A Giant Jackboot in the Door

RUSH: I just saw something. During the top-of-the-hour break, I’m in Snerdley’s office, and I’m watching what today is news pornography: MSNBC. I mean, if Obama’s going to say that Fox News is ‘talk radio,’ then let’s call out MSNBC for what it is: News pornography. And their guy at the White House, John Harwood, was giving a smiling, approving report on Kenneth Feinberg, the pay czar, announcing 90% pay cuts for 25 executives at the seven banks and auto companies that the government now runs. And he said that the administration had to do this to ‘quell public anger over the high compensation of these executives at firms who took taxpayer money.’ I’ll bet you… I didn’t hear it, but I would bet you that your local radio news at the on top of the hour probably had the same thing because that’s the media template.

The pay czar cuts were demanded by you! These 90% reductions in salary and compensation from the pay czar, it had to happen because you were demanding it. The public was demanding that these guys get their salaries cut. So that’s the excuse that they’re giving. If this is true, if the majority of the American people want this, then we should see Obama’s approval numbers just skyrocket the next time a poll is taken, right? So let me see if I understand this. The argument is that if the government has some role, including tax dollars, in a project or a program or service that someone benefits from, then the government has the authority to set standards — like salaries, benefits, prices, and so forth. Okay. Fine.

If that’s what you think, let me ask you a question: Where do we draw the line once this power is unleashed? Let’s say you receive a subsidy. After all, if you have a student loan, you are being subsidized by your benevolent government. On that basis, if the government has an involvement in something and they have the total right to dictate terms, then I guess the government can dictate what course you’ll take and what your major will be, where you will go to school, who teaches you. How about people who received subsidized government housing? Should the government be able to tell them what they can eat, how many cars they can have? After all, it’s subsidizing your housing! It’s taxpayer money that’s buying your house or that’s securing your college education.

If it’s subsidizing your housing then it’s allowing you to keep more of your money to spend in other ways. Why should you be able to do that without some dictate from the government? If you’re going to sit here and tell me that these Wall Street guys deserve to get screwed like this because, ‘It’s taxpayer money and they’re being bailed out and we want them to suffer,’ well, then, last I saw, 52% of the people of this country received some sort of check from the government at some point, which means that 52% of you might someday have to sit there and follow the dictates of this tyrannical regime called the Obama administration. How about General Motors and Chrysler? The government owns them now with their United Autoworker friends.

Can the government now tell you how far you can drive, how often you can drive, how many cars you can have, what you will pay for gasoline? If the argument is that a government connection — a financial government connection — somehow gives the government a constitutional power to dictate, then what are the limits to this power and where are they written? Well, the answer is, there are no limits, really, and they aren’t written anywhere. I’m depressed. After 21 years I still have to say what I’m going to say next. After 21 years! For those of you who have been listening to this show for 21 years, if what I’m saying to you is causing a light to go off and you haven’t considered it before, it depresses me.

When I speak out against a ‘czar’ dictating salaries and bonuses for executives who work at bailed-out firms, I am arguing against tyranny. I am not arguing for any particular person or salary or benefit. I am not arguing or supporting an industry. I am coming out against tyranny — unchecked, uncontrolled tyranny. I am speaking out against the wanton, abject taking of individual liberty and freedom. I am speaking out against the taking of the fruits of one’s labor by a government. They are taking and stealing people’s work. It frightens me deeply that so many people seem to think this is a good idea. This government is taking over more and more things with and without our permission. To say that that empowers the government to control our liberty, is to surrender your liberty. You’re giving it up when you allow this kind of tyranny to take place, for whatever emotional satisfaction you might derive from it.

If the government buys jet engines from Lockheed Martin or some other firm and the company makes billions of dollars from the government purchases, does the government then have the power to determine the salaries and benefits of the executives of Lockheed Martin? By virtue of what I’m hearing some people say today, by God, yes, they do — and that scares me. I’m telling you, folks, New Zealand is looking better all the time. Now, the Lockheed Martin example is not a bailout. But without that money, the firm might well suffer economic setbacks or even go under. Why limit the issue to executive salaries? Can the government set the wages and benefits of the employees? If not, why not? Once they have the power, what limits them? You think it’s just about 25 executives — rich, hated Wall Street executives? You think it’s just about those 25? (scoffs)

This is called a giant jackboot in the door. This becomes a spiral, a spiral in which your liberty is lost and the government’s power is absolute. Now, of course they’re starting with the cases which they know are the least sympathetic. They know Wall Street people have no sympathy. They know that people have a genuine dislike because of the successful class envy ploys that they’ve used over 50 years. They know there’s a lot of hatred out there. There’s a lot of people wanting to say, ‘You tell those people that have $20 million houses, yeah! You take their money away! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I don’t even have a job. Why are we bailing them out?’ Okay, fine. So you see how they do it? They pick targets where or where they think a majority of Americans will support the action against. But then, folks, the principle is set and the power is then exercised, and it’s never surrendered.

