RUSH: Amazon. There’s an object lesson here. Amazon reported its quarterly earnings yesterday. I don’t have the data right in front of me, but Amazon did not report a profit. They did not report growth. They did not report anything that was positive, and the stock market just went up through the roof. Apple reports record revenue, the fourth most profitable quarter ever, and the bottom fell out for them. One analyst speculated, had a theory as to why Amazon’s doing well. Are you ready for this? “Investors appreciate a company willing to lose money.” Honest to God, that’s the summarization. That’s the summary of what this guy said. Amazon selling stuff at prices that can’t possibly earn a profit, that deserves to be rewarded.
That means Amazon cares about people. That means Amazon’s not trying to exploit their customers. So people are investing in Amazon. Their stock price went up. They’re reporting losses. And the same people beating up Apple for inexplicable reasons are claiming that — well, just one analyst. I haven’t seen this as a blanket explanation, but one analyst said, “Oh, man, Amazon, you gotta love these guys. They’re selling things at prices they can’t possibly earn a profit. They’ve got the consumer in mind. You gotta really appreciate what Amazon’s doing.” Well, that’s all well and good, but who in the heck would put their money into a company that’s not going to show a profit? But people are doing it.
So it’s either analyst advice or the hedge funds, mutual funds buying it without the knowledge of the individual investor. Amazon’s profits fell 45%, honest to God, folks. Amazon reported mixed earnings yesterday. Their $21.2 billion in revenue was a little short of Wall Street expectations, just like Apple’s was. Amazon’s profits fell 45%, and Slate.com has a story: “Amazon Profits Fall 45 Percent, Still the Most Amazing Company in the World.” This is not something we want our children learning, that investors reward loss, it’s great for the consumers.
From this Slate.com article, this is what I was talking about. “Amazon, as best I can tell, is a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers.” By charitable organization, what they mean is that Jeff Bezos isn’t worried about making a profit. He doesn’t care if he loses money, as long as the consumer is happy. In our current place that this country is, what the left has done and everybody’s attitude toward big business, we’re now getting to the point we’re rewarding companies that lose money because that means they care about the consumer. We reward companies that make no profit because that’s what the left says. Why should there be profit in health care? Why should a doctor get rich for treating the sick? Why should a hospital make any money? Why should people who sell food, profit from it?
These are things that are taught in business schools now, and you got liberals, little young skulls full of mush running around thinking this stuff. They believe it. I’ve run into ’em. I’ve talked to them. I’ve had these New Castrati guys come up to me, “Mr. Limbaugh, why should there be profits in things people need, like health care? People need to be cured when they get diseases or when they get sick. How come somebody should get rich doing that? And why should food cost anything more than it costs to produce it? It’s not fair. It’s exploiting.”
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RUSH: I want to read you one more brief excerpt from the Slate.com story on Amazon, whose profits fell 45% and the stock went up through the roof. Here’s this excerpt: “It’s a truly remarkable American success story. But if you own a competing firm, you should be terrified. Competition is always scary, but competition against a juggernaut that seems to have permission from its shareholders to not turn any profits is really frightening.”
The hell you say. So apparently everybody invested in Amazon is perfectly fine with not only no profits, but with huge losses because, well, it’s charitable. It’s really to the benefit of the consumers. Amazon is doing a great service keeping prices so low. How come Walmart never gets this kind of credit? This really… folks, I don’t know, talking for how long about the assault on profit and the whole concept, but man, oh, man, when Wall Street — I mean, Wall Street is ostensibly — we all know it’s not, but ostensibly the den of capitalism comes along and rewards and praises a company whose profits plummeted 45%, whose revenue was down, as going gangbusters, it just proves the point. Profit is evil. There’s no need for it.
You know what’s gonna happen? You’re gonna have a bunch of people being taught this. “See, you can stay in business losing money. What don’t you explain that, Mr. Limbaugh? That’s an excellent point here. Amazon — and you just admitted — they’re losing money, 45%, and they stay in business, Mr. Limbaugh, and their customers are exceedingly happy, as are their investors. So what is the need for profit?” People are gonna conclude this. You may think I’m off in left field here, but don’t doubt me.
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RUSH: Mary Jo, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mary Jo, I’m glad you called, and thank you for your patience. Great to have you here. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I’m calling about this story you mentioned earlier about the media praising Amazon’s profit-loss. I just wanted to point out the hypocrisy of the media which you already know, but on two different points. One, they were praising Amazon for losing money and yet benefiting the customer, and they can’t stand Walmart, who makes money and benefits the customer at the same time. They have a real problem with someone who can benefit the customer and yet make money, if the company has an ideology opposed to theirs. And also the fact that they were praising Amazon for benefiting the customer and losing money, but what about all those small business owners? All those small bookstores and other small businesses that are going out of business because Amazon is outselling them.
