's won't be permitted to. The public plan will not provide for Obama the way he is provided for now as president, and he's not going to put his family on it -- trust me on this. Nor are members of Congress going to give up what they have and join whatever this public option ends up being. This woman in this bite is great. She says she'd rather go bankrupt than not be able to treat her father's leukemia.
WOMAN: My dad has been diagnosed with an acute leukemia. He's got a 15% chance of survival, he spent a month-and-a-half inpatient at Mayo, and we might lose the family farm. But I'm here to tell you that the chemo drug that he is on now that may save his life is illegal in Norway, it is not available in Great Britain. The visit is expensive. And, you know what, the worst thing that can happen to you when you have a health crisis is not bankruptcy; it's death. And I would rather that we lose the family farm and keep my dad alive. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: Right on, right on, right on, right on. And then Keith Ellison: end of life health care costs result from the guilt trap. This is at his town hall meeting, and here's his discussion on it.
ELLISON: We ought to all have a conversation with our loved ones, not about money, but about dignity. So what the bill says, what it calls for is that you have a conversation with your provider and encouraged to have a conversation with your family about things like living will, do not resuscitate, things like that. Now look, it happens to be true that a lot of expense is in end-of-life care, but some of that expense is associated with the fact that the family is in a guilt trap because they don't know -- they want to do everything they can to save Dad or Mom.
RUSH: End of health care costs result from a guilt trap. This is really amazing. Obama is going to cut costs by removing the guilt trap that family members feel. You won't have to treat your dying parents out of guilt anymore. They'll just take the pain pill.
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| Read the Background Material... |
|
| • The Hill: Dems launch August healthcare defense |
The American People are beginning to seethe which righteous anger with which they will utterly destroy the domestic enemies of this nation.
CALLER: It is a fabulous place, Rush.
RUSH: Sounds like it, I mean for somebody to name a place Dripping Springs.
CALLER: Well, that's what drew us here about 12 years ago.
RUSH: Well, it's gotta be dripping something.
CALLER: I've gotta tell you, it's a pleasure to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: We listen to you every day.
RUSH: Appreciate that.
CALLER: I wanted to give you some information about the town hall meeting that was held in Austin last Saturday.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, with Lloyd Doggett claiming that you guys were an unruly mob and were sent there by the insurance companies.
CALLER: Yes, sir. Well, first of all, my husband and I are senior citizens. And we did attend the meetings as individuals, and we believe that the majority of the people there were there as individuals. We saw all ages, young to seniors. First of all, it was a terrible location. They had it in a parking lot in front of a grocery store, he was not on a formula, there were no microphones for him to use or for people who were trying to ask questions. We feel that this was a grassroots -- despite what the information that he's now putting out on our local TV, he said he's never seen anything like this in the 15 years that he's been in Congress. Well, this should certainly be a clue to him as to how people are feeling about this health care bill. We were there to express our dissatisfaction with the Obama health care plan and to state that we do not want the government to run our health care. Many became angry during the meeting and it's understandable because actually Doggett was unable to answer specific questions about the bill, and it was obvious that the attendees were better informed than he expected them to be about the provisions of the bill.
RUSH: Better informed than he was.
CALLER: Better informed than he was, yes, sir.
RUSH: Well, this is being replicated all over the country. The Politico even has a story today on this, and in the story here's the nut graph: "Angry protesters shouted down Democrats at public events from Texas to Pennsylvania over the weekend, leaving the party only one real hope for getting its message out over recess: a backlash." They are hoping for a public backlash against the protests, and that isn't in the cards. They may try to make it happen. They are hoping for some incident or nutcase that goes berserk, goes wacko, that creates a backlash at these town hall meetings. They are losing. They are losing. They don't have a game-changer. Even the Democrats in safe districts, like Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, they're afraid to hold town hall meetings. They do not have a game-changer. There's nothing in the legislation that will change the game. There's nothing the president can say that will change the game. What they are hoping for is somebody goes wacko at one of these town hall meetings so they can then point to all of them and say, "See, it's an unruly mob, these people are insane," blah, blah, blah, blah. They're hoping for violence, they're hoping for something like that. That's their only hope. They don't have a game-changer.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We happen to have from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a guy named Robert. Robert's the guy who asked Arlen Specter the question that got the most attention at the meeting with Kathleen Sebelius. Robert, great to have you on the program.
CALLER: Well, thanks, Rush.
RUSH: What can you tell us about the whole day?
