RUSH: This is really getting funny now. We got audio sound bite support coming up here. It’s getting very soap opera-like, which is what it is anyway. I mean, the reason that I have delayed this minimum wage garbage to the third hour is so that I don’t fall prey to the DC media-inspired soap opera every day. The media isn’t news anymore. Why is the minimum news? There’s no big story about the minimum wage today.
I mean, they’re making one — it’s part of the agenda — and there were other things that I thought more important that I wanted to talk about. So we’ll get to it but I’m not gonna be dominated or driven by the DC-New York Corridor/Axis media soap opera. But nevertheless it is getting funny. The CBO has come out and said, essentially — Doug Elmendorf — that if you guys in the Regime start raising the minimum wage, you’re gonna cause people to lose their jobs, and the Regime got mad.
Obama and his Regime members are now mad at Elmendorf, and they’re out there saying the CBO doesn’t know what it’s talking about. The CBO’s nonpartisan. See, the Democrats and the Regime are used to the CBO being an echo, and they know how to manipulate the CBO. The CBO can only analyze data that it’s given. So if the Regime wants you to think that health care’s gonna cost less than $1 trillion, the Regime will give them planned legislation with the numbers they want.
The only analysis possible is it’s gonna cost less than a ’til trillion. Now, Elmendorf and the gang at the CBO know this, but there’s nothing they can do. It’s not part of their job to come out and say, “We think the data we’ve been given are incomplete or incorrect.” They just have to deal with it. That’s why, in this case, the Regime’s ticked because the Regime is demanding this minimum wage increase.
Elmendorf said, “Go right ahead, but you’re gonna cause a lot of people lose their jobs,” and the Regime said, “What are you talking about? You don’t say that,” and Elmendorf is now saying, “You do not get to challenge my professionalism.” Elmendorf told reporters today, “I want to make clear that our analysis is completely consistent with the latest thinking in the economic profession.”
Now you may not realize this, but that’s a huge swipe at Obama, because that is Obama’s line. Obama is the guy that goes out and justifies everything by saying (impression), “Economists from both sides of the aisle agree… Respected economists from all points of view all agree.” So Elmendorf, Doug Elmendorf of CBO, is stealing Obama’s line when he says, “I want to make clear, our analysis,” that what they’re doing is gonna cost jobs, “is completely consistent with the latest thinking in the economic profession.”
They cut him off at the pass. Meanwhile, for what it’s worth, Obama has just arrived in Mexico for a summit with Mexican and Canadian leaders on trade and energy. Obama’s gonna explain to ’em how the US needs more illegal immigration to boost our economy. (interruption) What, you don’t think that’s what he’s gonna do? Well, what else is he gonna do? (interruption) The Mexican president says we need to open our borders. That’s not news, is it?
Every Mexican president, be it Felipe Calderon or whoever runs the cartels, all say the same thing: “The US must open its borders.” I’m sure Obama’s going to say it, too. Democrats need their continuing permanent underclass. Where are they gonna get it? But Elmendorf… This is US News & World Report. “CBO Chief Says Some People Just Don’t Get It,” and here from the article: “Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf has heard the Democratic criticism of the CBO’s report Tuesday on minimum wage jobs.”
So Elmendorf, rather than taking it and going away, is fighting back. “Elmendorf said the CBO tries to write as clearly as possible, but ‘the work that we do is technically complicated. People who read it will misunderstand it.'” So he’s doubling down on the insult to the Regime Elmendorf, in effect said, “Yeah, look, what we do is very technical, it’s very complicated, and it’s entirely possible that people who read it will misunderstand it.”
He’s talking about the Regime.
“House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the report’s conclusions about job losses ‘contradict the consensus among hundreds of America’s top economists.'” See? Elmendorf took that line away from ’em earlier. When Elmendorf said, “I want to make clear that our analysis completely consistent with the latest thinking in the economic profession, the Democrats own that line.” So here’s Pelosi: “[T]he consensus among hundreds of America’s top economists” is that there will not be any job loss because of raising the minimum wage.
Well, they’re full of it, then, because there always is. We always lose jobs. It’s no surprise. It happens. When you raise the minimum wage, you are forcing people out of the job market, because companies are not sitting there with unused piles of money. So if you tell a company that it’s minimum wage now goes from $7 to $10, they’re gonna have to fire some people ’cause they’ve gotta keep the labor costs the same, and that’s what happens. The Regime is really ticked. This CBO doesn’t do this. They don’t fight back.
