But fixing the economy - how quickly can that be done? Even if people who know h ow to do it were given a free rein to do so?
In any event, here's Rush explaining his views on the matter:
RUSH: Well, I'm not against extending unemployment benefits. I'm against extending them for 13 months to now three years. See, I happen to believe that the longer people are paid not to work, the longer they won't work, and the longer people are out of work the more unskilled they become, more out of practice they become. I happen to believe that there is dignity in work. I think a lot of men derive their self-worth and their identity from their work and from their job, and I think the Democrat Party wants as many people out of work as possible so that they will depend on the Democrat Party for what little they get. The Democrats don't care about you. The Democrats care about your vote. I think it's robbing people of their dignity. I think it's destroying people's lives. And it's your fellow citizens paying you not to work, it's not the government, it's not some nameless state official, it's the taxes of your fellow citizens being paid for this.
CALLER: Could I tell you something, please?
RUSH: Sure, by all means.
CALLER: Okay, I've been listening to you for 20 years now, right? I've been spreading your message and everything to many people and all that but now I find myself after 23 years being laid off from a company that went bankrupt and now it's probably dissolving. And what happens is after my six months being laid off they send me a letter that I was gonna be extended automatically but by a year it's over, so it's not going to be three years like you're saying. If I do get the extension then it will be that other 13 months like you're saying. But right now it's only like about a year, at least over here in the Chicago area.
RUSH: No, it's for everybody. You can get unemployment benefits up to 99 months, which --
CALLER: When I first went down there, they told me 99 weeks. And then we start getting these letters, and I don't know if it's because each state has --
RUSH: Okay, look, let me stop. Can you hold on for a while here? Because I do want to talk to you about this because --
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: -- I understand the hardships. I've been unemployed seven times. I know what you're going through. So I want you to understand why -- you've been listening for 23 years -- I want you to understand why I have this attitude about it.
CALLER: All right.
RUSH: All right, so hang on, don't go away.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Jerome in Palos Hill, Illinois, are you still there, Jerome?
CALLER: Yes, I'm here, Rush.
RUSH: All right, now, Jerome, let me start out here by saying that I don't expect much of what I say to you today to have any impact on you because it's not gonna address the immediacy of your problem which I fully understand.
CALLER: All right.
RUSH: You're outta work. I've been there. And you want to know what I have against unemployment benefits.
CALLER: Well, see, I know how feel. I usually agree with you like 99% of the time, but in this case where there's a big recession and the unemployment numbers are real high and there's millions of people out of work out there, mathematically it's gonna take a longer time for the people to get employed and --
RUSH: Right. Right. Okay, you're swerving into my point here. Let me first ask you, how long do you think unemployment benefits should last? How long should you have them?
CALLER: Normally I would agree with you like you said, you know, the six months, maybe one extension. But in this time of, you know, like here I am almost a 50-year-old man, thought I had a few more years before I would retire, and then you're out of work and the people that want to employ older people, you know how they got the stats on you and everything, even if you're perfectly healthy, I mean there's age discrimination out there and everything, but normally I would agree with you, but our company was around during the Great Depression, but it didn't make it this time, an eighty-nine-year-old tool company.
RUSH: Right. I understand all this. I want you to listen to me for just a second here, and then I'll get you back in here for your reaction. The reason this is even an issue, Jerome, is because Barack Obama has destroyed this economy, that's why this is an issue. The reason why we're even discussing the morality of unemployment benefits is because this president has destroyed the economy and continues to do so. It's not your tool company, it's not this or that; it's an economy that is stagnant at best. We didn't have to delve into these kinds of things when unemployment was at or below 5%. We had people on unemployment then, as recently as two or three years ago. We've always had people on unemployment. But we never had to deal with the issue like it is now. This is a distraction from a much larger issue, and the problem that has to be solved, Jerome, is how do we get the government to get their hands out of our pockets so that people will be motivated to expand businesses and grow.
One of the reasons your company's out of work, closed up shop, is because there's no reason for them to exist, there's no reason to grow. They can't. They don't have any customers. Now, nobody opposes basic unemployment. Nobody opposes a basic safety net. Nobody. I don't. The issue now, Jerome, is that we have a government that's destroying the forces that create wealth and create jobs, and the answer to that is not 13 months more unemployment. When I hear these people, Jerome, talk about the best economic stimulus we can have is extended unemployment benefits, I want to retch. He is consigning American citizens to a life of meaninglessness and hoping they will end up being forever voters of the Democrat Party. We have a government working against you, Jerome, and your prospects for finding a job, destroying the forces that create wealth and jobs, fund the safety net, seek to transfer wealth to the government by expanding government and shrinking the private sector. And this is the problem.
The solution is not extended unemployment. If we keep doing that we're going to prolong the problem instead of solving it. And we've been doing it for two years, and they've just added a third, Jerome, it's not done yet, but that's what's being debated. We used to extend unemployment benefits in increments of 13 weeks. Now they're holding us hostage here for 13 months. The way you address unemployment is not by extending unemployment compensation for two years, but by creating a growth environment. And there's not one Obama policy that does that. His tax policy doesn't promote growth. His spending policy doesn't promote growth. There's not one thing this man is doing to promote growth. I am as upset at this as you are, albeit for different reasons. You see, Jerome, I cringe getting phone calls from people like you. It is so unnecessary. This is being done right before our eyes.
And here's another thing, my friend. The federal government has no money. We don't have the money for this. All this money being spent today is going to become a huge burden on future generations. Future generations have to pay for all this, benefits being conferred today. So there's a moral element to this. How much do we spend today to destroy tomorrow? Look overseas, look at Italy, look at Greece, Ireland, Britain, that's us in ten years, give or take five, where we have a permanent unemployment rate of 14%, with people living forever on unemployment assistance. That's no future. That destroys the country. Now, I know none of this addresses your circumstance. None of this that I'm saying is going to make up for the loss of your job.
But the more support that we have for this policy then the greater the risk that we're gonna lose the country. Your problem will not be solved by unemployment checks. Your problem is just being delayed and put off. The only thing that's gonna solve your problem is a thriving and growing economy, and these never ending unemployment benefits extensions delay a growing and thriving economy, putting more unemployment taxes on employers is only gonna make them avoid hiring more people. It's a vicious, vicious cycle. So I don't have any problem, Jerome, with you having dollars in your pocket. I don't look at you as a freeloader. I look at you as an American whose life is being destroyed, and I'd rather not see that. It's not your company that's doing it to you. Your company didn't want to go out of business. Your company doesn't like this. There's no benefit to them here. They don't have jobs, either, now.
There's a lot more to this call, check it out at Rush's website.
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