CALLER: It was an incredible day. I mean we showed up, it was a terrible, rainy day, it was hard for individuals to even get to the protests -- or the town hall meeting. And it was through groups like the Thomas Jefferson Club and Kitchen Table Patriots that set up around Philadelphia that were neighbors who have banded together and now these groups are searching the other groups out in order to spread information. I never would have even have known of the town hall meeting if it wasn't for the fact that, you know, these groups exist and they're trying to get information out.
RUSH: So these are grassroots people?
CALLER: Yes, grassroots people. I mean I know the people who have founded these groups, and these aren't political operatives. These are neighbors who are really concerned.
RUSH: They're not community organizers, they're not agitators, and they're not being paid by a branch or a grant from the US government, right?
CALLER: Oh, absolutely not. I mean a lot of these things are being funded by the members themselves. You know, the groups, the way that they're getting set up is neighbors are getting together and finding out that they share common interests and then once they get together and get a group together then the groups are trying to seek one another out in order consolidate their efforts, and so they don't have to put out of pocket in order to be able to do everything that they need to do in order to get their message out.
RUSH: So you're oriented around issues, not agitation?
CALLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.
RUSH: What was the question that you asked Specter?
CALLER: Well, the question that I asked Specter was, you know, how can we trust health care reengineering to a group of people who don't have the capability, or at best, the time to be able to read their own legislation. And, you know, that's what got him on the whole stint about he has to break the legislation up among all of his staff members --
RUSH: I know. We played his answer, "and we break the pieces of legislation up because we've gotta do this fast," and boos and hisses erupted. Well, it's great to meet you, Robert, even if it is on the phone. I'm glad you called 'cause Richard Wolffe over at NBC was maligning you people, saying that you had been set up and paid for by organized groups and bussed in there and you really didn't care about it, you're just agitating. Glad to know that wasn't true.
END TRANSCRIPT
Dingy Harry with a report on the lunch...
REID: In spite of the loud, shrill voices trying to interrupt town hall meetings and just throw a monkey wrench into everything, we're going to continue to be positive and work hard. There was a lot of experience in that room and we had someone who was leading us that we all admire so very very mcuh. The president didn't get one standing ovation, but several of them. He was -- really kind of reminded me of the days when I was an athlete and the coach was giving you a pep talk before the game. You came out of that pep talk that the coach gave you ready to take on the world. We're ready to the take on the world.
RUSH: You know the way I look at pep talks if you're professional. You go to the National Football League, there aren't a whole lot of pep talks, especially in a championship game, a Super Bowl or the playoffs, the coaches, if these professionals aren't motivated to play on the basis of it's time to win, if they gotta be pep talked, something's wrong in the first place. So something's wrong. There is panic in the White House. It's falling apart, it's unraveling on them. Obama goes up and gets standing ovations from Democrats? I want to share with you what ABC's The Note wrote about this lunch this morning and it is snarky as it can be. "Let’s bring everyone together in one place (since that worked so well for streamlined messaging out of the Cabinet over the weekend . . . ) It’s leadership time for President Obama and his White House. (And now that we have not one but two Clintons unleashed to work on foreign-policy hotspots -- good luck breaking through in this news environment.) President Obama celebrates his birthday Tuesday by bringing the Senate Democratic caucus to the White House for lunch, to deliver a message everyone in the room knows all too well: Failure is not an option on health care. It’s time for some of that trademark Obama cool -- in the service of a party that needs a pep talk. (And you know you've always wanted to hear Jeff Bingaman and Barbara Boxer sing happy birthday.)"
I mean this is snarky as can be. This is state-controlled ABC, and state-controlled ABC is fed up. They're mad at how they're botching this. Listen to this: "The photo ops may help public perceptions and private morale heading into the August recess. But it’s the action outside the White House that continues to roil the Democratic Party during this critical stage of the legislative push. There are currently four Democratic health care bills to defend. The Senate is stalled until a fifth can be completed. Liberal groups are aiming their fire at Democrats now -- their patience having run out. As for the town halls intended to drum up support for reform -- everyone from Sen. Arlen Specter to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, are getting heckled and booed out there." ABC's The Note. Not happy.
Here's what the New York Times had to say: "The conservative groups, including FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, are harnessing social networking Web sites to organize their supporters in much the same way Mr. Obama did during his election campaign." Oh, like ACORN? But we're not allowed to. These are unruly mobs, you see. So they're not happy over at ABC with the way this is all -- oh, by the way, Obama went to the pressroom to celebrate Helen Thomas's birthday today. Helen Thomas and Obama have the same birthday. Obama said that Helen wished for health care reform. Helen, you're 89, be careful what you're wishing for here. Here is the sound bite, Obama went over there and here's what he said.
OBAMA (sped up): Helen wished for world peace, no prejudice. But she and I also had a common birthday wish. She said she hopes for a real health care reform bill. I'll leave it up to you, Helen, how you want to distribute the cupcakes.