RUSH: Well, about that, you see, I mentioned the Walmart comparison, and it shows the selective outrage that the left has. Walmart is bad because they’re not union. Walmart is also bad because they’re destroying mom-and-pop. But so is Amazon. But Amazon’s okay because Jeff Bezos is a card-carrying Democrat, raises money for Democrats, probably donates a lot of money to Democrats, bundles, and he’s a great guy, is willing to basically run a charity here for consumers. Jeff Bezos is what allows a silly story like Amazon’s today. To praise a company, profit down 45%. There is no revenue growth at Amazon. They are selling those Kindles at losses.
You know, Amazon’s business model is to not make money off of any hardware. They practically give the Kindle away at cost, or maybe even below, and then they hope to make money selling the content for it, and they do that with a lot of other items as well. It turns out they’re losing money. It’s very infrequently they’ve shown a profit at all, and yet they’re being praised to the hilt for this. He stays in business. He’s got deep pockets. So he allows the left to say, “Wow, it’s basically a charity. Here’s a guy, doesn’t care about profit. He’s able to make customers happy with low prices, and he stays in business. He’s not going out of business. It proves you don’t need to make a profit.”
That’s why he’s being heralded or Amazon is being heralded and so forth. But the really curious thing is the investors. Amazon stock price did go up a little bit. It’s a crazy thing. Who would invest in a losing company, but they are. Meanwhile, Apple, other examples, just growing through the roof, leaps and bounds in certain aspects by record numbers. And all of the analysts and all of the media people are urging people to forget Apple. It’s over, get out fast, get out quick. They’re saying it’s over. Their best days are behind ’em. Here, put your money in this outfit that doesn’t care about profit. It’s just the liberals, Democrats being loyal to themselves.
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RUSH: Hey, Mary Jo from Grand Rapids, Michigan, I know you’re still out there. Here’s a possible answer to your question: Why does Amazon get praised and Walmart get ripped? This could be a possible reason. We learned that Jeff Bezos — Amazon CEO — donated two-and-a-half million dollars to help pass a same-sex marriage referendum in Washington state. That could be all it takes to end up being praised to the hilt from people like Slate and elsewhere in the Drive-By Media.
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RUSH: All right, hold on, folks, hold everything. I am not criticizing Amazon. I’m not ripping Amazon to shreds. Don’t call Jeff Bezos. Well, call Jeff Bezos, I don’t care what you do. I use Amazon like everybody else does. I’m telling you it’s an object lesson. Their profits are down 45% today or they announced their quarterly earnings, the stock price is up 14 bucks. They’re being praised in the media for losing money. They’re being praised in the media basically being a charity and they’re being held out. This is an object lesson. It’s an economics object lesson given where we are in the country today.
The Amazon story, you gotta understand, is tailor made for low-information voters. This story is tailor made for what the left is trying to do in education when it comes to the economy. You know as well as I do that profit is evil, capitalism is evil. Barack Obama and the Democrats have sought to blame capitalism as the reason you don’t have a job. Capitalism is the reason your house is worthless. Capitalism is the reason that you don’t get a raise. Capitalism is the reason that only 1% of the people have everything, and they’re able to steal it from you because of capitalism. Capitalism allows people to die. It was capitalism that made Romney not care that some guy’s wife died from cancer. It was capitalism that had Romney putting his dog on the roof of his car during vacation. It was capitalism that is the source of all evil. Capitalism is the reason the country was unjust and immoral from the days of the founding. They’re teaching this. It’s not good. It isn’t healthy, and it’s not true.
So when Amazon comes along and reports near record losses and is held out as a great company and as a sterling example, and the stock price skyrockets… sorry, it gets my attention. And then I see a story in Slate.com where, you know, this is really good. This is basically a charitable organization disguised as a company. And they’re making it possible for their customers to get things at very low prices. They don’t need profit to stay in business. This is really cool and facilitates this desire of the left to discredit the greatest economic system ever devised. It may not be perfect, obviously, but it’s certainly better than socialism or communism or Marxism or what have you, certainly better than what Obama’s attempting to assemble. That’s my only point.
The media is what they are, and if they’re gonna circle the wagons and try to use Amazon as an object lesson in classrooms and everywhere else as a means of discrediting capitalism, that’s all I’m telling you. As far as Amazon’s concerned, I’m not ripping them. A lot of companies would like to be in their shoes, lose money and the stock prices goes up. Lose money and people invest. Lose money and get praised in the media. Lose money and be said this is the correct business model. They’re probably the envy of a lot of people.