A vigorous political blog, not for the fainthearted.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Rush Limbaugh (gasp)
RUSH: I need to play you an audio sound bite. Last December, on thisprogram, December 22, three days before Christmas, I had a phone call. I took the phone call.
This was how it sounded.RUSH ARCHIVE: Don't worry. The automobile industry is not going togo kaput because the United Auto Workers will not be allowed to gokaput.CALLER: Well, God knows I hope not.RUSH ARCHIVE: What's going to happen is the UAW is going to end up owning it.CALLER: What? (laughing)RUSH ARCHIVE: After the government invests and nationalizes the autoindustry, the Obama administration, out of a sense of compassion, willtransfer ownership free of charge, just transfer the deed to theUnited Auto Workers.RUSH: Today, ladies and gentlemen, the Wall Street Journal has thedirty details. Fifty-five percent of Chrysler owned by the UnitedAuto Workers, 35% owned by President Obama, common shares, which meansvoting, 39% of General Motors owned by the United Auto Workers, therest owned by President Obama. This was so easy to predict once Ifigured out what his plan is, to return the nation's wealth to its,quote, unquote, rightful owners. So in Obama's worldview the UnitedAuto Workers has been screwed ever since it was founded by the autocompanies. The executives have gotten rich, the white-collar guyshave gotten rich, the salaried people have gotten rich, and the unionguys have gotten dirt. They've had to eat excrement sandwich. It'spayback time, it is payback time. And so today, once again -- do yourealize what this is going to do to my opinion audit? I mean this isa big, big, big addition to the accuracy rating.BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Now, as for the United Auto Workers ending up owning 55% ofChrysler and 39% of General Motors, the General Motors deal is reallya screw job for people who invested in GM bonds. The people whoinvested in General Motors bonds are going to get maybe a dime on thedollar. Larry Kudlow puts it a good way. "The government is about totake over GM in a plan that completely screws private bondholders andfavors the unions. Get this: The GM bondholders own $27 billion andthey're getting 10 percent of the common stock in an expectedexchange."And the UAW owns $10 billion of the bonds and they're getting 40percent of the stock. Huh? Did I miss something here? And Uncle Samwill have a controlling share of the stock with something close to 50percent ownership," in GM, "And no bankruptcy judge. So this is apolitical restructuring run by the White House, not a rule-of-lawbankruptcy-court reorganization. Meanwhile, top Obama adviser ValerieJarrett opened the door wide on CNN yesterday to bank nationalizationand CEO firings." Now, these stress tests are coming out of thebanks, and guess what? Citibank may need more money. The stresstests, exactly as I called them last week, are possess tests. Thestress tests are possess tests! More government ownership, moregovernment control of the banks. The UAW, the unions, now get theofficial payback for all these years of supporting Democrats andPresident Obama.BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Now, I also have some people, and I checked the e-mail duringthe break. "Rush, are you sure your numbers are right on this GM dealwith the bondholders and who gets what percentage?" Yes! Yes, myfriends, I am. What has just happened is that Don Obama has made DonCorleone look like Daffy Duck. Don Corleone was nothing compared toDon Obama. You want to talk loan sharking? Let me tell you how thisloan sharking worked. Bondholders, people who purchased GeneralMotors bonds, did so to the tune of $27 billion. Big government, DonObama put up $15 billion, just a tad less than that. So basically theprivate sector bondholders put up almost twice as much money to saveGeneral Motors as Don Obama did. And at the end of the day, Don Obamagets 50% of the company, and the bondholders get 10% of the company.The bondholders put up twice as much as Don Obama, and Don Obama getshalf the company; the bondholders get 10%.That means they invested in the bonds wanting a profit. There arebondholders who were using the $800,000 throw-off. That's how muchsome of these bondholders had gained over the years, the bonds hadthrown that much income off. One guy's retirement is worth nothing.It's worth 10% of that. So he's got a requirement now worth 8,000thanks to Don Obama. Don Obama owns half of General Motors, and DonObama's army -- his consiglieris, his capo di tuttis or whatever theyare -- they have the other 39% of the company. How does somebody putup half as much money and get five times as much control of thecompany? What makes this even worse is that if General Motors wouldgo bankrupt, the bondholders wouldn't get 10%, they'd get a hundredpercent! That's what reorganization and restructuring is all about.So someone has to ask the question: How in the world would any bondbuyer trust a bond again? So, in the case of Don Obama, you keep yourfriends close, your enemies closer. World War II, ladies andgentlemen, ended with a surrender on the USS Missouri. Capitalism mayhave