You think it’s just funny what’s going on with the attack on Fox News from the White House? You think it’s just an interesting news story of the day? Have you thought this through? Do you realize what this is all about? This is not just about marginalizing Fox. This is making sure that no other news agency carries any story reported by Fox. This is about trying to see to it that Fox loses sponsors. This is about sweeping Fox off the playing field. It is not the result of Obama panic. It is not the result that Obama is worried about and he’s losing control. Because he is cementing more control each and every day. Everything that’s happening here is according to plan and is on schedule, health care notwithstanding. That’s the one thing that does have them bugged because it’s supposed to be done by now.

He is having genuine trouble on that in his own party. Things are not rosy, but he’s taking liberty and freedom from people every day, and he’s trying to sweep the playing field of all of his opposition. And if he succeeds at doing that then there’s no stopping him. So this is not about ‘getting even’ with these Wall Street guys to me. This is not about defending Wall Street guys or Wall Street or the financial industry or anything about them or what they’ve done. It’s about shouting from the rooftops that we are losing liberty, that tyranny is on the march — and it’s on the march under the guise of a smile and a soft-spoken eloquence, when a bludgeon is being used each and every day.

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RUSH: Do you realize, ladies and gentlemen, what we are living through right now is exactly why the Revolutionary War was fought? What we are living through right now is exactly why the Constitution was written, to limit the powers of a tyrannical government. And we have fought numerous wars to preserve that liberty for ourselves and even other nations, and now we appear to be just giving it away. For what? Somebody tell me what’s good about this. Somebody explain to me why we are giving away our liberty and giving in to tyranny? For what? Where’s the improvement here? Fairness? Fairness! So we have been overtaken by fairness? Fairness is why we give away liberty? Fairness is why we surrender to tyranny?

By the way, this reminder: Lest we forget, within days, probably hours of President Obama’s election, it was announced that the TARP program wasn’t going to be anything like it was supposed to be. It would not be used to buy troubled assets after all. The Troubled Asset Relief Program, that’s what TARP stands for. November 12, 2008, AP: ‘Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday the $700 billion government rescue program will not be used to purchase trouble assets as originally planned. He announced a new goal for the program: to support financial markets which supply consumer credit in such areas as credit card debt, auto loans, and student loans.’ They’ve taken over student loans. Next January the student loan program will be totally run by the government. They own two automobile companies, and now they’re consolidating as much of Wall Street into Obama control as possible. So as soon as Obama was elected the whole purpose of TARP was changed, lest we forget, and we see now why. What is happening is by design.

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RUSH: Mike in Jacksonville, Florida. I want to squeeze a call in here before we have to take a break. How are you, sir?

CALLER: Good, sir. I was watching the news last night on this pay czar thing, and I was actually happy about it. As a small business owner I’m thinking this might wake some people up, finally. You know, I don’t know if anyone — maybe it’s just me that caught onto this — but did anyone listen to the 90%? I mean, why 90%? Why not 50%? Why not a hundred percent? This is just like what the government does with everything they do,. It’s an arbitrary number to get everyone worked up, and then we gotta sift through all the ramifications.

RUSH: Well, we will see. We will see. Remember now, the State-Controlled Media today, Mike, is backing up the decision by the pay czar — who acted without Obama’s knowledge, we are told. They’re backing it up because they’re saying people like you, Mike, are demanding this. The American people are angry over these execs and their bonuses and their compensation. The American people want these guys financially raped. Obama is simply reacting to overwhelming public demand. So that’s the story they’re putting out. So everybody that watches the mainstream media is going to think that everybody else in the country is happy about this. So they think, ‘Well, maybe I should think it’s a good thing, too, if everybody else does,’ and this is how propaganda is spread.

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RUSH: It seems to me, folks, we pay Congress’ salary. Don’t we? And who is it that determines whether or not they get a raise? Why, it’s themselves! Do we have anything to say about it? No. Just every two years in November. That’s about it. They cost a lot of money, too, folks. These people are bleeding us dry. The United States Congress is breaking this country. It’s going into bankruptcy. Now, it seems to me that Congress and the president ought to have their salaries cut by 90%. Look at their record. Look at what they’ve done to the currency, to the deficit. Look at all the waste with our money. Why aren’t their salaries cut by 90%? Why aren’t we out there demanding that people be held accountable? Why do we bow down to this tyrannical authority they have aimed at us? ‘Oh, the government says we have to get a vaccine, and the government knows everything! The government is best. We never challenge the government.’ This is starting to remind me of the stories I read about the Soviet Union in the sixties and seventies.

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RUSH: Now, I had a lot of people email me. I checked the e-mail and have been doing that during the break. ‘Rush, what do you mean?’ This is when I was warning people about the tyranny of supporting this unaccountable pay czar cutting executive pay. I made mention of the fact that if the government gives you a student loan, can they tell you where to go to school? Can they tell you what to study? ‘Common, Rush! As usual…’ I get the e-mails. ‘As usual, Rush, you’re exaggerating.’ I am not exaggerating. Can I take you back to September 15th, 1993? New York Times: ‘In an effort to create more family doctors, President Clinton’s health plan would empower the Federal Government to decide how many doctors should be trained each year as family practitioners, radiologists, surgeons, neurologists and other specialists.