RUSH: We sped that up. Let me translate that for you. "Helen wished for world peace, no prejudice. She and I also had a common birthday wish. She said she hopes for a real health care reform bill. I'll leave it up to you, Helen, how you want to distribute the cupcakes." What is it with this administration and cupcakes? Now, Helen Thomas is 89 years old. I don't think Helen Thomas has one thing to complain about regarding our health care, do you? Helen Thomas is 89 years old. If Obama health care passes, Helen Thomas is soon to be put out to pasture at Statist Farm. First time she gets sick, it's going to be judged not worth it. All right, Mary in Fort Worth, Texas, great to have you on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Hello, Rush. Thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: Yes, ma'am.
CALLER: I just wanted to say, in some ways we conservatives should be glad that they started shoving this health bill down our throats this quickly, because what they have done, as you have pointed out much to their chagrin, is the American people are starting to wake up. They're reading this bill, they're seeing it for what it really is, and they're letting our officials know, "We're not happy." And we need to remember that this is still a government of the people, by the people, and for the people until they take that right away from us. And they're showing more and more in what they're putting in this bill, and others that they pass what their intent is.
RUSH: But they're lying about it. Obama is lying about what's in it.
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: All these members of Congress are lying about what's in it. Well, Ellison did say in Minneapolis last Saturday that he does support the end of life stuff in there because, you know, we gotta start talking about how you die because that's when you spend most of your health care money.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: We're going to insure 50 million more people, right?
CALLER: For free.
RUSH: Supposedly. Supposedly.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: But we're not going to have any more doctors? Will somebody tell me how in the hell people are going to get covered. The only way you can insure 50 million more people and not add any more doctors is to make sure certain people die --
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: -- and the right people dying will also save us some Social Security.
CALLER: Exactly and they made this perfectly clear but it's backfiring because the American people are realizing, we are going to have to go out to town hall meetings, whatever it takes and take our government back. They don't have this power if we don't give it to them.
RUSH: Well, the key here, again, as I mentioned at the beginning of the program, is that there's something boiling over right now. You're right. It is genuinely boiling over. The issue is whether it lasts. You know, it's tough for people to maintain a peak emotional level for a long time. And the strategy is just to wade people out, they'll eventually give up, they'll eventually tire, they won't have the reservoir of emotion left. So the key here is how long can this last. Can it last through the recess and into the fall. It did last with it amnesty bill.
CALLER: Well, and the other key is, I believe, whether they're going to listen. It's very obvious, we all know, they can pass this bill out without a single Republican vote.
RUSH: Yeah. They're not --
CALLER: I mean absolutely they can pass -- some of the Democrats are going to have to vote against it. So are these Democrats that are moderate or middle of the road, Blue Dogs, whatever they are, are they going to listen to the constituency that elect them to go back to Washington or are they going to listen to Washington? And if they listen to Washington, instead of the people, that shows how close to socialism we really are.
RUSH: Well, they'll lose.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: Some of them will lose in 2010.
CALLER: I just hope they haven't done too much damage before then. 'Cause the bad thing about this health care plan that people don't realizes is, I know some of my friends have said, "Oh, well, if we don't like it they won't be in office if four years, we can go back." No, we can't. Once the infrastructure is destroyed and this massive machine is put in motion, there will be no turning back. There will be none.
RUSH: Well, not quite -- I understand what you're saying. It would be difficult to do, and the stars would have to align perfectly for it to happen. But rolling health care back would -- that's why Mona Charen in column called it a ball game, ball game for the country, game over, because it would be difficult. I'm enough of an optimist to think that something that bad, this bad will not be tolerated by people at some point once they -- (interruption) ah, ah, ah -- no, no, no, Snerdley it's different. Medicare and Medicaid and so forth, wait until every American's affected by this. We tolerate Medicaid, we tolerate paying for it 'cause we're a compassionate people. Wait 'til it screws our lives up. Wait 'til that happens. We're going to find out she's right. We're going to find out if the United States of America is still the United States of America. That's really what we're going to find out.
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LAHOOD: This is good for America, Andrea. It's good for car buyers. It's good for Americans. It's good for American workers. It's a wildly popular program. People that make automobiles are very happy. People that sell automobiles are for the first time in a long time, uh, able to make a living, and, uh, it's a program that -- where 80% of the vehicles being traded in are trucks or SUVs. These are gas guzzlers. Look it, we're helping the climate and we're helping, uh, the economy.
