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Jan. 30, 2013 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:46
January 30, 2013, Wednesday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
So what do you think the big immigration news is today?
Take a wild guess what the big immigration news today is.
That's exactly right.
In fact, the only news on the immigration front in the drive-by state-controlled media seems to be my interview with Florida Senator Marco Rubio yesterday.
And you know why?
You know why that's the only immigration news out there?
It's because the drive-bys seem to think that my praise of Rubio means that I have suddenly decided to support Amnesty.
Obviously, I've got the sound bites to prove it.
I don't know what they heard.
Maybe they heard potential, but I ended up, I tell you what did it, at the end of the interview yesterday, I thanked the senator for joining us on the program, and I praised him.
And I praised him because he's got the guts to speak and articulate conservative principles.
And he had the guts to take on President Obama.
Time will tell whether he'll follow through on that.
But I simply believe in encouraging people that exhibit courage.
He said yesterday during the interview that if there isn't any border security first, then he's not going to vote for this.
Time will tell.
But I simply was trying to encourage him, thank him for being here.
You know, I asked him, I think some pretty, it wasn't a puffball interview.
Why are we doing this?
Why do we let the Democrats set the agenda on this stuff all the time?
How come we're always reactionary and defensive?
Why do we have to do this now?
You know, folks, we are being, I mentioned yesterday we're being whipsawed.
Yesterday it was immigration.
Five minutes before that it was guns.
Today it was back to guns.
Now it's all about the guns.
We had another first ever hearing on what happened in Newtown and had Mark Kelly, who's really good.
You know Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabby Giffords, is a good guy.
He's an astronaut, shuttle commander.
And he's obviously he's got to be a good guy.
And he admired both of them actually what they've been through.
And she's amazing in what she is able to accomplish after what happened to her.
She's not able to speak well, but she gives it her best.
She's not able to see well, but she gives it her best.
She doesn't complain.
You know, I ignore the substance of what she's saying in a circumstance like this.
I just don't ignore it, but you can't avoid being really profoundly impressed by Gabby Giffords and her husband as well.
But that doesn't mean that I agree with the proponents of getting rid of the Second Amendment in any way, shape, matter, or form.
The point is that every day, every five minutes, every half hour, we are moving on to some other crisis, something else that has to be done, something that's tearing the country apart, something that ripping us to shreds.
Meanwhile, the things that really are ripping the country to shreds are ignored, not talked about.
Do you know, ladies and gentlemen, the economy in the fourth quarter, they told us, grew at a rate of 1.1%, I think is what they said.
But turns out that's not the case.
The economy actually contracTedros domestic product.
The U.S. economy posted a stunning drop of 0.1% in the fourth quarter, defying expectations for slow growth and possibly providing incentive for more Federal Reserve stimulus.
That is the last thing we need.
That's what's gotten us into this problem.
Anyway, the economy shrunk.
You know what the Democrats are on saying?
This is the best-looking contraction that there's ever been in this country.
And of course, the media is repeating that.
But that not a surprise to you and me, but nevertheless, it is incredibly serious.
And you remember what this administration's growth forecasts were for the next three to four years.
Their growth forecasts were anywhere between 3 and 4.5%.
Our growth rate is below the Chikons.
Our growth rate is below Cuba.
We're not growing now.
The fourth quarter, we actually contracted.
And it's not, that means that the employment situation isn't changing.
That means wages aren't changing positively.
There's no growth in people's incomes.
It's just sad just to watch this happening right in front of our eyes.
The inflation rate is at least 2%, probably higher than that.
So by casual calculation here, a 0.1% GDP contraction could mean that for all intents and purposes, we're back into a recession.
What do you need?
A couple or three quarters in a row for that to be officially proclaimed.
I tell you, if they're Republican in the White House, we'd be in a recession.
If they're Republican in the White House, we'd have never come out of the recession.
If they're Republican in the White House, it'd be a depression.
If they're Republican in the White House and all this going on, it'll be doing impeachment hearings by now.
