Well, it's all over, but the voting in the National Football League, the player reps and the executive committee have voted unanimously to approve the deal that the owners ratified last Thursday.
So now what happens, including the name plaintiffs in the Brady lawsuit, they've all signed off on it.
So now what happens?
The 1,900 players making up the quote rank and file of the soon-to-be recertified NFL players union will vote on the deal between now and Wednesday, and they need 50% plus one.
So they'll get that since it's never happened that the executive committee recommends something to players oppose it.
So I guess if you want, go ahead and pop the champagne corks.
It's not done until the players vote, but it's considered a fair-complete.
So the league year.
Now what happens to the NFL?
When does the league year begin?
When does free agency start?
Negotiations, practice facilities will open in stages.
I think the first doors will open tomorrow.
Then on Wednesday, they'll finally end up opening all of them by Saturday.
Teams can negotiate with their own free agents, and others can't sign anybody for a period of time.
But I'll tell you, keep a sharpened what I've been told, and I've been told by people who know that day five after the thing is done, which will either be today or Wednesday, depending on when they start counting, day five is going to be one of the best, most exciting days all year for National Football League fans.
Because that's when free agents can start to be signed.
That's when trades can start to happen.
That's when things that would normally take place over two months will take place within a period of a week or thereabouts.
It's going to be hot and hefty.
Peyton Manning's neck will miraculously repair itself or pretty close following cervical disc surgery earlier on.
But it's going to be exciting.
Going to miss the Hall of Fame game, but all the preseason games will be played.
It's a 10-year deal.
I don't think there's an opt-out in it.
So that I'm not sure yet.
That was one sticky.
Players wanted to be opt-out, be able to opt out in five or seven years, just as the owners are able to opt out in 2008 of the current deal.
So anyway, look, I hate, Snurdy can back me up on this.
I hate to be, and I told you so, I told you there would be a full season in the National Football League.
And I'll tell you why.
And it goes back to something we were talking about earlier in this program.
The National Football League, and I don't care how you want to define that, owners, players, team officials, I don't care how you want to define it.
They know how dumb fortunate lucky they are.
They live in a growing, prosperous, $9.X billion dollar industry in this economy.
And they were never going to let that go south.
When push came to shove, people who are doing well in this economy, I guarantee you, are pinching themselves.
Some of them probably even have a little guilt.
I don't know how much, but some of them do.
It's always the case in any economic cycle when it's down for most people, there's still people that are prospering, and vice versa.
When it's robust, there's still people who are hurting.
It's just the way it is.
But there was no way they're going to let a season go by unplayed, lose $9 billion in the midst of this economy and try to rebuild from that in the midst of this economy.
So that was what I always relied on as my confidence in this.
Now, I wish I still had Carl from Kentucky on the phone.
So much more to say to him.
Now, some of you, I checked the email, which I always do during break.
Rush, you wasted your time as a lost car.
He's a 24-year-old kid thinks he knows everything.
Why did you waste?
We don't want to hear Carl like that on this program.
Oh, no.
Call like that's a golden opportunity for me.
Even if I blow it with that guy, there are people like him listening.
And it was a golden opportunity.
I wish I'd have had more time.
For example, I would have told him, Carl, do you realize since about February of 2009, the United States government has spent almost a trillion dollars on roads and bridges, highways, as he called it.
And yet there hasn't been any change in the highways.
No schools have been rebuilt.
No roads have been refurbished.
No bridges have been insured against collapse.
I'm sure he would have had some BS answer that he's been taught.
But the fact of the matter is, we know that that $800 billion did not go to any of those things.
That $800 billion was a Democrat Party slush fund, and the vast majority of it went to states so that they could keep their state and local employees on the payroll while everybody else was falling prey to the unemployment figures, the unemployment circumstances, while people were losing their jobs.
State and local officials, teachers, the precious teachers, you notice who they got to him, made him think crucially important, teachers, firemen, cops.
