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National Health Care and the UAW

by Rush Limbaugh - Jun 10,2009

RUSH: Here’s Mike in Darien, Connecticut, as we go back to the phones. Great to have you with us today on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Rush, it’s a pleasure to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: One of the things I wanted to point out, I’ve been an auto analyst for 25 years and one of the things that’s been missed by the media —

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait just a second. What is an auto analyst? Like, where do you work, what’s your job?

CALLER: I’m an analyst. I analyze the auto industry and recommend the stocks to institutional investors.

RUSH: I see. Okay.

CALLER: One of the things the media has missed on this whole automotive situation is the UAW claims that both Chrysler and GM that were given priority over the debt holders, that money is going to be used to fund longer term health care liabilities. If national health care is passed the UAW won’t need the money, it becomes a windfall.

RUSH: You know, that’s an excellent point and it does become a windfall. We’re getting to the point with all of this, you know, in the United States when you go out and buy a bond, a T-bill or something, you always say ‘backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government,’ pretty soon those bonds are going to say ‘backed by the full faith and credit of the United Auto Workers,’ because that’s how much of the government they’re having handed to them by President Obama. That is an excellent point that you’re making, that if we get nationalized health care, they’re not gonna need their fund.

CALLER: They’re not gonna need as much, that’s for sure.

RUSH: For health care.

CALLER: That’s right.

RUSH: True windfall. Appreciate that, Mike. Excellent observation.

CALLER: Thanks for taking the call.

RUSH: And a breath of fresh air, compared to some of the ninnies on the left that Snerdley has leaked through here today.

Erie, Pennsylvania, Laura, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi. Mega optimistic dittos, and thank you for taking the slings and arrows from the other side for all of us.

RUSH: Thank you, madam.

CALLER: Oh, you’re just our hero. I listened to Governor Dean this morning and there were some new things on this government health care proposal that he supports Obama’s plan. He said that definitely he believes that illegal alien children should be covered, but not the adults. He said that you will have an option to join the government plan or you can stay with your insurance that you have through your employer.

RUSH: That’s not going to happen.

CALLER: Well, I was going —

RUSH: Once the public option — see, this is a trick that they’re all using to get people to go along with this. They’re going to try to convince people that they’re still going to be able to opt out of the government plan and have their own private — and that won’t happen. They’re going to close ’em down. And once they get national health care, businesses are going to get rid of their health care plans. They want to. They want to off-load them. They’re going to be happy for the government to take it over.

CALLER: Well, that’s what I would think, but wouldn’t that destroy the private insurance companies and more unemployment with all those people that are, you know, employed trying to provide good insurance for —

RUSH: It depends on how the insurance company voted. If the insurance company voted for Obama, then they’ll probably get some sort of a participatory role in administering the whole government-run health care plan. If the insurance company has people that did not contribute or endorse Obama, vote for him, then they could be in trouble.

CALLER: Well, and he proposed a ten cents raise in the gas tax to pay for some of this. I don’t know if you heard that.

RUSH: Oh, the ten cent tax on the gas tax; we’re going to tax employer-provided benefits; we’re going to raise tax on sugary drinks; we’re going to raise taxes on everything! We’re going to raise taxes on what you exhale. We’re going to raise taxes on carbon dioxide in order to pay for all of this. Brace yourselves, folks. You’re going to be saying someday, ‘Why didn’t somebody tell me?’ I’m telling you.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Sherry in San Antonio. Sherry, you’re next on the EIB Network. It’s great to have you here with us.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush. Good afternoon. How are you?

RUSH: Fine and dandy. Thank you.

CALLER: I’ve been listening to you for a long time, and Joe from Miami just kind of doesn’t have a clue. I am originally a Michigander. My father retired from General Motors. When I was four years old I stood in a picket line with him and watched him collect his $2 for the day that he stood in the picket line. There was a time where the union had a cause. There was a time for the union to be of need, and back then there was a time. I watched in the seventies and the eighties how that union was overcome with greed and basically took out General Motors and Chrysler. On top of that came in some poor management, which fell in line with it because of greed. When Lee Iacocca took over Chrysler, he was a man of honesty, of integrity —

RUSH: He was.

CALLER: — and he took that company from where it stands today, and revived it back into a living, breathing, freedom company.

RUSH: Sherry, I have to stop you there because of the constraints of time. I appreciate the comments. I know a lot of people agree with you.