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<\/p>\nRUSH: Rick in Los Angeles. I\u2019m glad you called, sir, and it\u2019s great to have you here. Hi.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hello, Rush. Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You bet.<\/p>\n
CALLER: I\u2019m hoping you could help me out with something. I\u2019m confused about something, and I figured you\u2019re the only guy that could help me out. So it\u2019s a question regarding the grand bargain and budget negotiating. I kind of understand baseline budgeting, we have a baseline, and we\u2019re projected to go a certain distance out into ten years, and we have a deficit. And as part of that baseline, taxes on December 31st are going up for everybody, so that\u2019s already in the books, it\u2019s already in the budget. I hear a lot of talk about raising taxes for the wealthy on December 31st, but that\u2019s really not what\u2019s happening. What\u2019s happening on December 31st, if it doesn\u2019t go up for everybody, what the Democrats and the president want to do is reduce taxes for those people making under $250,000. The problem I have is I always thought that the Democrats and the president said if you\u2019re gonna reduce taxes, you have to pay for it. Have they proposed how they\u2019re gonna pay for that tax decrease?<\/p>\n
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RUSH: Well, yes. The taxes on the rich and the elimination of loopholes and deductions for the rich is how they\u2019re gonna pay for all that. But, look, you know, you\u2019re on to a couple things here. As far as most people are concerned, and I really believe this is true — I saw some exit polling data. Do you realize — I gotta find it. I don\u2019t want to paraphrase it, but on one level it\u2019s stunning and shocking, and then when you stop and think about it, it isn\u2019t really. But the vast majority of people who voted think the Democrat Party is the party of lower taxes. It\u2019s not even close. The Republicans have lost that issue entirely, according to exit polling and other data as well. <\/p>\n
The Bush tax rates are portrayed by Obama and the Democrats as only benefiting the rich. The Bush tax rates — this why there\u2019s a part of me that says, go ahead and let \u2019em do what they want to do and let\u2019s illustrate, let\u2019s have everybody\u2019s taxes go up, as you say. With the Bush tax cuts expiring, everybody\u2019s taxes are going up. Everybody\u2019s taxes are going up anyway no matter what deal is made because of Obamacare<\/a> alone. Everybody\u2019s taxes are gonna be skyrocketing no matter what deal is done. But this notion of paying for the tax cuts doesn\u2019t apply to Democrats, is the answer to your question.<\/p>\n CALLER: Yes, because the tax cuts to the rich, you\u2019re saying that\u2019s how they\u2019re gonna pay for it. That\u2019s already in the baseline budgeting. All taxes are going up. They\u2019re going from 36 to thirty-nine point whatever percent. That\u2019s already in the baseline.<\/p>\n RUSH: Yes, but there\u2019s also —<\/p>\n CALLER: If you reduce taxes —<\/p>\n RUSH: The capital gains rate is going up. There\u2019s other taxes that only supposedly affect the rich.<\/p>\n CALLER: But that\u2019s already in the baseline. That\u2019s already in there.<\/p>\n RUSH: No, that\u2019s technically not in the baseline. I know what you\u2019re trying to say. What you\u2019re trying to say is that the budgetary effect of the Bush tax rates expiring has already been calculated, it\u2019s already known. And so whatever they say about it is smoke and mirrors, right? That\u2019s essentially what you\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n CALLER: That\u2019s right. If you\u2019re gonna lower taxes for anybody, you have to increase taxes somewhere else, over and above the Bush tax rates. That\u2019s already in the numbers. If you\u2019re gonna reduce taxes on 250 and under, you have to propose a budget cut somewhere to pay for that, or even more taxes, more than the capital gains rate going to 20%, more than the tax rate going to 39.6.<\/p>\n RUSH: Are you being facetious here, or do you really believe what you\u2019re saying here? Do you believe this “pay for it” jargon that you\u2019re using?<\/p>\n CALLER: Oh, I absolutely believe that lowering taxes creates growth. I\u2019m using their argument against them.<\/p>\n RUSH: Because there\u2019s no such thing as paying for a tax —<\/p>\n CALLER: Of course not.