None of them lost their jobs.
They're starting to now because they're running out of government money because the $800 million only had a certain lifespan to it.
And I would have said, Chris, the $800 billion was spent specifically on keeping teachers and lawyers, teachers and firemen and so forth employed if they were members of unions.
And he would have said, why?
I don't believe you.
Why?
Because those are all dues-paying members of unions that contribute to the Democrat Party.
So in essence, the $800 billion to rebuild your precious roads and schools actually was a slush fund.
The majority of the money went to Barack Obama and other Democrats and their campaign war chests.
It was a money laundering operation.
I would love to have had the time to tell him.
I would love to have said, Chris, Carl was, Carl, in 1950 some odd, when Dwight Eisenhower was president, your precious 90% tax rate, Jimmy Carter became president in the 70s, and somehow we reduced that top rate of 90 to 70%.
And then when Ronaldo's Magnus came along, he would have said, who?
I said, when Ronald Reagan came along, I said, Carl, do you realize The 70% marginal rate when Ronald Reagan took office generated about $500 billion in revenue to the federal government.
When Reagan left office in 1989, the top marginal rate was 28%.
And the take, the revenue to the Treasury, had nearly doubled to almost $1 trillion.
I would love to have told him this.
I doubt that he would have believed me.
He's 24, knows it all, and I'm in this old, fuddy-dutty old man.
But I still would have loved the chance to tell him.
Somebody's got to put it in his head.
I hope he's still out there listening.
And I would have reminded him again, we spent $800 billion, almost $1 trillion on your precious roads and bridges, and not a one of them was touched.
You know, Ronald Reagan explained the 90% tax rate in his Hollywood acting days.
He invoked this a lot of times.
He said the actors would work six months and then stop because they'd lose 90 cents on every dollar they made over that on more movies.
So once they had reached the 90% tax bracket, they stopped working because they only kept a dime of it.
At the height of his Hollywood career, Ronaldus Magnus was making $400,000 a movie with the top federal tax rate over 90%.
Reagan used to tell his White House Chief of Staff Donald Reagan, he always chose to loaf around rather than make more than two pictures a year.
Why should I have done a third picture, even if it was gone with the wind?
What good would it have done me?
90% goes to the government.
But the big thing, somebody's actually gotten to that poor man, young guy, has actually convinced him that tax cuts are spending.
And that's relatively new.
I mean, that's a new oration from Obama.
Well, I know that too, the reverence he had.
The government always does best with money.
He had a reverence for it.
That is pure and simple indoctrination in schools.
Pure and simple.
All money was governments to him, and that was fine.
And anybody who disagreed with that, they are selfish and they are greedy, which is why, you know, I get calls like that from young skulls full of mush folks.
I can't help it.
I see an opportunity.
I like to avail myself of the opportunity.
Have no idea how we did with young Carl because we didn't have much time.
And he did, you know, typical 24-year-old talking to somebody 60.
I don't know what I'm talking about.
He knew and knows it all.
He was a nice guy, but clearly somebody had told him, you call Limbaugh and you tell him the way it is.
See what Limbaugh says.
Listen to the lies Limbaugh tells you.
I'm sure that's what he was prepped with.
You listen to how Limbaugh will lie to you and squirm and all of that.
I wonder if, I wonder if Carl's ever heard of JFK, and it was JFK that demanded Eisenhower's tax rates be lowered.
We have the speech, young Carl Kennedy at the Economic Club of New York.
In fact, it was the 90% tax bracket that ultimately turned Ronaldus Magnus to the Republican Party.
Brief timeout, my friends.
Got a tankette.
We'll come back and continue more of your phone calls as we kick off a brand new week of broadcast excellence right after this.
Interesting story here from thehill.com.
Look at the headline: poll.
GOP gains big with white voters.