I don't know what more the Federal Reserve can do.
They've already shoveled $85 billion a month into the financial markets.
That's why the stock market's doing well.
The artificial rise in the stock market.
That's what QE2 is.
The Fed buying securities or making money available to buy stocks.
And everybody's buying stock except Apple.
By the way, you know, we talked about, you want to hear something?
Just as a sideline, it's interesting.
Amazon.
There's an object lesson here.
Amazon reported its quarterly earnings yesterday.
I don't have the data right in front of me, but Amazon did not report a profit.
They did not report growth.
They did not report anything that was positive.
And the stock market just went up through the roof.
Apple reports record revenue, the fourth most profitable quarter ever, and the bottom fell out for them.
And one analyst speculated, had a theory as to why Amazon's doing well.
Are you ready for this?
Investors appreciate a company willing to lose money.
Honest to God, that's the summarization.
That's the summary of what this guy said.
People, you know, Amazon's selling stuff at prices that they can't possibly earn a profit, and that deserves to be rewarded.
That means Amazon cares about people.
That means Amazon's not trying to exploit their customers.
So people are investing in Amazon.
Their stock price went up.
They're reporting losses.
And the analysts, the same people beating up Apple for inexplicable reasons are claiming that, well, Amazon, just one analyst, I haven't seen this as a blanket explanation, but one analyst said, oh, man, Amazon, you really got to love these guys.
They're selling things at prices they can't possibly earn a profit.
They've got the consumer in mind.
They've got to really appreciate what Amazon's doing.
Well, that's all well and good, but who in the heck would put their money into a company that's not going to show a profit?
But people are doing it.
So it's either analyst advice or the hedge funds, mutual funds buying it without the knowledge of the individual investor.
Amazon's profits fell 45%.
Honest to God, folks.
Amazon reported mixed earnings yesterday.
Their $21.2 billion in revenue was a little short of Wall Street expectations, just like Apple's was.
Amazon's profits fell 45%.
And Slate.com has a story.
Amazon profits fall 45%, still the most amazing company in the world.
This is not something we want our children learning.
That investors reward loss.
It's great for the consumers.
From this Slate.com article, this is what I was talking about.
Amazon, as best I can tell, is a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers.
By charitable organization, what they mean is that Jeff Bezos isn't worried about making a profit.
He doesn't care if he loses money as long as the consumer is happy.
And in our current place that this country is, what the left has done, and everybody's attitude toward big business, we're now getting to point we're rewarding companies that lose money because that means they care about the consumer.
We reward companies that make no profit because that's what the left says.
Why should there be profit in health care?
Why should a doctor get rich for treating the sick?
Why should a hospital make any money?
Why should people who sell food profit from it?
Everybody has to, you know, these are things that are taught in business schools now, and you got liberals, little young skulls full of mush running around thinking this stuff.
They believe it.
I've run into them.
I've talked to them.
I've had these new Castrati guys come up to me.
Mithrid Wimbaugh, why should there be profit in things where the people need, like health care?
People need to be cured when they get the thief when they get sick.
How come somebody's going to get rich doing that?
And why should food cost anything more than what it costs to produce?
It's not fair.
It's exploitative.
I've had these people tell me.
By the way, speaking of people, Catherine and I last night went to a dinner here in Palm Beach that honored Navy SEALs.
A place was sold out.
It was 400 people were there, tables of 10 and 12, and we went with a bunch of friends.
You know, every time, you know, we at 2ifbyt.com, we sponsor the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation.
And they have an annual big dinner at the Waldorfest area and a number of other satellite events.
And of course, every time, particularly with where the country is now, in pop culture sense, every time I find myself at one of these events, I feel like I've gone back in a time warp.
Honor, dignity, trustworthy, all of these, trustworthiness, all of these great Character traits that you find in the military.
The dignity, the honor, integrity, devotion, patriotism, the respect the uniform military personnel have for the military, for their own institutions.
It really reminds me, a couple, three years ago, we went to a Horatio Alger dinner, annual dinner, where this is people who have come up from nothing to make something of themselves.
