RUSH: Somebody asked me today, “How does it feel to come back after being gone six days and everything is essentially the same?” And except for one minor thing, and that is the House vote last night on cut, cap, and balance, we’re still where we are when I left, which, folks, believe me is progress.
I can’t tell you, in the old days, if I had split the scene for this long in a period of time like this our side would have caved. And they didn’t cave when I was gone. I’m telling you, there’s reason for optimism here. There’s reason for hope. Now, we’re down to the wire, and it’s by no means any less tense, the Republicans are no less nervous than they were when I left, perhaps even more so, they’re even more nervous now, but they’re hanging tough.
Politico has a story today, those damn Republican conservatives, who do they think they are? They dare to sit there and continue to say that they won’t support any tax increases. Who do they think they are? So they’re hanging tough in there. And we’ll do our best as I’m sure you’ve been doing in my absence to keep things alive, as they are in terms of what I think more and more people are now looking at as genuinely saving the country. That’s really what’s at stake here. I don’t care about all the previous debt limit increases, because the country wasn’t on the brink then. By the way, this $14.3 trillion national debt, we’ve blown by that. It’s already 16. That’s what raising the debt limit means. They want to take the national debt to $16 trillion before the next election. That’s what raising the debt limit means. And Moody’s — or as my friend Stuart Varney says, “Moodis” — Moody’s must have been listening to me. They’re saying, to hell with the debt limit, just get rid of it. Moody’s has said, why even have one? Just get rid of the thing.
And, of course, in a strict logical sense, what is the debt limit? All it is now is a political chaos opportunity for the Democrat Party. It’s all it is. In 2006 Obama voted against raising it. He wasn’t the only one. Every Democrat, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, all these guys voted against raising the debt limit. It was the most irresponsible thing we could do. This is not about anything other than a political opportunity to create chaos, to continue the notion that this country is gonna be transformed into nothing but a big government tax increase, redistribute the wealth until the country’s finished program, which is what Obama’s plan is. It’s patently obvious. And even as we sit here today, after I have been absent for six days, it is truly amazing, Obama has offered nothing. There is still not one word, one letter of the alphabet of specificity from Obama, not one element of a plan. He has not identified anything. He’s just sitting up there refereeing all of this and he’s getting away with it.
The debt ceiling, we ought to call it the debt suggestion, because that’s all this is. And we’ll blow through this in another year and a half. I think more and more Republicans, at least in the House, are figuring this out, but we got this Gang of Six now, and whenever you have these gangs pop up, there’s one way to understand it. All you have to know about any “gang of” and that is RINO Republicans have decided to fold in with liberal Democrats in the name of compromise or whatever it is that will elevate them above the fray so that they can appear to be reasonable adults or what have you. Spineless — well, I wouldn’t say spineless, but certainly spines of linguini. And interesting, the Gang of Six option raises taxes, trillion dollars, with a $500 billion down payment on spending cuts, $500 billion. That’s a quarter.
Do you use quarters anymore? Do you run around with pocket change, Snerdley? I don’t. I don’t. I’m being honest here. I can’t tell you the last time I had change in my pocket. But $500 billion is like a quarter — (interruption) what’s so funny, why are you laughing? No, I don’t get change. I don’t take change. (interruption) What’s going to the mall have to do with it? There’s plenty of places I go where there’s cash transactions. The golf course, except when you tip the caddy, and I know some tightwads that ask for change from caddies, but I don’t. (interruption) You have to have quarters for the parking meters in Palm Beach. I don’t. I don’t park. Okay, I see what you’re talking about here. I don’t park. I get dropped off or I send somebody. Okay. But the point is, for those of you who still carry change, $500 billion down payment of spending cuts is like a quarter, it’s probably not even that much.
When I was gone, I heard the story of a guy, and I don’t remember his name, I don’t think it was a nationally known, worldwide, famous name, but somebody back in 1930, Depression, down to his last ten million, committed suicide, because he was down to his last ten million. So I wondered, what was ten million worth back in 1930? So I got out my trusty calculator that calculates the inflation rate. Ten million in 1930 was the equivalent of $135 million today, so essentially a guy in 1930 committed suicide because he was down to his last $135 million in terms of 1930 spending power. That’s what ten million got you back then. Just interesting things that we pick up along the way.