Democrats' advantage over Republicans in partisan affiliation is way down from 2008 as white voters have turned against the Democrats, according to a poll released Friday by the Pew Research Center.
While minority voters continue to support Democrats in big numbers, what was just a two-point Republican edge among whites in 2008 has grown to a 13-point advantage today.
Republican gains among white voters are particularly pronounced among the young and the poor.
White voters under age 30 now break for Republican by an 11-point margin.
In 2008, they broke for Democrats by a 7-point margin.
So let's see.
Let's see here.
Other than African Americans and union members, Obama had three other strong voter groups in 2008.
He had a bunch of brain-dead, idiot young adults under 30 still living in their parents' basements and getting health insurance from them.
He had those making less than $30,000 a year and no doubt not paying much in taxes.
And he had either the college indoctrinated or overeducated white people.
But look now.
Obama seems to have failed to give one of these core white groups any hope.
Now they're just a bunch of dumb racists.
A bunch of white people have just turned racist.
Well, I mean, that's what the Eugene Robinsons and the rest of the crowd's going to have to conclude.
White people voted for Obama.
He's worked hard.
He's really trying.
He's trying to overcome Bush, and yet these white people are saying, I don't like Obama anymore.
Got to be racism.
Has to be.
What else can it be?
Could be the economy, but that's how selfish they are then.
If it's their houses and their economy, how selfish?
Do they not understand?
We have the first African-American president.
Where is their sense of history?
Where's their sense of duty?
It doesn't matter where their jobs are.
They're supposed to put all that behind them.
That's supposed to be subordinated to Obama.
So the question that you have to ask, there's a little tweak here.
Once you go Barack, can you go back?
Once you, Jeff in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Great to have you on the EIB Network.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi, how are you?
Good.
You know, the Federal Reserve printed $16.1 trillion between December of 2007 and July of 2010.
$16.1 trillion.
This money went to U.S. and foreign banks, some of which Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America.
It's the only good thing that was the result of the Dodd-Frank Act.
One-time audit of the Federal Reserve.
That's the only reason we found out about it.
Wait a second.
What is happening to me?
What in the world is happening to me today?
Did I just hear you right?
Did you say the only good thing to happen from all that spending was the Dodd-Frank Act?
No, no, no, no, no.
I said the only good thing to come from the Dodd-Frank Act was the one-time audit of the Federal Reserve.
Oh, good, good, good.
I thought I had Carl Jr. here on the phone.
No, no, no.
I'm complete opposite of Carl Jr.
But my question is, we're arguing over $2.5 trillion in a debt ceiling raise, $1.51 trillion here and there.
These are pennies compared to $16.1 trillion from basically another branch of the federal government who we do not elect, who do not require congressional approval to print money out of thin air and loan it out to their buddies around the world.
And the Hamptons, don't forget, the Hamptons.
Now, why is this not being reported anywhere?
Well, no, it has been, but only recently there was a ruling that for the longest time, the Fed did not have to identify who they gave that $2.1 trillion to.
They have now had to identify it.
I don't recall.
Well, we're talking about $16.1 trillion in other loans.
This doesn't include quantitative easing one and two.
These were emergency loans given across the world with no oversight.
Now, why is everybody up in an uproar over this debt ceiling debate when this is penny?
Our GDP last year was $14.5 trillion, and they just printed $16.1 trillion.
And we're concerned about what happens in Washington over a debt increase.
You got to be kidding me.
Now, this is what people on Wall Street, this is what investors in this country and bonds and everything, this is what they're looking at.
The people who are really involved and really have money at stake are looking at things like this.
They're not concentrating on the propaganda you're getting in the media and everything else that everybody's arguing about.
This is $16.1 trillion.
How can you even wrap your head around that?
No, no, people are talking about it.
It's not widespread, but I have sorted a story somewhere in my stack that the true amount of unfunded liabilities, just in Social Security and Medicare, Social Security and Medicare, run to about $114 trillion.
That's unimaginable.