They have really started from nothing and become the pinnacle, the best at what they do.
And I was listening, you know, every award winner, every recipient make a speech, and it was in Washington.
Obama was present within his first term.
And what I was hearing, all these people say you don't hear anymore.
They were talking about the route to success, hard work, what it took, respect for and love for their families and so forth, and the greatness of America residing in freedom and liberty and the opportunity for people to invest in themselves however they wish and be the best they could be.
I remember telling you when I heard that, I felt like I was at a time warp, because it's a few blocks down the road is the White House where Obama is, and none of that.
We don't hear anything like that from any American leader, except we did hear it from Rubio yesterday, which is one of the reasons that I was praiseworthy because he has that kind of story.
His family, immigrants, in fact.
But this dinner last night, which honored the Navy SEALs and benefited the Navy SEAL Museum, which is in Fort Pierce, Florida, which I didn't know.
You can arrange a tour.
The Navy SEAL Museum is in Fort Pierce.
It was, it's just uplifting.
The Honor Guard came in, and I took my picture with the Honor Guard.
And they had this great entertainer, this guy walking around.
He gave me his business card in the bathroom, a singing sailor.
And you can hire this guy, and he runs out, he does rat pack impersonations.
He sings like Sinatra and Dean Martin and these guys.
And I don't know.
It's just, it's uplifting and inspiring.
Whenever you attend a military event like this, and I tell you, it was packed.
And it was just, it was great.
It's a sobering thing to do because it's a great reminder of what's still possible because of what still is in a few pockets in our country and what was once the majority of the country.
Anyway, let's take a brief time out and we'll come back and continue with all the rest of today's exciting excursion into broadcast excellence right after this.
I want to read you one more brief excerpt from the salon.com story on Amazon whose profits fell 45% and the stock went up through the roof.
Here's this excerpt.
It is a truly remarkable American success story.
But if you own a competing firm to Amazon, you should be terrified.
Competition is always scary.
But competition against a juggernaut that seems to have permission from its shareholders to not turn any profits is really frightening.
The hell you say.
So apparently everybody invested in Amazon is perfectly fine with not only no profits, but with huge losses because, well, it's charitable.
It's really to the benefit of the consumers.
Amazon's doing a great service keeping prices so low.
How come Walmart never gets this kind of credit?
This really, folks, I don't know.
I've been talking for how long about the assault on profit and the whole concept.
But man, when Wall Street, I mean, Wall Street is ostensibly, we all know it's not, but ostensibly the den of capitalism, comes along and rewards and praises a company whose profits plummeted 45%, whose revenue was down as going gangbusters.
It just proves the point.
Profit is evil.
There's no need for it.
And you know what's going to happen?
You're going to have a bunch of people who don't know what they're being taught this.
See, you can stay in business losing money.
Why do you explain that, Mr. Limbaugh?
That's an excellent point.
Here's Amazon, and you just admitted they're losing money and losing money to 45%.
And they stay in business, Mr. Limbaugh, and their customers are exceedingly happy, as are their investors.
So what is the need for profit?
People are going to conclude this.
You may think I'm off in the left field here, but don't doubt me.
Back to the AP story on GDP.
This is amazing, too.
Economic growth contracted.
The GDP contracted by one-tenth of 1% in the fourth quarter.
Now, listen to this from AP.
That is a sharp slowdown from the 3.1% growth rate in the July-September quarter.
What they're not telling you is, you may not forget, remember this, in the fourth quarter, there was a whole lot of economic stimulus, quote unquote, to cover for Obama's tax increases.
There was all kinds of stimulation to come, stimulus, so as his re-election effort wouldn't be harmed.
And it still resulted in a contraction.
And listen to this next sentence from these wizards of smart at AP.
The surprise contraction.
By the way, are you surprised that our economy is collapsing on itself?
You're not, are you?
The wizards of smart at AP are.
Listen to this.
The surprise contraction could raise fears about the economy's ability to handle tax increases that took effect in January and looming spending cuts.