So let’s go to the audio sound bites. This is this morning at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast. This is Doug Elmendorf.
ELMENDORF: We did an exhaustive review of the literature in this area up through reports that were released last month. A balanced reading of the set of research studies in this area led us to conclude that an increase in the minimum wage would probably have a small negative effect on employment, but there was substantial uncertainty around that estimate, as we reported.
RUSH: So he even tried, as you heard there, to cushion this by saying “probably have a small negative effect on employment, but there’s substantial uncertainty around the estimates, as we reported.” The estimates, by the way, are what they were fed by the Regime, which is all they can deal with. So even though he tried to soften the blow, the Regime is just out trying to destroy the guy now. I mean, the last thing anybody’s supposed to say is that anything Obama’s doing is gonna cost jobs.
Remember, now, that conventional wisdom, standard operating procedure is that Obama is creating jobs. “Why, we’re creating jobs so fast, we can’t keep up with them! The economy’s growing and we got new job creation!” It’s all this rigmarole, lying-through-their-teeth crap, and the CBO went out today and just blew a big hole in it — for the second time recently. The last time they did this, of course, was about Obamacare.
So the Regime, I’m telling you, they’re beside themselves. This Elmendorf guy, I hope he has security. Folks, this may all be dryball inside baseball, but I’m telling you: This is not done what this guy has done here. You don’t go up against this Regime like this. They look at the CBO as a branch of the Regime. The Democrats do, too. The CBO is theirs, just like the IRS is theirs, and Elmendorf is not playing ball.
Here’s Kathleen Sebelius. This was Monday in Orlando where she says that there’s no evidence that Obamacare causes unemployment.
SEBELIUS: There is absolutely no evidence — and every economist will tell you this — that there is any job loss related to the Affordable Care Act. Part-time positions are actually down since 2010, not up. The number of full-time workers continues to increase, so I know that that’s a popular myth that continues to be repeated, but it just is not accurate.
RUSH: It certainly is accurate, and you know it, folks. You’re the ones losing your jobs. You’re the ones being downsized to 29.5 or less. It is costing jobs. Everybody knows it’s costing jobs. This is the woman that told us there’d be no problem with the health care rollout, that everything was fine. She’s an idiot. But did you hear this again here? She said here, “[E]very economist will tell you.” That’s their line. Pelosi: “Consensus among hundreds of economists…” Obama: “Economists from both sides of the aisle all agree.” Now here comes Sebelius: “[E]very economist will tell you…”
So Elmendorf is saying today, “I want to make clear that our analysis is completely consistent with the latest thinking in the economic profession.” I mean, he’s throwing down. He’s firing right back at ’em. I don’t know what has prompted this. But, I mean, when he says his reports are too nuanced for some to understand, he’s calling Sebelius an idiot, he’s calling Obama’s economic advisors idiots. He’s insulting them. They don’t know what they’re reading. It’s above their pay grade. They don’t know how to analyze this.
The last time the minimum wage was raised was 2009. What’s happened since then? We got massive new job creation out there, folks? We raised the minimum wage four years ago. What’s the unemployment? Ninety-two million Americans not working! Here’s Josh Elliott. This is a news anchor. I thought he was an Obama economic advisor. He may as well be. He’s Good Morning America, ABC, talking about the minimum wage hike hitting a speed bump.
ELLIOTT: President Obama’s drive to increase the minimum wage may have hit something of a speed bump. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says boosting the federal minimum wage to more than $10 an hour would result in the loss of some 500,000 low-wage jobs. The White House, though, fired back saying most experts disagree with that assessment.
RUSH: See, there you go. Most experts disagree. Elmendorf’s commandeered the line and throwing it right back. He’s throwing down the gauntlet on ’em. So the media is now circling the wagons to protect and defend the Regime. Here’s Norah O’Donnell on CBS This Morning. The guest is the Wall Street Journal chief economics correspondent, Jon Hilsenrath, and they’re talking about the CBO report and the minimum wage.
O’DONNELL: There’s a lot at stake politically with this report because the president and Democrats are pushing this raise in minimum wage to run against Republicans in this election year. Yesterday the White House came out and said, “Look, this does not reflect the consensus view of economists that the minimum wage has been studied for years.”
