RUSH: Brian in upstate New York, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Rush, good afternoon. How are you?
RUSH: Fine, sir. Thanks very much.
RUSH: Unpublicized tax subsidy that —
CALLER: Well, that’s the way I saw it.
RUSH: — Obama gave to Obama credit card holders about a month ago. No, I hadn’t.
CALLER: I earn enough credit on a General Motors credit card you can use that money toward the purchase a new one, a new vehicle. Essentially —
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How do you earn enough credit on an Obama credit card?
CALLER: It works like a Discover card. For every dollar you spend you get a percentage back, and then that you can apply towards the purchase of a new vehicle.
RUSH: But only a new vehicle?
CALLER: Correct.
RUSH: Oh. I had not heard that. All I’d heard today was that the CEO of GMAC is being paid the same rate that the CEO at Goldman Sachs is being paid.
CALLER: During the month of January, people were able to go into General Motors stores — and I know that some people had only $300 worth of purchase credit on the card and General Motors was bumping that up to two and sometimes $3,000 towards the purchase of a new vehicle.
RUSH: Wait a minute. You mean if I had an Obama card and I had built up 300 bucks in credit and then went into an Obama dealership, that they would add two or three thousand dollars to it?
CALLER: Up to $3,000 total. Yes.
RUSH: Toward the purchase of a car?
CALLER: Correct.
RUSH: Where is that money coming from?
CALLER: It’s you and me.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: Something that’s not making money. It’s being subsidized by the taxpayers.
RUSH: Yeah, since it’s Obama.
CALLER: And the only people eligible for that were people that held the General Motors credit cards.
RUSH: Shazam!
CALLER: So…
CALLER: I’m not sure. But some people had, for example, $1,500 on the card and they got it bumped up to 2,000, but I know people that work at these stores, and they said, ‘We saw people coming in that only had two or three hundred dollars worth of credit towards the purchase of their next vehicle, and General Motors was bumping that up to two and sometimes $3,000.’
RUSH: (laughing) Meanwhile, they’re grilling these Toyota guys into committing hari-kari.
CALLER: And the other sad thing is you didn’t have a General Motors credit card you weren’t eligible for these incentives.
RUSH: Yeah. Well, I don’t have an Obama credit card. I don’t have a Discover card so I didn’t know that’s how it worked.
CALLER: Well, it’s just like any other reward, the airlines have them, hotel chains have them. For every dollar you spend you get a dollar back.
RUSH: I never use ’em. I don’t want to keep track of it. I never use those things.
CALLER: (chuckles) But just thought you know that, that’s a little known taxpayer subsidy that General Motors also during the month of January.
RUSH: Well, I did hear about the General Motors recall today. A bunch of little General Motors cars have been recalled, and I’m just waiting for Obama to be called up by a House committee and be grilled, ’cause it’s power steering motors that are failing on these things. You can’t find this on the news. The degree of coverage about this is zilch, zero, nada compared to the treatment these Toyota guys got. (interruption) I did… (sigh) I don’t even know what. (interruption) Yes, there are. He’s asking me about the rewards on the credit cards. I have one credit card. I don’t know that there are… Yes, there are rewards. I don’t keep track of it. If I have to call somebody to use my credit card before I get to where I’m actually going to use it, I don’t go to the trouble.
(interruption) No, I never return tapes to Blockbuster because I never rented them. I bought ’em. I don’t know. To me, it’s a bunch of busywork. So I’ve never used those things. That’s why I didn’t understand what the Discover card was. (interruption) What’s so hard to believe about it? What in the world…? Do you clip coupons out of the newspaper? (interruption) Well, it’s the same thing! It’s the same thing. You still gotta sit… (interruption) I don’t do anything online when it comes to the credit card. I have… (interruption) Look, all I know is I’ve got something like four million points on my credit card, but I have no clue how to redeem them or what I can redeem ’em for. Not the slightest clue, because to me it’s no different than clipping coupons. I just don’t have the time. I’m not interested in it. Have I stepped in it here or something?
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RUSH: The credit card company doesn’t even want me to know I’ve got these points. They put it in fine print on page 20 of the bill. I happened to see it once when I went through there. I have… (interruption) Uhhh, that’s right. I have one credit card. (interruption) I don’t have a backup in case… (interruption) It’s never declined. I do not have a backup credit card. Actually, that’s not true. I do have a backup credit card but they haven’t sent me the new one for the last two years and I have not called them to get it reissued ’cause I never use it.
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RUSH: To Liz in Tampa Bay, Florida. Great to have you on the program.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. My family adores you, and my husband is a huge fan. Initially I wasn’t but you’ve heard of being radicalized? Well, I was Limbaughized, and now I see the way.
RUSH: Well, thank you. Thank you very much.
CALLER: Anyway, I did want to comment or take issue with what you said earlier about coupon clipping being a waste of time.
RUSH: For me. I was just speaking for me.
RUSH: I will send you my newspapers.
CALLER: All right, great.
RUSH: I don’t even read newspapers anymore. I have ’em delivered to the house for guests but I don’t even read ’em. I do all this on the Internet and I don’t know how to clip a coupon from my computer screen.
CALLER: Well, last night I saved $64 at the Publix on, oh, I guess about $110 worth of groceries. So you can really save money.
RUSH: That’s fine, and I know that they’re not losing money on the coupons, either. I was just saying for me, it’s a personal waste of time.
CALLER: Well, let’s put it this way. You’re not in a position where you really need to have the extra income that coupon clippings provide.
RUSH: Ah, ah, ah, ah.
CALLER: And your time is better spent doing other things.
RUSH: Well, true, but on the latter part of what you said here. But I am not commenting on the expense of things or any of that. I have never clipped coupons in my entire life. When I was outta work I never clipped coupons. I am not going to sit down with a pair of scissors and a newspaper. If you do it, more power to you, God love you, God bless you. I’m not a coupon guy.
CALLER: Well, not everybody can be and probably it’s a good thing because then they’d probably do away with it.
RUSH: No, they’re not going to do away with it because it generates traffic. You use the coupons, gonna buy other stuff in the store, it’s a cooperative effort between the companies that issue them and the grocery stores.
CALLER: Well, the sad thing is, from what I understand there are an enormous amount of coupons that aren’t utilized.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: And they do save a lot of people money, and more people really need to give some thought to it.
RUSH: You know, since I have stepped in it in so many ways today, why not put the second foot in here. I don’t do mail-in rebates, but that’s not what I was going to say. What I was going to say is it is people like me who don’t use the coupons who make them continue to be used by others who do use them. If everybody redeemed every coupon out there they would do something about the program. There would be fewer coupons or they would be worth less. So I’m actually owed some thanks here, but I know this is not how people will look at it. See Snerdley’s — (laughing) — no, I want to play an audio sound bite that proves something else I’m right about. Rather than arguing about credit card points and coupons, because I’m not judging whether anybody else does it is right or wrong. You know me. I’m a total freedom guy. If you want to use your coupons, go right ahead. I’ll send you mine. I’ve just never in my life done it.