Really?
I thought tax increases were great for the economy.
That's what the news media, the Democrat Party, been telling us.
Same thing with unemployment benefits.
I thought that was great for unemployment, for economic growth.
What happened to that?
The surprise contraction could raise fears about the economy's ability to handle tax increases.
You mean they've known all along at AP that tax increases slow down the economy?
They've known that all along, and they've been lying to us about it.
And now that we're contracting, they're worried, openly admitting they're worried.
Let me read for you.
By the way, I never introduced the program.
It really doesn't matter.
You know who I am.
You know what this is and how to get a hold of us.
It's Rush Limbaugh, the EIB network at 800-282-2882.
Here's an excerpt from the White House response to the economy collapsing in the fourth quarter.
It's from Alan B. Kruger, who's chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.
Here's the excerpt.
Today's report is a reminder of the importance of the need for Congress to act to avoid self-inflicted wounds to the economy.
The regime continues to urge Congress to move toward a sustainable federal budget in a responsible way that balance of the sea, sustainable,
responsible balance has got every Obama code word in there, balances revenue and spending and replaces the sequester while making critical investments in the economy that promote growth and job creation and protect our most vulnerable citizens.
In other words, the White House says we need more taxes and more spending.
That's what critical investments in the economy are that promote growth.
They're talking about promoting growth.
We're shrinking.
If we got a growth rate of minus one-tenth of 1% added to inflation, which is what, 2% and 5%, folks, the growth rate is really collapsing.
It's not just 110th of 1% when you factor inflation.
And here these guys come now asking for more investments to promote growth.
There isn't any.
There's nothing that they are doing that promotes growth.
And we know this.
And by the way, we continue to say it's on purpose.
Look, we're running trillion-dollar deficits.
The Democrats that are saying again today that we're not spending enough money to stimulate the economy, I want to remind you again that when the economy collapsed in the fourth quarter, payroll taxes were lower than they are today.
The economy collapsed before payroll taxes went up.
The payroll tax, the end of the partial payroll tax deduction, means that the average American has $100 a month less disposable income.
But in the fourth quarter, when the economy contracted, the average American had that $100.
That $100 was taken away with the tax increase, which Obama said would never happen, by the way, in January.
So if the economy collapsed before Obama's tax increases, what is happening now?
By their own definition, we should be growing to beat the band now because the taxes went up.
And don't forget, Pelosi and the Democrats all say that unemployment benefits equal rampant economic growth.
And we extended unemployment benefits, and I don't see the economic growth.
Meanwhile, what really is important today is taking away your guns.
As we are whipsawed back and forth, one issue to the next, one crisis disaster to the next.
Somehow the economy is always left out of the whipsaw.
It's guns, it's gay marriage, it's gay rights.
The Boy Scouts deciding it's old-fashioned here not to let gays instead.
Gays are going to be in leadership positions.
We've got new tax increases headed down the pike.
We're going to take guns away from you if we can.
It just continues to roll on.
And speaking of guns, last night, High school student Hadia Pendleton, 15-year-old high school student, drum majorette, who attended Obama's recent inauguration and performed at several inaugural events with a band and a drill team, was shot and killed in Chicago last night.
A 15-year-old high school student, shot and killed in Chicago.
You heard about this?
Attended Obama's immaculation events?
Probably the victim of gang shooting.
But you're not going to hear about this because assault rifle wasn't used.
So it can't be used to advance the Democrat media agenda.
Besides, it happened in Chicago.
Where does a Democrat mayor?
They're not going to talk about stuff that happens.
It didn't happen.
And I don't even know how newsworthy it really is anyway, since Chicago's already had at least 40 murders this month.
We have 30 days go by in Chicago and everywhere else this month so far, 40 murders.
That means that Chicago is on pace to have a record 500 murders this year.
And never mind, Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country.
It already has an assault weapons man in Chicago.
So the 15-year-old high school student, it wasn't an assault rifle used, so they're not going to, it doesn't further the agenda.