surrendered in the General Motors boardroom. You go over toChrysler, it's even worse. There, Don Obama's capo di tuttis, theconsiglieri, whatever, the soldiers? They get 55% of Chrysler, DonObama gets 35%, and the private sector gets 10% of Chrysler. I hadsomebody send me a note last night: "I'm never buying an American caragain." Now, let's take a look at some real facets of this. Let'sstart with General Motors. Don Obama has 50% of the company. Hissoldiers, the UAW, have 39%, which means -- by the way...And look, I'm going to pat myself on the back. I predicted this backin December. I knew this was gonna happen. This was the game plan allalong. It's not Obama's answer to every problem; it's his objective:Nationalize every business. It's not his solution. It's hisobjective. You know, people are getting caught up, "Well, his answerto this problem is he's gotta do this and gotta do that." No! This washis objective from the get-go. So let's say when the deal here isdone, let's talk about Chrysler, 55% of Don Obama's boys own thething. When you go in to a Chrysler dealership, do you realize you'regoing to be walking into satellite office of the Democrat NationalCommittee? These dealerships will close on Election Day. You won't beable to buy a car on Election Day. You'll probably be able toregister to vote when you buy a car. Be voter registration will be on-- and union membership will be automatic, even if you don't work at aunion place, you'll be an honorary union member when you go buy a car.Every car will produced with Obama bumper stickers built in. Youcan't rip 'em off. Dealerships will check applications to make surethe applicants who want loans to buy cars are Democrats. If your carbreaks down and you complain about the repair bill, you will getaudited -- and you might want to keep a sharp eye on your kneecaps.And then try this. This is going to be interesting for me to watch atChrysler and General Motors. Chrysler has 55% of the UAW owning thecompany. That means they're going to have a majority of seats on theboard of directors. At General Motors, it's 39%, so they'll have not amajority but they're going to have a lot of people on the boards ofdirectors. So it's going to be union people deciding how much unionpeople earn. It's going to be union management telling unionemployees where they have to work, how much they have to work.Let's see how the union does as management. Let's see how the unionhandles salaries, wages, overtime and all of this. Who's going todesign the car? Oh, that's another thing. (laughing) Who's going todesign the cars? Who is going to manufacture them? Who's gonna...?(laughing) Sorry, the Sierra Club will be the car designer. TheSierra Club, Earth First, these will be the designers of automobiles.But now seriously, stop and think of this. The union will be on thecompensation committee. The union will be determining how much theunion makes. The union will be becoming management and so forth.This is just -- and, of course, nobody in the union is going to haveto have had nobody is going to have sunk a dime of investment intothis company. They're just being given these positions.BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Here's Torren -- I hope I'm pronouncing that right -- in Austin,Texas. Hello.CALLER: This is Torren. How you doing Rush?RUSH: Very well, sir. Thank you.CALLER: My point is going back to the GM story.RUSH: Yes?CALLER: I'd like to... I've always thought this, but it's morereiterated now, that it's almost un-American to buy American. Buyingan American car, supporting a union organization that is out -- at onepoint not only to destroy the business it was working for, but nowit's out to destroy the fabric of the country in which it lives.RUSH: (laughing)CALLER: So buying American is un-American.RUSH: I've had a lot of people send me e-mail notes that havesentiments similar to yours. "I'm never buying an American caragain." (laughing)CALLER: I work at a GM dealership! I work at a GM dealership. I sellcars, so it's just kind of hard.RUSH: You know, you're going to have some help. I wouldn't give upquitting the job just yet. You know, with the union owning 39% ofGeneral Motors, you're going to have some help. You know, when peoplecome in and want to test-drive a car and drive it, if they don't buyit, you're going to have some guy walking around threatening thepotential buyer's kneecaps. I think it might be an easier sale now.CALLER: I think what's going to have to happen is not only is hegoing to have to do what he does at GM, he's going to have to find away to hurt the other car manufacturers to where people are more proneto go to GM as opposed to buying cars that they actually want to buy.RUSH: We'll see. You know, I'm reading all this happening lastnight, and I'm chitchatting with people, and last night was one of thenights that just made me laugh. And please don't misunderstand. Itis infuriating. He says it's un-American. It used to be, "As GMgoes, so goes America." I guess it's true! (laughing) It's in thetoilet, I guess. I guess it's true. It's like, folks -- Have youbeen researching this for me? -- Khrushchev give a data when he saidthat they were going to bury us?