RUSH: That's key here: 80% of vehicles being traded in, trucks or SUVs are gas guzzlers look we're helping we're helping the climate we're helping the economy we're getting rid of these crappy cars! Then later with Chris Matthews and the same network, Matthews, asks, "How about I give you $30,000. What's the best car to get out there?"
LAHOOD: I have my eye on a Explorer four-wheel drive, uh, but I have a '97 Buick Regal that doesn't qualify for the program. I may still buy the Explorer. I've been talking to a dealer back in Peoria about this but I would buy a Ford Explorer.
RUSH: It's an SUV! He just got through trashing SUVs be said it's a great thing people are getting rid of bloated SUVs, gas guzzlers. It's great for the environment -- and he's asked by Matthews what kind of car he's buying, and he says a Ford Explorer! That's not even loyal to Obama. Obama doesn't even own Ford yet. Obama owns Chrysler and GM.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
| • MSNBC Transcript: ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' for Monday, August 3 • Greg Pollowitz: Would You Buy a Car from this Man? • ''Clunkers'' program boosts Ford |
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We welcome to our program Dr. Arthur Laffer, ladies and gentlemen, who has prepared a research paper on the Obama health care plan. I've admired your work, Dr. Laffer, ever since I first heard of you back in the late seventies, early eighties. It's great to have you here.
LAFFER: Well, thank you very much, Rush. It's a pleasure.
RUSH: By the way, I want to share something with you. You may not know this, but you are partially responsible for Obama becoming a community organizer, from chapter 7, page 54 of his book, Dreams from My Father: "There wasn't much detail to the idea of community organizer. I didn't know anybody making a living that way. When classmates in college asked me just what it was that a community organizer did, I couldn't answer them directly instead I'd pronounce on the need for change, change in the White House where Reagan and his minions were carrying on their dirty deeds."
LAFFER: (chuckling)
RUSH: You were a minion doing dirty deeds.
LAFFER: A minion? Minion, minion! Oh, my gosh!
RUSH: (laughs)
LAFFER: I don't know if you remember, Rush, but I was on your show in studio in Sacramento, California, many, many years ago.
RUSH: Oh, that's right. You know, you're exactly right.
LAFFER: You impressed me enormously then as well as today.
RUSH: Well, I thank you very much for that. It's mutual, then. I have a summary here of your findings. Let me just run through a couple bullet points and then you can take it and expand on this. "The current proposals being discussed in Washington, House and Senate, would raise the total federal government expenditures by 5.6% more than otherwise, adding $285.6 billion there are to the deficit in 2019, would increase national health care spenders by an additional 8.9%. After all this, it would still leave 30 million Americans uninsured." Fill in the blanks here for us.
LAFFER: Well, you know, it's a fairly straightforward thing. Without going through the specific numbers -- although I'd be more than happy to do that -- you know, whenever you separate people from the purchases they make... If you walked into a store and weren't told what anything cost and you could pick out whatever you wanted free, you're going to be squanders you're going to buy things that are way too expensive that your don't want. I mean, one of the ways controlling costs is making people responsible for their own money, for their own expenditures and that is exactly what this program does not do. It makes the separation between the patient and the doctor and health services further and further removed, and takes away all control of costs. And, frankly, as P. J. O'Rourke put it, he said, "If you think health care is expensive now, just wait 'til you see how much it costs when it's free," and that's exactly what we're doing here.
RUSH: You're an economist, accomplished economist, and you obviously you did a lot of research here. One of my bugaboos is, in a political sense, is that when somebody like an Obama or any Democrat proposes something massive like this, the premise -- which is, we have to health care reform -- is automatically accepted and we start analyzing the numbers and say, "That's too much here; it's too much there." Do you get into the motivation for people who are behind this monster? Does that interest you at all, why they do it?
LAFFER: Well, it interests me, but it's not in this paper. That's not our purpose. As you say, I'm an economist. I worry about the costs of the program, which are going to be a lot more than anyone else suggests. I'm worried about the access and the availability of the services of the health care, and I'm worried the quality of it. I mean, that's what economists really worry about. In this program, it's a real problem.
RUSH: Well, your first point about separating people from the cost of things is right on the money. It started 50 years ago with Medicaid and Medicare, and it's just expanded, and now --
LAFFER: Huge.
RUSH: -- people consider it a right that their employer has to provide for them. But, Dr. Laffer, your research is going to add to what people have already learned on their own by reading what's in the House bill, and they're outraged by it. Do you think that your research paper has an opportunity to stop this?
LAFFER: Well, I hope it provides the information and the fodder, basically, to really make it a lot better, if not stopping it. I mean, I'd love to see it stopped. You know, our health care system has things that can improve it a lot. But it's not broken. It provides great health care for many people, and frankly I think this type of reform and especially in the direction I think these people are going, for having a single-payer, I think it's really the wrong direction for America to go. I think it will really add costs and provide a lower quality product.