<\/p>\n RUSH: If we don\u2019t dispatch with that line of thinking. If we don\u2019t get rid of this notion we have to pay for tax cuts because underlying that is that the government is automatically entitled to every dollar that is produced, earned, created in the country. The idea that tax cuts have to be paid for, by definition, the government\u2019s entitled to every dollar, and we\u2019ve got to get rid of this way of thinking. So I\u2019m asking if you\u2019re doing this sarcastically.<\/p>\n CALLER: But that\u2019s exactly my point. You can use this against the Democrats. What the Democrats are saying is the reason why they want to lower taxes on the middle class is because it\u2019s helpful for the economy, and they\u2019re not proposing to pay for it. So aren\u2019t they acknowledging that lowering taxes and not paying for it is a good thing?<\/p>\n RUSH: Well, no. No. I know what you\u2019re trying to conclude here. You\u2019re trying to catch them in something. But they\u2019re not gonna be caught. The Republicans are not going to catch them in anything. The Republicans are going to go along, I fear. Maybe not. We\u2019ll see. I appreciate the call. <\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: Okay, very simply, fiscal cliff. <\/a> I believe, if we\u2019re gonna raise anybody\u2019s taxes, then you ought to raise everybody\u2019s. Raise everybody\u2019s, not just the rich, raise everybody\u2019s taxes. Let\u2019s be fair. But I don\u2019t think taxes are the reason we\u2019re in this mess. We\u2019re not gonna solve this mess \u2019til we start cutting spending. And I think everybody\u2019s taxes ought to be lowered, to tell you the truth, and the government ought to cut spending.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: Okay, the fiscal cliff, the budget deal to save the nation and all this stuff. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s very complicated. Where we\u2019re headed is very obvious. What we have to do to fix it is very obvious. And what\u2019s also very obvious is that nobody wants to actually deal with it. They want to paper it over, cosmetically approach it, kick the can down the road for as long as they can with Band-Aids. But the problem is very simple. We are spending way more money, combination spending and borrowing, than we have, than we are producing. It\u2019s not even close. It\u2019s utterly irresponsible what has happened to this country, and we\u2019re on a path of financial collapse. We\u2019re on the path to financial ruin. We have spending commitments that we cannot possibly pay for, no matter what we do. <\/p>\n There is no amount of money that can be raised via tax increases that does not destroy the economy that can solve the problem. There simply isn\u2019t. You can\u2019t raise taxes on people enough to fix this and still leave people with enough disposable income to live. You just can\u2019t, at which point Obama says, “That\u2019s okay with me, I\u2019ll print more money. I\u2019ll borrow more money from the ChiComs, or whatever. I\u2019ll be glad to provide people with a subsistence, as long as they realize it\u2019s coming from me. I\u2019ll be happy to be Santa Claus.” In fact, if you\u2019re Obama, you think the country deserves this because you think the country\u2019s been unjust and immoral from its founding days. <\/p>\n If you\u2019re Obama, you believe, you\u2019ve been taught, that the country was founded by and for a small bunch of rich white guys and that they have maintained control over the country ever since was founded, and in order to get rich, they stole from everybody. They stole from minorities in this country. They stole from poor countries around the world. It\u2019s time we pay the piper, if you\u2019re Obama. So all this chaos is fine. If you\u2019re anti-capitalist, which Obama is, it\u2019s much easier to attack capitalism when you\u2019ve driven the unemployment rate up to eight, nine, 10%. You got real pain, people can\u2019t find jobs, which means they can\u2019t find income, which means they can\u2019t support themselves, which means they can\u2019t live. <\/p>\n That situation is made to order for you. You come in as Santa Claus, whatever you want to call it, and you make sure that the circumstances that exist are not that painful for people that don\u2019t have jobs. And while you do this, you illustrate, guess where your real security is? It\u2019s not in your life, it\u2019s not with your hard work, your real security and prosperity does not reside in you; it\u2019s with your government. Your government is here to save the day for you, right? When you get in trouble, is it Mitt