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Rush Limbaugh

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RUSH: Take a look. You go down the list of issue, issue, issue, whatever issue that has roiled this country. Whatever issue, whatever issue that Obama has put forth, whatever he supports (I don’t care what it is) is in opposition to the majority thinking of this country. The majority did not want the government owning General Motors or Chrysler. The majority does not want nationalized health care. The majority does not want the financial regulatory reform bill.

You haven’t heard the latest. Guess what? You think this is gonna not cause a problem? This is from Kevin Williamson, who is the blogger at Exchequer. That’s the National Review Online blog on debt and deficits. ‘Senator Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are pushing legislation that would commit taxpayers’ dollars to bailing out the Teamsters’ retirement pension fund.’ So we have bailed out the United Auto Workers and their health care. We are bailing out unions left and right with every one of these stimulus programs, Porkulus programs, bailout programs. We are bailing out teachers’ pension plans. We are bailing out public sector unions and their health care plans, their jobs and their pensions. Now two Democrats come along and are pushing legislation that would commit taxpayer dollars to bailing out the Teamsters’ retirement pension fund. Now, when did unions become sacrosanct? When did it happen that everybody else can fail — everybody else can go bankrupt, everybody else can encounter market oriented financial problems — but for some reason the unions can’t? When did this happen?

When did it happen that 8% of the workforce in the private sector unionized category must not fail? Where is it written that these people must not fail? Well, part and parcel the Obama agenda and the Democrat Party. ‘Under the Democrats’ plan, the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which is basically a pension-insurance fund run by the federal government, would be able to receive tax dollars to bail out so-called orphan pensions — pensions for which employers have ceased making contributions, usually for reasons of insolvency.’ So we have insolvent companies not making contributions. Guess what? You and I have to, according to Bob Casey and Earl Pomeroy. ‘The Casey bill would change all that, creating a ‘fifth fund’ within PBGC that would receive taxpayer support. Currently, federal law carefully specifies that PBGC obligations are not obligations of the U.S. government. Casey-Pomeroy would reverse that, mandating that ‘obligations of the corporation that are financed by the [fifth fund] shall be obligations of the United States,” which means us, the US taxpayer.

In other words, we’re gonna pay the bill. We’re going to have to print the money. We don’t have the money. There isn’t money. That’s the whole point. The reason that they’re having problems is because their employers are insolvent. The US government is bankrupt. But somehow we’re going to come along now and bail out the Teamsters. What next? Will pig iron workers get bailed out and then the bricklayers get bailed out? (interruption) Nobody’s bailing us out, Snerdley. We’re the ones paying for all this. My point is you go issue after issue after issue, Obama is in the minority. On issue after issue after issue Obama is governing against the will of the American people. I don’t care whether it’s this or any other Porkulus bill or stimulus bill or bailout, or health care, or cap and trade. I don’t care what it is, Barack Obama is in the minority. Barack Obama and the Democrat Party represent maybe 20% of the thinking in this country.

And then here you go: ‘As galling as it would be to bail out the Teamsters and their other private-sector union buddies … things would immediately get much, much worse if that precedent were used to justify a bailout of the public-sector unions, whose unfunded pension liabilities run into the trillions.’ Think CalPERS and CalSTRS. We know that in California we’ve got unfunded, underfunded pensions for the teachers and the public employees union out there that is in the trillions. So if two Democrats can come up with legislation to bail out the Teamsters’ private sector pension fund, then why the hell can we not go ahead and bail out California state teachers and public employees and their pension plans? In fact, Illinois is leading the way when it comes to state employees retirements. California’s pension shortfall is larger than the gross domestic product of Saudi Arabia, an oil producing state. ‘Casey-Pomeroy almost certainly would lead to a broader union bailout,’ because once you start bailing out the Teamsters how do you tell the pig iron workers that you’re not going to bail them out, and how do you tell the bricklayers that you’re not going to be bail out their pensions?

There is no money. None of this has ever been real, and now the pedal hits the metal, the rubber hits the road — and when we realize there isn’t any money anywhere, that none of this has been real, guess what has to happen? Those of you who are among the 10.5% unemployed, your kids and grandkids — mine and everybody else’s — are now going to be paying, if this legislation passes, gets signed, in order to bail out unions, public sector, private sector unions. Is this why we had to bail out Wall Street, to set the precedent? Who knows. But not all of Wall Street got bailed out. Just a few precious firms on Wall Street got bailed out.

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RUSH: President Obama was in Hollywood yesterday, told a fundraiser last night that he and congressional Democrats have passed the ‘most progressive legislation’ in decades. ‘We have been able to deliver the most progressive legislative agenda — one that helps working families — not just in one generation, maybe two, maybe three,’ said Imam Obama — which is to say, ladies and gentlemen, Obama is bragging about advancing the most socialist agenda that we have had since FDR, and look where that got us! So once again, whatever he does, he’s in the minority. He’s on the opposite side of every issue of the American people.