Ray Lewis at the Super Bowl under a cloud of suspicion.
Did you know that one of the fastest growing organisms, one of the fastest growing things in all of mammaldom, in the entire mammal world, do you know what grows faster than almost anything?
Deer antlers.
A certain deer, I think, I could be corrected on this, but I think this specific deer that we're talking about in Australia could be wrong about that.
But wherever this deer is, the deer antler grows faster than any other aspect of any mammal ever.
So what's happened is a bunch of doctors and nutritionists have been able to isolate the material element, whatever, that makes this possible, and they've put it in a spray that human beings use under the tongue.
It's called sublingual.
For those of you in Rio Linda, sublingual, see, the tongue is how we speak, i.e., language, lingual sub means under.
So when something is sublingual, it's under the tongue, and that's because things are absorbed into the bloodstream faster there than anywhere, certainly faster than gastrointestinally.
So Ray Lewis is accused of getting this deer antler spray.
It's also in pill form, understand.
But the fast-acting stuff, you put, you spray on the skin and you spray under the tongue.
And it supposedly acts like human growth hormone and therefore becomes a performance-enhancing drug and therefore is illegal in the NFL.
And Ray Lewis is accused of using it.
And so yesterday was Media Day at the Superdome.
And of course, the media flocking to Ray Lewis.
And he got a question.
First question, of course, was on Atlanta and 2000, the question, you pled guilty to an obstruction of justice charge to the deaths of two people in Atlanta.
What would you say today to the families of those victims?
I just don't believe, honestly, that this is not the appropriate time for that.
Nobody here is really qualified to ask those questions.
I just truly feel that this is God's time and whatever his time is, you know, let it be his will.
Don't try to please everybody with your words or try to make everybody's story sound right.
At this time, I just would rather direct my questions in other places because I live with that every day.
You make and take a break from it.
I don't.
I live with it every day of my life.
Well, it's perfectly clear to me what he's saying there.
Did you understand that?
They're afraid in there to tell me that they didn't understand it.
What Ray is saying here is that you media twerps are not qualified to ask me these questions.
This Super Bowl, this is God's time.
And whatever God chooses is his will.
And I'm not going to try to please everybody with my words or try to make everybody's story sound right.
I just want to direct my questions, he means answers, because he's not asking anybody anything.
I just want to direct my answers in other places because I live with that every day of my life.
I don't know if he means Atlanta or God's will.
So the next question.
Ray, there's a story at Sports Illustrated that you used banned substances in your recovery, deer antler spray.
What do you say to that?
I've been in this business 17 years, and nobody has ever got up with me every morning and trained with me.
Every test I've ever took in the NFL, there's never been a question if I've ever even thought about using anything.
So to even entertain stupidity like that, tell him to go try to get a story off somebody else.
All right, so Ray Lewis with a categorical denial that he's ever used deer antler spray.
He got a bicep, a triceps injury that he wanted to come back early from.
So it's his last year and he wanted to play in the odds that they made the Super Bowl they did, so he wanted to make sure he could play.
So the allegation he's using deer antler spray because it's a performance enhancing human growth hormone that enhances recovery.
He says, I've been tested every year, 17 years, I never failed a test.
Where have we heard that?
We heard that from Lance Armstrong.
We heard that from what's her name, the sprinter Marion Jones.
Here's the thing.
This is the problem for it.
Not a problem.
Nothing's going to happen.
You can only, from what I have discovered, you can only detect deer antler spray.
But it's important for those of you young athletes out there who are going to try this, and you know you will.
You can only detect deer antler spray in the blood.
You can't detect it in urine, and the NFL doesn't draw blood for tests.
Everything's a urine test, so it won't show up.
So even if he has been using deer antler spray, there's no way it would ever show up.
This isn't going to go anywhere because there's not going to be any way anybody can establish it unless the deer gives up the goods.
Now, the deer antler doesn't grow as fast as government debt, but I didn't say that.
I said mammal.
The government debt's not mammalian.