So even your $16 trillion pails.
I know what you're getting at.
And what you're getting at is nothing has been real.
There hasn't been any backing whatsoever for all of this money that's been printed, distributed, put into the money supply, spent.
It hasn't been real.
And that's scary.
And I don't mean gold standard.
I'm not talking about that.
This what, you're telling me the $16 trillion was paid back?
I got somebody trying to tell me $16 trillion was paid back.
I haven't heard that.
Regardless, though, QE3, this is just money printed in order to shore up the stock market.
I mean, the real controversy over all this is the Fed may have not had a legal standing to do what they did.
To print QE1, QE2, QE3.
I mean, they may not have had the legal standing to do it in the first place.
But it all adds up.
Folks, this is whether people understand the details or not, the one thing they understand, this is not right.
It isn't real.
These amounts of money are not real, and they can't, they know this is not how things happen in this country.
They can't put their finger on it.
Just like you, they know this is not the way things happen normally.
Janice in Lucerne Valley, California.
Welcome to the EIB Network.
Hello.
Well, I am overwhelmed.
It's you.
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you for taking my call.
Yes.
I was wondering, Mr. Limbaugh, what do you think about if the government, Washington, the government, doesn't come up with a budget, is there a good chance that I will not be getting my Social Security check next month?
And one comment.
One totally up to Obama.
Hang on here.
Okay.
Hang on.
I'm going to give you some numbers on this.
Your Social Security checks, wrong stack.
Your Social Security check should be made with ease.
There is money.
In fact, one of the ways that it happens is that Treasury bonds by law will be sold and redeemed and the money used to fund Social Security payments.
That is a matter of law.
And it's certainly a matter of choice.
It has nothing to do with running out of money or whatever.
I'm going to find this thing.
I thought I had it in the wrong stack.
I've got four stacks today, and I thought I knew which stack.
Well, I and a lot of other seniors or people that get Social Security that I know of, are kind of worried about it.
Why are you worried about it?
I'm curious.
Why am I worried about it?
Yeah, why are you worried?
If I don't get my Social Security check next month, I will lose everything I have.
No, no, I know.
Why are you worried about not getting it?
I know that's why you're susceptible to somebody saying you're not going to go.
Why do you, who's told you you're not going to get your check?
Well, they keep mentioning every once in a while I'm reading in the paper, if you can believe anything you read in the paper, that every once in a while they mention that the Social Security could be ousted.
We just won't get our checks.
No, it's not true.
If you don't, I'll tell you what, if you don't get your Social Security check, it is going to be because Barack Obama chose not to pay you.
Oh.
And I am not making that up.
And darn it, where did I put this?
I had this in this.
Well, I have been so worried about that because, you know.
Well, I can understand you're worried when that's all you've got.
And somebody comes along and says, somebody wants to take yours away.
I understand you might not vote for that person who they tell you is going to take your Social Security away, right?
Well, I never voted for Obama in the first place, but I don't care for the man.
But he probably is a good man, but as a president, he stinks.
Yeah.
I mean, there's just no way getting around it.
I really think he knows what he's doing.
Like I say, he's probably a wonderful person social-wise, but I don't wish him any harm.
Very nice of you to say.
I'm sure he's a wonderful guy, too.
Yeah.
That and a dime will get you your Social Security check.
Here it is.
Okay.
Here it is.
Professor Michael McConnell, law professor Michael McConnell, the Social Security Trust Fund holds about $2.4 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds, which its trustees are legally entitled to redeem whenever Social Security is running a current account deficit.
Thus, are you listening to me on this?
Yes, I am.
If we reach the debt ceiling, this is what will happen.
The Social Security Trust Fund will go to the Treasury Department, cash in some of those securities.
The proceeds will be used to send checks to recipients.
That would be you.
Each dollar of debt that is redeemed will lower the outstanding public debt by a dollar.