‘Obama was joined by a number of lawmakers and celebrities in an event for the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) that raised $1 million. Obama is hitting the campaign trail hard this week before he goes on vacation’ again, the fourth one in five weeks, ‘to Martha’s Vineyard,’ a $50,000-a-week house rental up there, where he’ll have beer with Skip Gates many of the afternoons at cocktail hour, bragging about ‘his administration’s accomplishments and accusing Republicans of trying to return to the policies of George W. Bush.’ Oh, what we wouldn’t give to go back a year and a half! Just turn back the hands of time before the stimulus bill, before all that rotgut bailout stuff. What a scam. We were all hoodwinked. Well, not hoodwinked. We were jobbed. Phony crisis, imminent destruction of the world economic system unless we bailed out this and bailed out that.

Obama said, ‘This is exactly when you want to be president… This is why I ran, because we have the opportunity to shape history for the better.’ Well, Obama seems to spend most of his time rewriting history, especially his own. But shouldn’t the president be trying to shape the future? What’s he worrying about history for here? The opportunity to shape history for the better? What about our children’s future? Of course, we can understand why Obama doesn’t want to bring up the future: he’s doomed it. The future under Obama’s policies is not something people want to look forward to, so now he’s looking at the future as history. Yeah. We have the opportunity to shape history. ‘With polls showing Democrats in serious trouble during an anti-incumbent election year, Obama said that helping Democrats get elected in November is his ‘focus over the next several months.” Well, whoopee-doo. Let’s see how that works out for him. He says, ‘I’ve got hope and change.’

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RUSH: Here’s Scott in Los Angeles as we go to the phones, great to have you on the EIB Network, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, Rush, honor to speak to you.

RUSH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: Hey, I’ve been listening to all of these bailouts going to let’s say teachers unions and now they’re talking about taking care of these other unions. And it just, to me, seems crazy that the unions will take money from the employees and spend that money on the Democratic Committee —

RUSH: Democrat.

CALLER: Democrat.

RUSH: Democrat Committee.

CALLER: Yeah. As opposed to putting that money towards these pensions that need to be bailed out now.

RUSH: No, no, no. That’s for the employers and the taxpayers to do.

CALLER: Right. I mean, it’s just absolutely ridiculous that… I don’t know. I just don’t hear enough people talking about it or doing the math and saying, ‘This is how much money they gave to the Democrats. Now we need to bail ’em out for this much money. If you took this and minus that, we wouldn’t need to bail ’em out.’

RUSH: Well, you know, we’re talking about ‘need to,’ ‘have to.’ Where do we get past the fact that we have to? You know, it’s our responsibility or our obligation. That’s the big change here. The fact that people are broke, there’s nothing new about that. That’s been happening since we invented money. But all of a sudden now in America, if you’re broke, and you happen to have supported a Democrat, the American taxpayer’s going to pay you back. That’s the point we’ve gotten to. So if you are a union member — or, hell, anybody! If you voted for a Democrat, if you’ve raised money for a Democrat, doesn’t matter, and you’re broke? Don’t worry about it because legislators are gonna pass laws in Congress that somehow raise taxes on everybody who didn’t vote for them. Well, actually on people who did vote Democrat as well, to bail you out.

When did we get to this point? Well, we got to this point… We’ve been building to it. I mean, this is where we have been heading, the Democrat Party and their unholy alliance with unions for all these years, decades, but now that we’ve got a guy in the White House who totally owes his election to them. Now we’ve gotten to the point where, ‘Oh, yeah, Teamsters pension are underfunded? Don’t sweat i! Paul Casey and Earl Pomeroy are gonna take care of it with legislation to raise taxes to bail out the depleted Teamsters’ pension fund,’ and that’s just the beginning.

Never mind the fact that we don’t have the money to do this.

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RUSH: All right. Get this, folks. According to the US Department of Labor in 2009, the National Education Association raked in $355 million in dues and agency fees from mostly teachers around the country. Money also came in from other receipts and interest payments. Their total was about $377 million in 2009. But $355 million in dues and we’re bailing out their pension plans. The guy’s call was right on the money.

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RUSH: Buffalo, New York, this is Ann. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Hey, it’s so great to talk to you. I wanted to tell you that being a resident of New York state, I’m not surprised at all by what Pomeroy wants to do for the Teamsters. Fund the retirement.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: In New York state we income taxpayers have been bailing out the teachers’ retirement fund for years. I cringe every time I see the stock market go down, not only because our portfolio is taking a hit but because I know my taxes are going up some more to reimburse the teachers.