It's a whole different breed.
The deers are from New Zealand, not Australia.
It says the particular deer from New Zealand.
The antlers grow faster than anything else in the mammal world.
And that's why the extract from those antlers is sought because of the recovery time being speeded up in the human body.
The substance, after they do their magic and extract whatever is the active ingredient here, it's called IGF-1.
IGF-1.
It's banned by the NCAA.
It's banned by every major professional sports league, but you can only discover it if you sample blood.
And the NFL doesn't.
The NFL just does urine tests, and that's it.
It's an insulin-like growth factor.
It's natural, antibiotic hormone stimulates muscle growth.
And it actually comes from the velvet on a deer's antlers.
Yeah, their antlers are the fastest-growing substance on earth because of the high concentration of IGF1.
Let's go to the phones, Mary Joe, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Oh, by the way, Ray Lewis, something I meant to say.
Ray Lewis has got a simple explanation or answer for all this.
What difference does it make?
At this point, what difference does it make about Atlanta and 2000 or whatever happened at a nightclub?
And the deer antler spray.
What difference does it make?
Hey, it worked for Hillary.
If it worked for Hillary, it's bound to work for somebody like Ray Lewis.
Okay, Mary Joe, I'm glad you called and thank you for your patience.
Great to have you here.
Hi.
Hi, Rush.
Thank you for taking my call.
I've been telling about this story you mentioned earlier about the media praising Amazon's profit loss.
And I just wanted to point out the hypocrisy of the media, which you already know, but on two different points.
One, they were praising Amazon for losing money and yet benefiting the customer.
And they can't stand Walmart, who makes money and benefits the customer at the same time.
They have a real problem with someone who can benefit the customer and yet make money if the company has an ideology opposed to theirs.
And also, the fact that they were praising Amazon for benefiting the customer and losing money.
But what about all those small business owners, all those small bookstores and other small businesses that are going out of business because Amazon is outselling them?
Well, about that, see, I mentioned the Walmart comparison, and it is.
It shows the selective outrage that the left has.
Walmart, bad because they're not union.
Walmart, also bad because they're destroying mom and pop.
But so is Amazon.
But Amazon's okay because Jeff Bezos is a card-carrying Democrat, raises money for Democrats, probably donates a lot of money for Democrats, bundles, and he's a great guy.
He's willing to basically run a charity here for consumers.
Jeff Bezos is what allows a silly story like Amazon's today to praise a company profit down 45%.
There is no revenue growth at Amazon.
They are selling those Kindles at losses.
You know, Amazon's business model is not to make money off of any hardware.
It is, you know, they practically give the Kindle away at cost or maybe even below.
And then they hope to make money selling the content for it.
And they do that with a lot of other items as well.
It turns out they're losing money.
I don't think it's very infrequently they've shown a profit at all.
And yet they're being praised to the hilt for this because it allows, and he stays in business.
He's got deep pockets.
So he allows the left to say, well, it's basically a charity.
Here's a guy.
Doesn't care about profit.
He's able to make customers happy with low prices and he stays in business.
He's not going out of business.
It proves you don't need to make a profit.
That's why he's being heralded or Amazon is being heralded and so forth.
But the really curious thing is the investors.
Amazon stock price did go up a little bit.
It's a crazy thing.
Who would invest in a losing company?
But they are.
In the meanwhile, Apple, other examples, just growing through the roof, leaps and bounds in certain aspects by record numbers.
And all of the analysts and all of the media people are urging people to forget Apple.
It's over.
Get out fast.
Get out quick, they're saying it's over.
Their best days are behind them.
Here, put your money in this outfit that doesn't care about profit.
It's just the liberals, Democrats being loyal to themselves.
Hey, Mary Joe from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I know you're still out there.
Here's a possible answer to your question: why does Amazon get praised and Walmart gets ripped?
I just learned, this could be, could be a possible reason.
We learned that Jeb Bezos, Amazon CEO, donated $2.5 million to help pass a same-sex marriage referendum in Washington State.
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