RUSH: Now, you have in your paper a lot of solutions that make health care more available, make it better without destroying what's already good in the system. What are some of those?
LAFFER: Well, you know, some of the obvious ones that I think are really big: I mean, I think health care providers who aren't doctors, allowing them to do things they're competent to do and not prohibiting them from doing it -- nurses and other health care technicians -- shots and other things, and prescribing low-level medicines and that type of stuff. I think tort reform is another one, Rush, that really is a huge increase in costs. I mean, the insurance costs a doctor has just for practicing medicine and how that feeds through in expenses, it's amazing. All of these things. There are lots of things we can do to make our system better.
RUSH: HSAs, health savings accounts have been killed.
LAFFER: Yes, HSAs is another good example quarterback there you go.
RUSH: Expressly struck, however, from both houses, the House and the Senate. The HSAs are going to be gone --
LAFFER: Yeah.
RUSH: -- precisely because they do give power and control to the patient.
LAFFER: Sure, and it gives you the power of your own money. It's money that you put in there. I mean, you know, individual ownership of insurance policies, that's an obvious one. The HSAs, as you say, are clear. You know, interstate purchasing of insurance, that's another one that can easily be done. There are lots of other ones that are in there that really will make the system a lot better. But making it the post office or the Department of Motor Vehicles, or making doctors employees of government really doesn't make it better. Honest.
RUSH: Let me move to the general economy if I can for just a second.
LAFFER: Sure. Of course. I love it.
RUSH: We saw the news yesterday: tax receipts, corporate and personal, near record lows since 1930s.
LAFFER: Surprise, surprise. (chuckles)
RUSH: Well, this is a personal question. You're the author of the Laffer curve. The principle that to a certain point lowering marginal tax rates stimulates economic activity and generates more revenue to the Treasury has been proven twice: Kennedy and Reagan. It has been -- well, and, Bush. Bush 43. It has been proven three times. Does it frustrate you personally that something you know works, that has been demonstrated to work, to the world --
LAFFER: Yeah.
RUSH: -- is constantly attacked and tried to be overthrown?
LAFFER: Yeah, but it's silly. Because everyone knows that you can overcharge for something and collect less money and everyone knows you can undercharge for it and collect less money. You know, there is a pricing mechanism there and taxes are no different. Just let's take the health care one here, Rush. You know, the president wanted to put a 5.4% surcharge on millionaires, thinking he'd collect more money. That's about the dumbest idea I've ever heard. If you raise taxes on those people, you're going to get a lot less people; and they're going to figure ways around it, and you're going to collect a lot less money.
RUSH: Dr. Laffer, this gets to a question, a point that really, really bugs me. You just said it's stupid. Anybody with any economic literacy has to conclude by now -- and many knew before it was implemented -- that the whole stimulus theory was bound to fail. It had no chance.
LAFFER: Totally! It's never worked! Whenever you get something for nothing, check (chuckles), because you're probably not getting it.
RUSH: So I'm back to motivation. I'm back, and this may be an area you might not want to get into but I'm going to chance the question.
LAFFER: Sure, go ahead.
RUSH: I don't believe they're stupid. I think it's being done purposely for a reason. Nobody is this stupid. Not with the history of the world and the history of this country, within 20 years as a guide. There's a blueprint how to get an economy going again. It's called: Get out of the way of the American people and incentivize them.
LAFFER: Yes.
RUSH: This is the exact opposite. We're losing five to 600,000 jobs every month. Consumer spending was up 0.4% but incomes are down 1.3%. Nothing is working. There is no rescue. There is no recovery. And they're talking about doubling down on this. And I, for one -- as someone who understands how wrong this is and dangerous -- don't understand why it is being continued.
LAFFER: Well, I'm not really sure, but if you've ever been to the university with fellow professors, I mean they may be able to manipulate a Feynman diagram or invert a matrix over a Banach space, but they don't know how to pay their lunch bill and they can't tie their shoes. And what you see here are these types of mistakes are classic professorial mistakes, lawyer mistakes. They think that if you change a law, Rush, all of a sudden things are working in that direction. It's not true. And they have no idea of the real world. They've never made a bad trade. They've never suffered the humility of their own ideas being wrong. Because in their classroom their ideas are always right, and that's the trouble with this administration, that they really don't have a clue.
RUSH: Well, you're being generous.
LAFFER: I am. I like the people very much. I know a number of them very well. They're good friends.
RUSH: All right. Does Lawrence Summers have a clue?