RUSH: Now, isn’t that interesting.

CALLER: Isn’t that something?

RUSH: I did not know that. I shoulda known that ’cause I used to pay New York — hell, ‘used to’? I still do pay New York City taxes. I still pay state taxes, but not for long because I’m closing on a deal on Thursday. (interruption) That’s right, I’m closing on the New York condo on Thursday. Absolutely right.

CALLER: Oh, my gosh. God bless you, Rush.

RUSH: Now Snerdley thinks I’m just — (crosstalk)

CALLER: — on your back, I should say.

RUSH: Well, you know, it’s interesting you talk about bailing out and the stock market. I don’t know why the first thought I had was, you mean to tell me that the teachers’ pension fund is in the stock market? I know the California PERS and STRS funds stock market —

CALLER: Oh, yeah.

RUSH: But we can’t put Social Security in the stock market.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: But every union pension fund is invested in the stock market.

CALLER: And when they take a hit, the taxpayers pay.

RUSH: Damn right. Damn right. ‘In unions we trust.’

CALLER: (laughing) Well, you can say that.

RUSH: I’m being facetious. I’m glad you called out there, Ann.

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RUSH: Phillip in Tyler, Texas, you’re next on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hello, sir.

CALLER: An honor to speak with you, sir.

RUSH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: I was listening to your bringing us the news of the Teamsters needing a bailout from the government, and I’m wondering. I haven’t read the details of the legislation, but oftentimes those pension benefit guaranteed bailouts are not at a hundred percent. So for your hard work as a rank-and-file member you’ve given your dues. You’ve given your pension to the union to have it invested and be there for your retirement, and the union has lost it, and they got you a bailout on the backs of the taxpayers that the country can’t afford. And, by the way, it’s, what, 50 cents on the dollar? I’m not sure how that legislation is gonna read. So it’s kind of a final slap in the face to the rank-and-file there.

RUSH: I’m not sure I get your point.

CALLER: Well, that they got you a bailout —

RUSH: Wait a minute. Who?

CALLER: The Teamsters, the legislation that is being proposed —

RUSH: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: — to bail out their pension fund. It’s not often that a pension benefit guarantee is at a hundred percent of the value of your fund or the value of your pension, you’re gonna take some sort of a loss on that.

RUSH: Oh, no, not this time.

CALLER: Oh, it’s a hundred percent guarantee this time?

RUSH: Well, I’ll have to read it, but the law as it currently stands, the federal government has a pension takeover bunch, and they do not fully fund pensions that are belly up. The purpose of this legislation… Let me read it again, but I’m sure that it’s significant. It’s more than what the current law allows for. That’s why they’re trying to amend it.

CALLER: I see.

RUSH: But this is specifically aimed at the Teamsters. This legislation is aimed at one union whose pension and health care plans are kaput, insolvent, and bankrupt, which is just the beginning if this happens. It’s Bob Casey and Earl Pomeroy, South Dakota.

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RUSH: We decided to look into this Teamster’s bailout business based on the question of the previous caller. He wanted to find out if a hundred percent are covered. It turns out essentially no. The taxpayers are the ultimate backstop. What we’re talking about here is the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. What’s going to happen here is that these orphan pensions that are orphan because the companies are insolvent are going to be folded in to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which itself, according to quick research we did here at the top of the hour is already significantly underfunded and taxpayers are its ultimate backstop. It’s always going to come back to us. Even the guarantor here, when they’re outta money guess who they come to to replenish? It’s us. Now, the Casey-Pomeroy bailout — we’re talking Teamster pensions here. The Casey-Pomeroy bailout could dump as much as $165 billion in new liabilities into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. That’s $165 billion in taxpayer money. Multiemployer plans would get a clean bill of health.

Now, the caller was right. Under Casey’s bill, payouts to current retirees of the Teamsters would be limited to $21,000 a year, a fraction of what they expect to receive. (interruption) You don’t care, Snerdley? Snerdley is shouting through the glass at me, ‘It’s $21,000 too much!’ Now, I should tell you this is reported in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal Review and Outlook. The next pension bailout, August 15th, is just a couple days ago. So it’s not a full 100% bailout. It’s $21,000 a year, as opposed to what the retiree expects to get. It doesn’t matter. It’s still us. It’s still the taxpayers paying the $21,000. We’re not Teamsters members. We haven’t paid dues into a union fund. It is our responsibility to bail ’em out because that’s the way the Democrat Party that’s ruling the roost now decides their voters are going to be made whole.