2 comments:
This was how it sounded.RUSH ARCHIVE: Don't worry. The automobile industry is not going togo kaput because the United Auto Workers will not be allowed to gokaput.CALLER: Well, God knows I hope not.RUSH ARCHIVE: What's going to happen is the UAW is going to end up owning it.CALLER: What? (laughing)RUSH ARCHIVE: After the government invests and nationalizes the autoindustry, the Obama administration, out of a sense of compassion, willtransfer ownership free of charge, just transfer the deed to theUnited Auto Workers.RUSH: Today, ladies and gentlemen, the Wall Street Journal has thedirty details. Fifty-five percent of Chrysler owned by the UnitedAuto Workers, 35% owned by President Obama, common shares, which meansvoting, 39% of General Motors owned by the United Auto Workers, therest owned by President Obama. This was so easy to predict once Ifigured out what his plan is, to return the nation's wealth to its,quote, unquote, rightful owners. So in Obama's worldview the UnitedAuto Workers has been screwed ever since it was founded by the autocompanies. The executives have gotten rich, the white-collar guyshave gotten rich, the salaried people have gotten rich, and the unionguys have gotten dirt. They've had to eat excrement sandwich. It'spayback time, it is payback time. And so today, once again -- do yourealize what this is going to do to my opinion audit? I mean this isa big, big, big addition to the accuracy rating.BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Now, as for the United Auto Workers ending up owning 55% ofChrysler and 39% of General Motors, the General Motors deal is reallya screw job for people who invested in GM bonds. The people whoinvested in General Motors bonds are going to get maybe a dime on thedollar. Larry Kudlow puts it a good way. "The government is about totake over GM in a plan that completely screws private bondholders andfavors the unions. Get this: The GM bondholders own $27 billion andthey're getting 10 percent of the common stock in an expectedexchange."And the UAW owns $10 billion of the bonds and they're getting 40percent of the stock. Huh? Did I miss something here? And Uncle Samwill have a controlling share of the stock with something close to 50percent ownership," in GM, "And no bankruptcy judge. So this is apolitical restructuring run by the White House, not a rule-of-lawbankruptcy-court reorganization. Meanwhile, top Obama adviser ValerieJarrett opened the door wide on CNN yesterday to bank nationalizationand CEO firings." Now, these stress tests are coming out of thebanks, and guess what? Citibank may need more money. The stresstests, exactly as I called them last week, are possess tests. Thestress tests are possess tests! More government ownership, moregovernment control of the banks. The UAW, the unions, now get theofficial payback for all these years of supporting Democrats andPresident Obama.BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Now, I also have some people, and I checked the e-mail duringthe break. "Rush, are you sure your numbers are right on this GM dealwith the bondholders and who gets what percentage?" Yes! Yes, myfriends, I am. What has just happened is that Don Obama has made DonCorleone look like Daffy Duck. Don Corleone was nothing compared toDon Obama. You want to talk loan sharking? Let me tell you how thisloan sharking worked. Bondholders, people who purchased GeneralMotors bonds, did so to the tune of $27 billion. Big government, DonObama put up $15 billion, just a tad less than that. So basically theprivate sector bondholders put up almost twice as much money to saveGeneral Motors as Don Obama did. And at the end of the day, Don Obamagets 50% of the company, and the bondholders get 10% of the company.The bondholders put up twice as much as Don Obama, and Don Obama getshalf the company; the bondholders get 10%.That means they invested in the bonds wanting a profit. There arebondholders who were using the $800,000 throw-off. That's how muchsome of these bondholders had gained over the years, the bonds hadthrown that much income off. One guy's retirement is worth nothing.It's worth 10% of that. So he's got a requirement now worth 8,000thanks to Don Obama. Don Obama owns half of General Motors, and DonObama's army -- his consiglieris, his capo di tuttis or whatever theyare -- they have the other 39% of the company. How does somebody putup half as much money and get five times as much control of thecompany? What makes this even worse is that if General Motors wouldgo bankrupt, the bondholders wouldn't get 10%, they'd get a hundredpercent! That's what reorganization and restructuring is all about.So someone has to ask the question: How in the world would any bondbuyer trust a bond again? So, in the case of Don Obama, you keep yourfriends close, your enemies closer. World War II, ladies andgentlemen, ended with a surrender on the USS Missouri. Capitalism mayhave surrendered in the General Motors boardroom. You go over toChrysler, it's even worse. There, Don Obama's capo di tuttis, theconsiglieri, whatever, the soldiers? They