LAFFER: I don't think he has a clue. He may be the one that you're right on, by the way. (chuckles) The other one's Jared Bernstein. I know him very well. He's a great guy, an honest man. I think he's wrong, but he's a great guy. Christina Romer, she's terrific. Her research before has been great.
RUSH: Yeah. See? Christina Romer is an acolyte of you!
LAFFER: Yeah, but she's great on that stuff. And she's just sitting there now in the position where she has to mouth the party line, which is very sad. I watched Austan Goolsbee defend Obama's firing of the chairman of the board of GM. Hello! That's not what a president of the United States is supposed to do, Rush, but that's they were doing, and the economist was justifying it. "Well, we're a big shareholder now, and..." We? (chuckles) Oh, my goodness. It's crazy, isn't it?
RUSH: It is. Well, it's crazy and dangerous, because, you know, when you start attaching motive to this... I'll grant you that they're professorial and academically stupid, ignorant. But something about this is so bad and so wrong, and when you look at something that this bad, there are people going to benefit from it and when you look at who, then you say, "Okay, how?
LAFFER: But who benefits from this? See, I don't see who benefits from these types of classic mistakes unless you take a power-hungry dictator.
RUSH: Well...
LAFFER: Would Kim Jong-il do this? I mean, seriously.
RUSH: He has done it! His people are eating dogs. They're starving to death.
LAFFER: (laughs)
RUSH: They're doing it in Venezuela. It's the history of the world.
LAFFER: Chavez is a pretty bad guy. There are not many worse than Chavez.
RUSH: The history of the world is this.
LAFFER: I guess it is.
RUSH: This is why the United States is such an exception. And if you have a guy who for whatever reason is a chip on his shoulder about how immoral and unjust this country was... I'll tell you what I think. To put it in economic terms, I think that the objective of Barack Obama is -- via redistribution -- to return the nation's wealth to its, quote, unquote, "rightful owners."
LAFFER: But, you know, he's destroying it for the poor, for minorities, for the disenfranchised.
RUSH: Yeah, but he's --
LAFFER: No one's doing better with 9.5% unemployment, and the participation rates the average hours the average wages the quality of jobs is declining like a submarine sinks.
RUSH: Well, let me posit a theory. If your number one signature issue is health care and you want it because with it you'll be able to regulate every aspect of every American's life --
LAFFER: That's true.
RUSH: -- what better event could you have than massive unemployment and people losing their health insurance, clamoring for more, clamoring for their health care because they're scared to death they're going to get sick. I think there's a lot of fraud and deceit that accompanies the professorial stupidity.
LAFFER: Well, there is a lot of that. It's hubris, I mean, is what it really is --
RUSH: Yeah.
LAFFER: -- and their inability to admit their wrong because frankly they don't have to bear the consequences of their own hubris and their own mistakes. That's the problem.
RUSH: That's a good point. Dr. Laffer, this is great to talk to you again.
LAFFER: Oh, Rush, it's wonderful talking to you. You're a doing a great job. Thank you very much.
RUSH: You're going to present this paper at two o'clock this afternoon right?
LAFFER: I sure am.
RUSH: All right. Well, we'll have an eye on it. Where are you doing that, in New York?
LAFFER: I'm in New York, yes.
RUSH: Well, good luck, and thanks very much for your time.
LAFFER: Thank you very much, Rush.
RUSH: Dr. Art Laffer.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
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| • AP: Consumer spending rises in June, incomes drop • Dr. Art Laffer: The Prognosis for National Health Insurance -PDF • Dr. Art Laffer: National Outreach Press Release -PDF • Dr. Art Laffer: Health Care National Fact Sheet -PDF |
CALLER: Thanks very much, Rush, for letting me be on your show. I guess my point, I just want to go right into it, I don't want to waste your time, my point is, I was in the military in the early eighties, served eight years, part of that with the 82nd Airborne. I got out because the economy had turned around and there were some pretty good jobs out there in the civilian market. Back in February, I got laid off. I've been on unemployment ever since. I'm married, I have two children, and I'm actually getting ready to go back into the Army at 43 years old. My main concern is this administration is rushing so many things down the pike that they're forgetting about the basic need for employment. Without employment, we can't spend any money. I guess I just wanted to let you know that, let your listeners know that as an average American, I mean, I'm just average, I'm scared to death.
RUSH: There are nine-and-a-half to ten percent of the working population or work-able population in your shoes, and if I were you I would be livid. This administration not only is not focusing on jobs and the economy at the expense of health care, it is doing everything it can to prevent this economy from rebounding. I don't care who you voted for, doesn't matter to me who you voted for, I would be livid when you look at these economic policies. All of this stimulus that was supposed to create all these jobs, shovel-ready projects, infrastructure --
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: There's none of that going on, and most of the stimulus money doesn't start getting spent --
CALLER: I did a little bit of research, just a minimum amount of research and looked at some of the numbers. I went onto the administration website. In the state of Kansas, there was less than one-third of 1% of the bailout money spent on shovel-ready projects.