Gallup, out just now, first time in its tracking poll: ‘More Americans Disapprove of Obama than Approve.’ It’s 51% disapprove, 42% approve in the latest Gallup tracking number. Look, if my investment portfolio was in the tank — and, by the way, my investment portfolio is made up of money that I have earned and I have then socked away in my investment portfolio. Every dime in there is mine. It’s not been matched by anybody. Mine hasn’t. I’m an IC. I am my own sub-S. Nobody matches what I put in there. I pay the full 15% Social Security; I pay all the Medicare. I get nothing from anybody. If my portfolio went to dust, it stays at dust. If my portfolio goes to zero, it stays at zero.

Because I would not be able to make the claim that I work for some predatory employer or predatory company that was secretly screwing me behind my back. But this is all predicated on the fact, I think — I mean, not all predicated but I would assume that one of the many rationales for this is — on, ‘Well, of course these poor Teamsters people are owed this because look at the rotten scum they work for. Look at the evil corporations they work for.’ So we’re bailing out mortgages, we’re bailing out houses, we are bailing out health care, we are bailing out clunker cars, we are bailing out solar panels on your roof, we are bailing out…what else? Appliances. We’re bailing out people on Wall Street who have mismanaged their businesses.

We’re bailing them out.

Nobody is bailing us out, unless you have a mortgage that’s being bailed out, unless you turned in a clunker. We’re bailing out the unemployed for 99 weeks, with an additional 20 weeks being added. Now the poor Teamsters, some of them, their pensions are zilch, zero, nada, but we’re going to pay $21,000 a year. That’s chicken feed to buy a vote for the Democrats. As far as Pomeroy and Bob Casey Jr. are concerned that’s cheap: $21,000 to buy a vote from a Democrat union member when they’re probably gonna get the vote anyway, but they want to make sure. That’s really cheap. Now, contrast this with the fact that — I don’t know what the Teamsters’ corresponding numbers here are, but NEA in 2009 took in $355 million in dues. I don’t know what the Teamsters are taking in or the pig iron workers or other unions, $355 million. We are bailing out teachers. We just did it last week, again, to the tune of $26 billion. Government workers, too. Private sector, teachers… Well, I guess private sector teachers, but other public sector employees.

Now, Snerdley, you have been in New York. Many of you have been in New York. Those of you who live there of course know this. The hansom cabs. These are the horse-drawn carriages that take you on walking tours through Central Park, and they’re really lovely in wintertime, Christmastime. People are all bundled up going through the park. They’re popular year round. They’re fairly expensive. Yet every year… Well, not every year, but almost every year when it gets hot a couple days in New York, you hear a smattering of complaints from the animal rights people about cruelty to horses. But have you noticed they never really shut them down?

The liberals never shut ’em down. They let the animal rights people wail and moan now and then about cruelty to horses, but they never shut them down. Do you ever wonder why there are still hansom cabs in New York City? Well, I know, it’s a quaint throwback and it’s romantic and it’s a good way to go through Central Park, but the dirty little secret is they are Teamsters. The drivers of hansom cabs are Teamsters. I kid you not. And they make a fortune. So while there is lip service paid every now and then to the animal cruelty, horse cruelty and so forth, liberals and animal rights groups have put up a good fight because of the cruelty, yet those hansom cabs are still there.

The one time, the one time that people don’t cave to the animal rights wackos — the one instance they don’t cave to the liberal social do-gooders — is the hansom cab because the drivers are Teamsters. And from what I understand they do pretty well. Now, me, I got no problem with it. You know, ‘A horse is a horse, of course, of course,’ (said backwards equals ‘S-s-s-satan,’ as we were once told by an Ohio minister). But all that aside, the biggest problem of course is the poop. Central Park South at the wrong time of day can stink when you come out of your high-class, five-star hotel there. It’s not just Central Park. They’re running around midtown and certain places, but the drivers are Teamsters. (interruption) You didn’t know that, Snerdley? You didn’t know it? (interruption) Why? (interruption) Did you think they’re just independent contractors, like the guys that push the food carts? Yeah.

Well, they’re not. They’re Teamsters.

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RUSH: The Teamsters collected $187 million in dues in 2009. The NEA almost doubled that. I mean, can you imagine the NEA putting the Teamsters in the shade when it comes to dues? Phew! Jimmy Hoffa, where are you? If he’s still capable of understanding what’s going on that would tick him off. The teachers are collecting more union dues than his Teamsters Union is? What an embarrassment. Teachers, for crying out loud!

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RUSH: I want to be fair to the Teamsters. I might have given a partial answer. The total for the Teamsters represents national dues. It does not include local dues. The NEA doesn’t have local dues, so there’s not… You know, the Teamsters Local 6969. There’s not an NEA Local 1313 or whatever. All of NEA’s are national dues, so we don’t know what the local dues collected by the Teamsters are. But it’s still going to be dwarfed at the end of the day by the NEA.

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