get 55% of Chrysler, DonObama gets 35%, and the private sector gets 10% of Chrysler. I hadsomebody send me a note last night: "I'm never buying an American caragain." Now, let's take a look at some real facets of this. Let'sstart with General Motors. Don Obama has 50% of the company. Hissoldiers, the UAW, have 39%, which means -- by the way...And look, I'm going to pat myself on the back. I predicted this backin December. I knew this was gonna happen. This was the game plan allalong. It's not Obama's answer to every problem; it's his objective:Nationalize every business. It's not his solution. It's hisobjective. You know, people are getting caught up, "Well, his answerto this problem is he's gotta do this and gotta do that." No! This washis objective from the get-go. So let's say when the deal here isdone, let's talk about Chrysler, 55% of Don Obama's boys own thething. When you go in to a Chrysler dealership, do you realize you'regoing to be walking into satellite office of the Democrat NationalCommittee? These dealerships will close on Election Day. You won't beable to buy a car on Election Day. You'll probably be able toregister to vote when you buy a car. Be voter registration will be on-- and union membership will be automatic, even if you don't work at aunion place, you'll be an honorary union member when you go buy a car.Every car will produced with Obama bumper stickers built in. Youcan't rip 'em off. Dealerships will check applications to make surethe applicants who want loans to buy cars are Democrats. If your carbreaks down and you complain about the repair bill, you will getaudited -- and you might want to keep a sharp eye on your kneecaps.And then try this. This is going to be interesting for me to watch atChrysler and General Motors. Chrysler has 55% of the UAW owning thecompany. That means they're going to have a majority of seats on theboard of directors. At General Motors, it's 39%, so they'll have not amajority but they're going to have a lot of people on the boards ofdirectors. So it's going to be union people deciding how much unionpeople earn. It's going to be union management telling unionemployees where they have to work, how much they have to work.Let's see how the union does as management. Let's see how the unionhandles salaries, wages, overtime and all of this. Who's going todesign the car? Oh, that's another thing. (laughing) Who's going todesign the cars? Who is going to manufacture them? Who's gonna...?(laughing) Sorry, the Sierra Club will be the car designer. TheSierra Club, Earth First, these will be the designers of automobiles.But now seriously, stop and think of this. The union will be on thecompensation committee. The union will be determining how much theunion makes. The union will be becoming management and so forth.This is just -- and, of course, nobody in the union is going to haveto have had nobody is going to have sunk a dime of investment intothis company. They're just being given these positions.BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Here's Torren -- I hope I'm pronouncing that right -- in Austin,Texas. Hello.CALLER: This is Torren. How you doing Rush?RUSH: Very well, sir. Thank you.CALLER: My point is going back to the GM story.RUSH: Yes?CALLER: I'd like to... I've always thought this, but it's morereiterated now, that it's almost un-American to buy American. Buyingan American car, supporting a union organization that is out -- at onepoint not only to destroy the business it was working for, but nowit's out to destroy the fabric of the country in which it lives.RUSH: (laughing)CALLER: So buying American is un-American.RUSH: I've had a lot of people send me e-mail notes that havesentiments similar to yours. "I'm never buying an American caragain." (laughing)CALLER: I work at a GM dealership! I work at a GM dealership. I sellcars, so it's just kind of hard.RUSH: You know, you're going to have some help. I wouldn't give upquitting the job just yet. You know, with the union owning 39% ofGeneral Motors, you're going to have some help. You know, when peoplecome in and want to test-drive a car and drive it, if they don't buyit, you're going to have some guy walking around threatening thepotential buyer's kneecaps. I think it might be an easier sale now.CALLER: I think what's going to have to happen is not only is hegoing to have to do what he does at GM, he's going to have to find away to hurt the other car manufacturers to where people are more proneto go to GM as opposed to buying cars that they actually want to buy.RUSH: We'll see. You know, I'm reading all this happening lastnight, and I'm chitchatting with people, and last night was one of thenights that just made me laugh. And please don't misunderstand. Itis infuriating. He says it's un-American. It used to be, "As GMgoes, so goes America." I guess it's true! (laughing) It's in thetoilet, I guess. I guess it's true. It's like, folks -- Have youbeen researching this for me? -- Khrushchev give a data when he saidthat they were going to bury us?
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