Romney helping you out, is it Rush Limbaugh helping you out, or is it your government led by me? What\u2019s not stated is that you need your government\u2019s help because this administration has, with policies, created this circumstance, where even if you want to work there aren\u2019t any jobs. <\/p>\n Have you seen the layoffs that are taking place? They continue. Have you seen the unions? The unions are now promising to disrupt Walmart, LAX, Hostess, wherever. They won the election and they\u2019re madder than ever. They won the election and they\u2019re angrier than ever. They won the election, and they\u2019re still not satisfied. They are still targeting the private sector institutions of this country that they claim have been unjust and unfair. They\u2019re on the march. There\u2019s no stopping them. Rand Paul, Kentucky, is thinking of throwing his hat in the presidential ring. One of his stated planks, liberalizing marijuana laws. Well, that\u2019s a way to go get the young people, and maybe relax the border and immigration. And not just him, by the way. <\/p>\n I mean, the whole Republican Party right now seems oriented toward getting in on this giveaway game.<\/a> But the game exists because policies created by actual politicians over the years have led us to where we are. And, quite simply, the rich do not have enough money to tax them and fix the problem. In fact, you could take everything the rich have. Let\u2019s say leave \u2019em a hundred thousand dollars, just to be fair. Don\u2019t care how much, just take it all. You know how long you could run the government? Maybe at the outside, six weeks. But you see, you can only do that once. You take away Warren Buffett\u2019s $40 billion, he\u2019s not gonna have 40 billion new dollars next year to take away. It\u2019s gone. <\/p>\n So that\u2019s clearly not the answer. But the politics of that is is an interesting bit of data here that has been put out by a group called Just Facts Daily, and the guy sent my brother this news, he passed it on at me. The website is Just Facts Daily, and I don\u2019t know exactly what they do, but they did some preelection polling. And one of the polls that they commissioned preelection found the following. <\/p>\n “Ninety percent of people who are planning to vote for Barack Obama falsely believe that the middle class pays a greater portion of their income in federal taxes than the upper 1% of income earners.” Now, we\u2019re not talking about dollars, we\u2019re talking rates. Ninety percent of the people — you talk about losing an issue and losing an argument. And we know exactly how this happened. The Buffett Rule. You got Warren Buffett running around lamenting this BS, that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does and how unjust and unfair and immoral that is, and then Obama cites it every day for two years, and then you get the all reliable Bill Gates saying something similar, and then you have a bunch of other rich guys chime in, say the same thing. And it doesn\u2019t take long before people actually start believing that the rich are paying a lower tax rate, never mind the fact that the top 1% of taxpayers pays 40% of all federal income taxes and climbing, top 1% pays 40% of everything. <\/p>\n The top 10% pay close to 80% of everything. The bottom 50% pay nothing, in the federal income tax burden. And yet, Obama and the Democrats have succeeded in convincing 90% of the people who voted for \u2019em that the middle class are paying a higher tax rate, a percentage, than the rich. Of course, even if it were true, it\u2019s irrelevant, but it isn\u2019t true. What it ends up really meaning to people, the middle class are paying for these rich guys, the rich guys aren\u2019t paying anything. That\u2019s how it manifests itself. And when you have a president willing to exploit this in the class envy arena, then you get an election return like we got, and you have a call for even more taxes on the rich because they still aren\u2019t paying their fair share, which Obama is actually saying. <\/p>\n The fact of the matter is there are fewer and fewer taxpayers in this country, fewer and fewer people are actually paying for whatever spending is taking place. The burden of this government, the burden of this nation is falling on fewer and fewer people. And those are the people who work. So any budget deal that calls for further tax increases on these people — sorry, I told you I got a note earlier today, and one of these Politico early morning stories where they bullet-point things that are gonna be happening today, or did happen yesterday, the agenda type stories, Hotline kind of stuff. <\/p>\n A friend of mine sends me a note that says, “Look, Rush, there\u2019s gonna be some pressure brought to bear here to drive a wedge between you and Grover Norquist.” Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, has this anti-tax increase pledge that he requires every Republican to sign, or he pressures them to sign, and many do. And they\u2019re hoping — “they,” the proverbial media-Democrat complex — that I will come along and echo Bill Kristol and say, “You know what, I think everybody needs to pitch in. The rich shouldn\u2019t complain about a couple, three, additional percentage points on their taxes.” And, in the process, they\u2019re hoping that I can undercut Grover Norquist. I don\u2019t know what they\u2019re thinking, but I steadfastly oppose tax increases on just one group of Americans. <\/p>\n If we\u2019re gonna raise taxes, we\u2019re gonna do it on everybody. That, to me, is fairness. But I don\u2019t think anybody\u2019s taxes ought to be raised because I\u2019ll tell you, I\u2019m offended, I\u2019m offended listening to the people who are responsible for this blame the American people because they\u2019re not paying enough in taxes for the problem. That\u2019s not our problem. Our problem is a spending problem, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth on down to number ten. We are in this mess because of an unchecked, irresponsible, undisciplined spending problem. <\/p>\n Now, some people might say, “But, Rush, yes, these politicians are spending, but they\u2019re spending on what people want.” And, yes, which is why I said after the election, “It\u2019s tough to beat Santa Claus.” <\/a>So you might say, okay, some of the tax consumers are also responsible for the mess. When we have a problem that is this egregious, this potentially destructive, it insults my sensibilities and my intelligence to hear that the people responsible for this are taxpayers who aren\u2019t paying enough. I don\u2019t know about you, but I don\u2019t have any control over what is spent in this country. Zilch, zero, nada. All I can tell you is that a bunch of irresponsible people for years and decades have been spending far more than we have, they\u2019ve been spending like it doesn\u2019t matter, and that has caused this problem. There\u2019s no amount of revenue increasing, no amount of revenue enhancement, no amount of revenue increases that is gonna make a dent in this. <\/p>\n The people that want to raise taxes want to do so because they want to take away wealth, more wealth from more people and transfer it to the government. They are only interested in the government getting bigger. They are not interested in real revenue creation. Raising taxes is not the way to do it, particularly in this economy. Raising taxes is going to lower the amount of revenue created and generated to Washington because it\u2019s gonna result in even fewer people working, which means fewer people paying taxes, whatever their income tax rate is. <\/p>\n Mathematics is mathematics. The more people paying taxes, the more revenue will go to Washington, and the people who claim that\u2019s what they want, revenue in Washington, then ought to be oriented primarily around creating jobs, quickly and expansively. The fastest way to generate revenue in Washington is create jobs, more taxpayers paying more taxes. Not higher taxes, just more people paying taxes. On the same token, the more people who lose their jobs, ergo, the more people who are not working. If they\u2019re not working, they\u2019re not earning money, and if they\u2019re not earning money, they\u2019re not paying taxes. <\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m walking you through this \u2019cause everybody said Mitt did not explain what he meant when he was talking about it. Well, I\u2019m doing it from the rudimentary level. The Obama plan that\u2019s being worked on now is going to result in fewer taxpayers. It\u2019s going to result in more unemployment. More unemployment equals fewer taxpayers, equals less revenue to Washington. But the rich are gonna have their taxes raised so the rich are going to have money taken away from them. It isn\u2019t going to make a dent in the deficit or the national debt or the spending projections. All it\u2019s gonna do is penalize the rich because they\u2019re the ones that happen to have the money now. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/ObamaGraveUSEconomy.jpg\"\/)
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