‘The proposal is provoking intense debate among medical educators and other experts.’ The Clinton health care bill was going to assign universities to medical students. The Clinton health care bill, had it become law, would have told graduating doctors where they had to go to work! It would have assigned them hospitals, cities, and communities. They were going to stop them from specializing. If we had ‘too many’ radiologists, they were going to make ’em specialize in something else. The same thing is happening now, except they’re not letting this kind of detail get made public. But it’s all in the plan. It’s all part of the future. All right, back to the phones. To McHenry, Illinois. John, I’m glad you waited. You’re next on the EIB Network, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hi. How you doing, Rush?

RUSH: Pretty good, sir. Thank you.

CALLER: Good. Before I get to my point I just want to thank you from all of us in middle America. You keep sounding the trumpets of freedom and liberty. And you and Sean and everybody are truly appreciated. I know there’s many of us out there who wish we could do more for you but we certainly appreciate your willingness to be here for us.

RUSH: Oh-ho-ho! You have done more for me than I can ever thank you for.

CALLER: Well, it’s certainly my pleasure. My point is real simple. You know, we’ve got an administration that really has totally lost control but now we’re going to go down this road where we’re going to start telling people how much money they can make. Whereas we have, you know, Hollywood, which can sit down and make $20 million for what most of the time is a horrible film. But that seems to be okay. But now we’re going to tell those that are responsible for our investments and making sure we have money for retirement by properly running these companies that, ‘You know, you can only make so much money here.’ I think it’s ridiculous. The hypocrisy is just incredible.

RUSH: Well, I don’t think the entertainment industry is off the hook here. They’re just going to be… You know, right now the Obama people are going after people who they think nobody has any sympathy for.

CALLER: Well, that’s true. I think you’re a hundred percent right there. I just wonder at what point that the rest of the American public is truly going to start to wake up. It’s almost scary that they haven’t thus far.

RUSH: I, frankly, think more Americans are wide awake on this than you would ever know. They’re just not reported on — and when they do make themselves visible, such as at a town hall meeting or a tea party, they are ripped to shreds. They are criticized. They are called Nazis. But look, Obama is tanking. Obama’s numbers tanking. CNN itself yesterday with a story that half the country disagrees with Obama’s policies. Well, if CNN is reporting that half the country disagrees, then it’s more than half. The problem is that the people who are awakened feel powerless. They feel powerless. They have no political leadership in Washington representing what they stand for. That’s what they see anyway. They don’t see that that leadership exists. John in West Islip, New York. Thank you for waiting, sir. You’re next. Hello.

CALLER: Rush, greetings from the People’s Republic of New York. We miss your contribution to our tax base.

RUSH: (laughing) Yeah, mine and many others. (laughing)

CALLER: Yeah. Rush my question is, like, where are the people who are at the butt end of all of these programs that are coming out of the White House…? When is there going to be, like, constitutional challenges in court? Because, you know, I wonder if the guys — you know, the smartest guys in the room on Wall Street, AIG, Bank of America who got the TARP money, mine and your TARP money. Did they read the fine print? Did they, like, see, ‘Hey, we’re going to be able to take your pay away if you don’t do what we want’? It absolutely amazes me. I just have one other quick point. Did you see at that Wall Street fundraiser how Obama tore into those idiots who paid 15 grand a plate?

RUSH: Yeah. I had that in the sound bite roster yesterday and I didn’t get to it. Folks, let me tell you something. If I got to everything I have in my show prep, from my Stack of Stuff to every sound bite — if I got to all of this every day — we’d be talking you off the nearest bridge.

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: We had it. I didn’t get a chance to get to it. I didn’t. I heard it. I heard it. The thing about this Wall Street business, I want you to think about this. You ask, ‘When are they going to rise up? When are they going to do something about it? When are they going to mount a constitutional challenge?’ I don’t think you understand the real, abject fear of this administration that most people that interact with it have. This is a time where these people do not want to make waves. Now, I want you to consider something else, too. There are lots of firms on Wall Street. Not all of them are having their pay cut. I’d have to get the list, but it’s just five or six or maybe seven of them plus the automobile companies. But there’s a whole bunch of people that are not even being touched, like Goldman Sachs, the wealthiest Wall Street firm.

Is anybody complaining that in a recession — Biden calls it a ‘depression’ — they tried to hide the fact that they had a record first quarter this year and that their bonus payments to their people are in the billions? And do you hear the pay czar going after them or Obama going after them? No, no, no. Because there are some Wall Street firms that are A-okay. And they are the ones who are going to really get rich if this cap-and-trade thing happens because there’s cap and there’s ‘trade.’ Trade what? Trade carbon credits. Where do you trade things? Wall Street! The stock market! Guess who’s going to be making money on both sides of the trades? Ever heard of Goldman Sachs? And I’m sure some others. So this is another point here, folks. You think Wall Street is being screwed. It isn’t Wall Street. Some of the richest, wealthiest, most powerful people are being enriched further by virtue of this. They happen to be the ones giving all the money to Obama, by the way.