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RUSH: Pico in Miami. Pico, thank you for waiting. You\u2019re next on the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hey, God bless you, Mr. Limbaugh, and thank you for taking my call.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I hear you.<\/p>\n
CALLER: No unemployment insurance ever, nothing. I\u2019ve never wanted it. I\u2019ve never, thank God, needed it.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I understand. I\u2019m with you.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, aside from the moral component, my question to you, sir, with your wisdom — and you are most certainly very wise, sir — I live a very modest life. We live in a three-bedroom, two-bath house. I personally know many people — down here in South Florida I know fraud runs rampant and everything else, but I know people who legitimately make more money than I do. And they don\u2019t work. They collect WIC. They collect unemployment. They\u2019ve got all sorts of things that it just blows your mind. These people know the system inside and out. They know how it works, and I personally know people making more money than I do, and I\u2019m just sitting here wondering, aside from the moral component, why should I keep working?<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, I\u2019ll tell you. I\u2019ll tell you. And it has nothing to do with money. That\u2019s a decision you gotta make, \u2019cause everybody needs money. It\u2019s always the money, and I know it\u2019s the top of your list. It\u2019s the basis on which you\u2019re making comparisons here. People gaming the system have more than you do working. <\/p>\n
CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You\u2019re talking about the moral component. Let\u2019s talk about something else, though. Self-respect. And I don\u2019t mean the lack of it from being on the receiving end of government programs. I\u2019ve always believed that work — particularly for a man, but it\u2019s even becoming this way for a lot of women, too — it\u2019s who you are. It is where your sense of self-worth resides. It is how you define yourself. You sound like the kind of guy to me that even if you join the people who are not working and somehow getting hold of more money than you, I don\u2019t think that would make you happy. I think you\u2019d have a residue of, if not guilt, you wouldn\u2019t like yourself because you\u2019re not accomplishing anything, you\u2019re not achieving anything.<\/p>\n
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RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n
CALLER: — just out of curiosity because I said, “I\u2019ve gotta see how this stuff works.” And it was amazing. We walked out of there with literally hundreds of dollars. They told us, “We need to find out if you qualify.” But we left with hundreds of dollars of checks to buy formula for the babies. We haven\u2019t used \u2019em, but I thought, you know, this is absolutely astonishing to me.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Wait a second. You mean you were able to walk in and walk out in the same visit with benefits?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yes, sir. We were there two-and-a-half hours, I believe, with benefits, and they told us, “We\u2019ll let you know later if you qualify.” <\/p>\n
RUSH: But until you qualify, they gave you some money anyway?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yes, exactly.<\/p>\n
RUSH: All right. <\/p>\n
CALLER: But I agree with you a hundred percent. It doesn\u2019t sit well with me, Rush. I still look at that as a moral component. But I\u2019m looking at it more as a financial thing. I\u2019m thinking, here I am, I\u2019m killing myself. I\u2019m sitting in front of this computer, you know, 12, 14 hours a day to feed my family, and I know these people that just spend time with their kids. They do whatever they feel like doing all day long.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Would you advise your children to do this?<\/p>\n
CALLER: No, absolutely not. My son has called your show before, and just to tell you, I am an official member of the vast right-wing conspiracy.<\/p>\n
RUSH: A-ha.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Okay? And proudly so. My son almost shot me for telling him I was gonna go to that WIC program thing.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well —<\/p>\n
CALLER: He was beside himself.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You\u2019re talking about this as a moral component. I understand what you mean. But the word I think you\u2019re looking for here is “dignity,” because you know you\u2019re capable. I\u2019m sure you have confidence in your ability. You\u2019re just in a tight economy like everybody is. If you went and did this, and it became your sole source of support, you would lose all sense of self-dignity, and you know it, and that\u2019s why you\u2019re calling and asking me about it.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Oh, absolutely. I agree with you. But again, like I told you, to me, what you\u2019re saying still has a lot to do with my morality as a man, as an individual, and I agree with you. I don\u2019t think I could sleep at night.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>RUSH: Well, you\u2019re not alone. Let me tell you, more and more people are asking this question because they see what you see. There are stories that I\u2019ve seen in the last couple of weeks, people whose unemployment benefits run out, they head over to the Social Security office, and end up on Social Security disability, SSI. They don\u2019t even qualify for it, but they\u2019re put on the rolls because it\u2019s in the interests of government to have dependents. It\u2019s in the interests of bureaucracies to have dependents. I think, if you remember this, even for the money, the longer you\u2019re out of work, the harder it is to go back to work. The longer you\u2019re out of work and the longer you\u2019re not trying to find work, the harder it\u2019s gonna be to get a good job when you find the economy improving where you live and job opportunity improving as well. It\u2019s a tough thing. I sympathize with you, \u2019cause the reality of the dollars on the one hand is obvious, but then on the other side is your moral component, which I don\u2019t think you can ignore. <\/p>\n