RUSH: You know, the minimum wage costs jobs. The only reason the Democrats are doing this is purely political. The only reason they’re doing it is so they can occupy the high ground of saying, “We think people should earn more.” Who can oppose that? Who is opposed to people earning more? Nobody is. That’s all they’re trying to accomplish with this. That is it. They just want the low-information crowd to associate the Obama administration with high wages and the desire for them, that’s all it is. And Elmendorf’s saying, “Okay, well, there’s a problem here with what’s gonna happen ’cause you’re actually gonna cost jobs.” And they’re throwing a monkey wrench in to the political agenda that the Regime has.
This really isn’t about improving lifestyles or standards of living. Do you know what percentage of the people who work make the minimum wage? 1.6%. This is not about raising the American standard of living. It’s not about anything other than the Regime trying to associate themselves with the idea that people should get a raise and also at the same time positioning the Republicans as opposing people getting a raise. That’s all this is.
That’s why I didn’t start the show with this soap opera. It’s just Democrat politics-as-usual. They’re in trouble. Looks like they’re gonna not win the House at all, maybe lose the Senate, so it’s time to go back to fundamentals, Democrat playbook 101, raise the minimum wage, make it look like we care about the little guy. That’s all this is. And the CBO has come along and just burst their bubble. Here’s what the Wall Street Journal guy said about what Norah O’Donnell just said.
HILSENRATH: I think you have to look at the back of the report. I counted up 61 references to different outside studies that were done on the minimum wage and its effects on employment and income. It looks to me like the CBO did its best job of coming up with a down-the-middle point of view. I think the White House response in part reflects the nature of debate in Washington. Republicans are only gonna emphasize the negatives. Democrats are only gonna emphasize the positives.
RUSH: You see?
HILSENRATH: But in truth there are tradeoffs and that’s what the public has to understand.
RUSH: So he says the CBO’s right, but the Democrats get to sound positive, the Republicans, they get to make them look like they don’t want people get a raise. That’s all this is. That’s all it is. Dr. Krauthammer is up next, and I think this is a brilliant way of putting it.
KRAUTHAMMER: What this is, is a transfer of wealth from some low income earners to other low income earners. Some — of course, it’s so obvious, not rocket science. Some will be better off, will make more, but others are gonna lose everything. They’re gonna lose all of their income and they’re gonna lose the first step on the ladder into employment, which is the hope for the future. So it’s a high price. You can make your choice, but there isn’t a free lunch. They are running ads saying “give America a raise” as if it’s no cost. It is a cost, and it’s other low-income people who will be the ones who pay it.
RUSH: That’s exactly right. Obama is transferring money from one low income group to another, and the people losing the money are losing the job, and they’re losing everything. It’s Obama’s redistribution of wealth among the poor.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You know, what Dr. Krauthammer just said is right in the CBO report. Let me read you the CBO report. “Overall, income would be transferred from the wealthy to the poor.” Actually Dr. Krauthammer said that we transfer the poor to the poor, and that’s true. Some poor are gonna lose their jobs because others are gonna get a raise. Money has to come from somewhere, and it comes from people losing their jobs. It’s not rocket science. Whatever happened to being liberated from having to work? Why does the Regime want to raise the minimum wage?
I thought what was cool and hip now was not working, you know, being freed up from job lock so you could be a poet or an artist and still have your freaking health care. So why all of a sudden now do they care about the minimum wage being raised? It’s only because they want to be thought of as the people that think you should get a raise, and they can position the Republicans as the guys who don’t want you to have one. That’s all this is. By the way, here’s Elmendorf, Christian Science Monitor, this is where he stole their line about all these economists agreeing with him. I love this.
ELMENDORF: I want to be clear that our analysis of the effects of an increase in the minimum wage is completely consistent with the latest thinking in the economics profession.
RUSH: Now, what is the average consumer supposed to do? ‘Cause Pelosi says there’s a consensus of economists that agree with them, and the Regime is saying that there’s a consensus of economists that agree with them, that raising the minimum wage isn’t gonna hurt anybody. And Elmendorf says, wait a minute, our analysis that raising the minimum wage is gonna cost jobs, is completely consistent with the latest thinking in the economics profession.
I think it’s about time for people in the economics profession to stand up and say, “We want to be excused from all of this political claptrap.” The problem is most of them are partisan, too.
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