RUSH: Yeah. You know where it's gone? Most of it's gone to state governments to help with their deficits.
RUSH: But in the meantime, I'm unemployed, I'm on unemployment, it's getting ready to run out. And I'm scared to death. Thank goodness I'm very blessed that my wife is a strong working woman.
RUSH: You want to work.
CALLER: I do.
RUSH: You want to work. You don't want to sit around.
CALLER: No. Rush, and I gotta say, the only good thing that has come out of this, the only good thing that has come out of this is I've had the opportunity to spend the summer with my children. That's it. We've had to cut back on every single aspect of our lives. I mean the next thing to go is the cable. And then after that we're into the red zone. I mean we're cutting essentials: food, you know, laundry, clothing, shoes, we're going to start cutting that once unemployment runs out.
RUSH: This is why, folks, I get so agitated when talking about the policies of this administration because the circumstances that you are in, Tom, are shared by millions. Two million Americans since this man took office have lost their jobs.
CALLER: And I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not a whiner. I'm an able-bodied young man -- I consider myself at 43 a young man -- that has many more years of work left. I sent over a hundred resumes. I've had one call back.
RUSH: Well, businesses are in the same situation you are but in a different perspective of they're just trying to survive.
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: They're not hiring anybody. There's no expansion going on out there. There's no economic activity that's on the plus side. There are pockets of it, certain businesses, you know, Apple is doing well and so forth, but unemployment is way up, probably much higher than nine-and-a-half percent when you get into the people not even trying to find work anymore.
CALLER: They've given up.
RUSH: So, I didn't hear you as whining. I hear you as mad.
CALLER: Yeah. You know, and I worked for a company that actually had a green product. But here's the problem: It was an-energy-saving product, not an energy-using or new energy technology, but energy savings. And you can't control that, if they're not using energy, you can't control what they're not using. And so there was no help -- I mean I actually e-mailed the administration, I want to say five or six times. And I even made the comment in my e-mail that with help just enforcing the rules and regulations that currently exist, our company would boom, and I actually used the word boom, trying to get noticed, trying to get it flagged in the e-mail system.
RUSH: Well, Obama's only reading mail from people who are sick and want his health care plan right now. And that's why we gotta do it so fast.
CALLER: And here's the kicker. My wife works for a major state, you know, US-based courier company. And we have great health care through her. I mean the best health care. We pay 20 dollar every time if we go to the doctor --
RUSH: Not for long.
CALLER: Well, no. And that's the thing. I was just thinking about the scenario. If I was to join the military and she was to take me off of her health care plan, at that point she changed her health care plan, so then she is no longer eligible, according to these new rules, she will no longer be eligible for the insurance provided by the company she works for.
RUSH: Right. She'll have to go public option.
CALLER: Have to.
RUSH: Have to.
CALLER: Because she changed it.
RUSH: Yep. Obama is out there denying that, by the way. Well, look, I don't hear you as being a whiner at all. You're a little embarrassed, actually. You don't want to be on unemployment.
CALLER: My wife and I have had this conversation and one of the biggest things -- and she recognizes it and she sees it -- my self-esteem is right now at its lowest that I've ever had it. I'm almost getting choked up right now talking about this.
RUSH: I know, I've been there.
CALLER: I can't provide for my family, Rush. Under the current system, all these changes and this hope that we had, and now I can't even provide for my family? Is that working? Is that making our country better? Like I said, it scares me to death. My dad was killed in Vietnam. And I'm getting ready to go to Afghanistan with that thought in my mind that I was orphaned and now there's a possibility that I could orphan my children.
RUSH: You know something. You sit there, you talk about your self-esteem but you're doing what you have to do.
CALLER: Exactly. That's what I told my wife, we have to do what we have to do.
RUSH: You've explored options, you've sent out a hundred resumes.
CALLER: Over a hundred. The one job that I called back for --
RUSH: What?