That enables the Treasury to borrow another dollar without violating the debt ceiling.
We have income coming in to handle your Social Security.
When you hear Barack Obama tell you, when that reporter said, Can you guarantee checks?
I can't, Scott.
It's not just Social Security.
We're talking about the Medicare.
They're lying and trying to scare you.
I'll tell you, it is economic terrorism what they're doing to you.
This is scary.
Your Social Security check will go out, and there is already a mechanism in the Social Security Trust Fund to sell Treasury bonds to come up with the cash to pay you.
It is there.
Obama is demagoguing this.
The Democrats are demagoguing this.
Your Social Security check will go out.
Oh, God.
Only unless.
Listen to me.
Yes.
Only unless Obama orders them not to be sent.
Well, I won't hold my breath.
Did you hear me?
This is very serious.
Yes, it is.
You asked me a serious question.
I dug up the answer.
Did you hear me?
Yes, I did.
Do you believe me?
I believe you.
Oh, God, yes, I believe you.
Okay, because there's no point in me lying to you to anybody, period, which I don't do.
There's no point in me lying to you about this.
Well, you've eased my mind one way, but then another way there's kind of, you know, he could still stop it if he wanted to.
I can't believe that he would because he would ruin thousands and thousands of people.
I mean, there would be people on the streets the very next day, people with no food the very next day.
I know.
He plans on stopping this.
I know.
And if Obama, let me tell you something now, Janice.
If Obama thinks, and I'm dead serious about this too, if he thinks that he can blame the Republicans, if he thinks he can make you think the Republicans are responsible for that, he might do it.
But I just want to assure you, the money is there, and there is a mechanism for you to be paid.
Well, thank you very much.
You need to tell your friends the money is there.
You need to tell your friends that if you don't get your checks and this debt ceiling doesn't go up, the one-word answer is Obama.
Only he can stop it.
Now, you're going to get a lot of ridicule, and you're going to have a lot of your gummer buddies yelling and shouting at you.
I want you to tell them the mechanism is there, selling treasury bonds.
Social Security Trust Fund has $2.4 trillion in Treasury bonds, which the trustees are legally entitled to redeem whenever Social Security is running an account deficit, meaning running out of money.
So with somebody who is honest and constitutional running the show, you will get your check.
Okay.
I believe you.
Janice, are you going to tell your friends?
I certainly am, because that means there's some people that are really, really upset.
Well, you tell them.
And Janice, what are you going to tell them when they ask you how you know?
I heard it on the Rush Limbaugh show.
And then they're going to ridicule that.
What are you going to tell them?
I'm going to tell them, well, of course, Rush Limbaugh hates Obama and Rush Limbaugh doesn't care about you and Rush Limbaugh wants you to eat dog food.
I want to say Rush Limbaugh is the one that cares and he finds out what is really going on.
And apparently, the government don't give a rat's ass.
I wouldn't say that.
Oh.
That's not going to help.
You just tell them that whenever any government official tells them that the debt limit not being raised means they don't get your checks, they're being lied to.
Yes.
Are going to get your checks.
The money is there.
There's a mechanism for it to be found.
Thank you so much, Rush.
Happy to help.
And thank you very much, and God bless you.
And don't cave on this, Janice.
I'm not that.
You're an EIB emissary now.
You're a deputy.
You've been deputized out there to get the truth out.
Well, thank you, Rush.
All right.
Don't cave on us out there.
You know, as Margaret Thatcher told George H.W. Bush, don't go wobbly on us.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had something very short to say following the announcement, pretty much, of a deal between the National Football League players and owners on a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement.
I hope we gave a little lesson to the people in Washington because the debt crisis is a lot easier to fix than this deal was.
Thank you.
I hope we gave a little lesson to the people in Washington because the debt crisis is a lot easier to fix than this was.
Now, a lot of people are going to say, what is he doing?
But that's Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, who also said, get the lawyers out of this.