CALLER: -- they called back 25 people, and they were paying $12.50 an hour. They got over a hundred resumes, they got over a hundred responses. They interviewed 25 people. And when I walked in, the guy told me, he said, "I just want to let you know right off the bat --" I mean, because I came in there dressed for an interview: suit, tie, my briefcase, my notebook laptop. I was ready to go. I was there to present my portfolio, to show my work history, and the first thing this guy tells me is, "We're only paying $12.50 an hour." Well, 12, 12:50, something like that. I can't even -- literally, I can't even leave the house for a price like that. I don't know, Rush, I thank you so much for taking my call. Again, I don't want to come across as a whiner or somebody who's asking for sympathy because I'm not. I'm just venting my frustration and hopefully other listeners, maybe -- because I know the left listens to your radio program. It's obvious they listen to it. But I'm hoping that somebody out there, this will resonate with them. And, you know, we can maybe hear an audible pop as they pull their head out of their butt and realize that we need to stimulate this economy not by taxing people but by using a proven method.
RUSH: If they were going to do that, Tom, they would have done it by now. It is not their intention. That's what makes me livid about this. These Democrats that are all upset about these town hall meetings taking place out there, they have, like I said, they have no clue the feeling that is bubbling up. The public is becoming increasingly active about their own futures and anxious about their own futures, and all you get is contempt from the people in Washington. When the economy was roaring, they wanted you to feel this way about the Bush economy. When the economy was roaring, they tried to make you think we're in a recession. Now we're in one, they've given it to us, and they don't care.
END TRANSCRIPT
| Read the Background Material... |
|
| • CBS News: $1 Trillion More in Debt Since Obama Took Office • Bloomberg: Obama Sees 10% Unemployment Rate |
CALLER: Hi, Rush. And thanks for taking my call.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: Let me tell you, I am livid with this Obamacare proposal. I belong to a union in Los Angeles, California, in the entertainment industry, and there is no way I would consider giving up my benefits to have any kind of government-operated involvement health care. I have a 12-year-old daughter, and my union and the health care plans that they offer is only second to probably Congress.
RUSH: Now, your union offers the plan. But it's actually from your employer. What kind of business are you in?
CALLER: Well, we're independent contractors in the entertainment industry.
RUSH: Oh! Oh! Now the picture is coming into focus, as they say. So you're an independent contractor -- so your union does provide you the insurance?
CALLER: Yes. They are a conduit for our insurance.
RUSH: A-ha. A-ha. Yeah, the odds are two things are going to happen, well, maybe three. What's going to happen is, first, businesses, if this public option ever comes up, are going to off-load their health care to get rid of the cost. They don't care about anything else right now. It's breaking their banks. They'll be happy to off-load it to the public option. Second thing is that unions will probably feel -- I mean that's what Obama wants. That's what they've elected him to do. See, Obama thinks guys like you want the government to run everything because you love the government when guys like Obama are running it. The third thing that will happen is if for some reason you are allowed to keep that plan because you're a union and you're exempted and he has special favors for unions, if that plan changes, if the price changes, if the coverage, if there's a minutest change -- it's in the bill -- you are no longer allowed to renew it and you have to go to public option. So one way or another you're going to end up under Obamacare.
CALLER: Let me tell you this, Rush, let me just break in here a minute, is that he has attempted to wanting to tax the unions, and then once he got the push-back from the unions, he's laid off of that for health care. You made me aware of that. So I don't expect the unions to be impacted, because those are the coffers that support his existence.
RUSH: Well, I know. Remember, now, he said in 2007 and 2003 that he thinks there should be a single payer system. It may take 15 or 20 years, he may have to make you guys last because he owes you the most. But his objective is to have everybody covered by the federal government.
CALLER: Additionally, Rush, I am a Vietnam-era vet, and I have -- and I'm over 55 -- and let me tell you, the Veterans Administration run health care would be my last resort. I would not use a government instituted health program when I have choices. So he's lost two areas here on the West Coast with individuals in my similar state of being as well as other union and former vets.
RUSH: Are you not the only union guy that feels the way you do in your union?
CALLER: They all do. They feel similar to what I do. They don't want to give up their excellent health care that they get and the providers that provide those, because we have choices of where we can go.
RUSH: Exactly right. And you know something, that's the case for over 50%, 60% of the population. They don't want to change what they've got. They don't want to.
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: But, see, that doesn't matter to Obama, Ronald, and it doesn't matter to the Democrats. They're going to force this on us anyway. It doesn't matter. The contempt that they are feeling for the public right now is at an all-time high 'cause this kind of opposition wasn't in the plan, this was not dreamed of. I appreciate the call. Very enlightening.
END TRANSCRIPT
| It's cupcake time again! |
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Go play with yourself.
I bet your son (the one that’s on your home page) is more of an adult than you.
GET LOST.
How many other Freepers did you mess with today?
I’ll check and post them, if you’d like.
they all want to enslave us. The politicians on both sides are drunk with power. Our government is out of control
It does seems that way, doesn’t it?
The politicians — all of them — have to listen and COMMUNICATE with the people.
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