CALLER: Hey, I hear you talk a lot about how people who can't pay their own way -- you know, you gripe about people that go to the doctor and the hospital and stuff like that and can't pay their own way. If you're in an accident or you break your leg or you're hurt working and you can't pay the co-pay or you just can't pay for it outright, what should happen to people like that?
RUSH: In the first place, to correct your premise, I do not gripe about people who can't pay their own way. Today and yesterday, for example, I spent countless minutes explaining why that's the case when it comes to health care. It borders on the criminal what has happened in the health care, the artificial elevation in price versus value. There's no way a Band-Aid costs $300 bucks in a hospital, [but] that's what it's going to cost you because somebody else is paying the bill and there are a lot of people that go to the hospital that don't pay, so those who do pay have to pick it up. The point I'm trying to make here about all this is that all of this debt that people have taken on, the government, financial institution, banks, all these with high leverages, 30-to-one debt ratio, I mean it's absurd to have only one dollar on hand for every 30 dollars you owe, that's going to come home to roost someday, it elevates the price of houses, it elevates the price of every good and service. When you go buy a car, you're really not buying a $35,000 car, you're buying whatever monthly payment you could afford. When you buy a house, you're not buying a $250,000 house, you're buying a mortgage with the monthly rate you can afford, and the house is not yours for 25 or 30 years, depending on the length of the mortgage.
If everything was priced in such a way that you could only buy it if you paid the full price, I guarantee you the price of everything would be lowered. Now, there are exceptions, obviously. People cannot go out and buy houses by writing a check, and most people can't go out and buy cars. Debt's a good thing. I mean it's using other people's money for development, to increase the quality of life is fine, but when debt extends to buying debt to buy more debt so that with that debt you can buy more so-called securities, which, the last thing they are these days is secure, this just has a rollover yo-yo effect here that elevates the price of everything, so that when you do break your leg or you do have something catastrophic, you're out of luck, there's no way you can pay for it. But 50 years ago people could.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Forty years ago people could, before the government got involved. The problem here is not insurance companies. The problem is people who don't pay and government who makes up for it by taxing everybody else and hospitals who have to raise their prices. Now, I know what the root of your question is. Basically I'm a pick 'em up by the bootstraps guy, and you think you're hear me speak and what you're thinking is "let everybody fend for themselves come hell or high water"?
CALLER: Well, I'm kind of gathering that, yes.
RUSH: No. Quite the opposite. I think that those in this country who are capable should be left alone to reach whatever height they choose. If you want to have a life where your income is $20,000 a year, that's your business and fine. Don't blame anybody else when you don't earn $30 or $40 if you're satisfied with $20. At the same time, I think that the notion here that people's lives are improved, their self-love, their self-appreciation is enhanced by their achievements, by the things they accomplish. If you just give capable people things, they're not going to achieve it, they're going to come to expect it and they're going to reach a comfort level at some point that will limit them further in working on their own behalf, but they're also going to resent the fact that a lot of people have more than they do because they think the system is rigged when it isn't. There are plenty of people in our society who are sick, who are, for whatever reason, incapable of helping themselves. We're a compassionate people, and I and a whole lot of other Americans will go out of our way to help our fellow citizens who literally can't help themselves. What bugs a lot of people is to see entirely capable people give up on life and decide to become dependent on whatever their elected official or government can do for them, because we look at that, I look at that, Grant, and I look at the people in government as helping to destroy those people's lives.
See, I believe we all only get one life. We all only get one chance. And it's so precious. We're so busy living our lives, we don't stop to think how fortunate we are to be alive and what that means. We don't stop to think how fortunate we are to be human rather than, say, a dog or cat. We're too busy. We live our lives in the greatest country on earth, a country that offers and has since its interception, more opportunity, more freedom, more prosperity than human beings in history, any human beings in history have ever known. It is simply unnecessary for Americans to check out. It is unnecessary for capable Americans to give up. It is unnecessary for capable Americans to feel down on their luck as Americans because everybody has bad luck.
But if there's one place on this planet where bad luck can be turned to good fortune with a little action, it's the United States of America. Be thankful you don't live in Cuba, be thankful you don't live in Venezuela, be thankful you don't live in Russia, be thankful you don't live in the Middle East. You live in the best place on earth. Genuine achievement through work is one of the most self-rewarding things. It is where many people really take their identities, from their work, what they accomplish, their passions, their desires, what it is they do and go out and do it, and they make things for other people, they invent things for other people. They perform services for other people. And they try to do it, those that really succeed, to the best of their ability.
Now, I don't have resentment for those who aren't trying. I have pity. And I also don't entirely blame them. Many of them have been told by Democrat liberal politicians for decades that the deck is stacked against them in this country because they're either black or they're women or they're some kind of minority or what have you, and that evil, rich Republicans and white people or whatever other kind of successful people you're talking about, are preventing them from getting where they want to go. This country will permit anybody to get where he wants to go if that person has stick-to-itiveness, has a little dose of realism and understands it isn't going to be easy and there's going to be a lot of unfairness along the way and there's going to be a lot of excrement sandwiches along the way, but there are going to be tremendous awards, too. But if you believe in a political philosophy that says your chances are nil, you really don't have any hope, the country's best days are behind it, and the only way we can make things fair is to take from those who have unfairly achieved more than others. They're asking you to be made happy by the suffering of others, not by your own success and good fortune.
I think it's a crying shame, but it's reality. It's a crying shame we've gotten to the point where, use your example, you have a car wreck, and you break your leg, and you have to go to the hospital and you have to stay there for a couple days or weeks depending on how had been it is, that you can't afford it, but there is insurance for it now, the insurance is high priced, as we all know. Most employers, people think, are paying for it, but you have to realize you're paying for everything you get. You just don't see a lot of it. You're paying for your benefits package at work. You just never see it. I've long contended that if people were given the full boat of what they're paid in the form of salary, then you go buy your health care and then you go buy this and whatever the company is providing for you, I guarantee you that happening en masse nationwide, all that competition for services, prices would come down. We're going the wrong direction here, though, Grant. We're talking about nationalizing health care. Obama wants to make sure that everybody's ensured and that everybody gets coverage, with the illusion that nobody's going to be paying for it. You are going to be paying for it and so am I. But despite this recession, we got more opportunity than 99% of people in the world here.
RUSH: In the first place, to correct your premise, I do not gripe about people who can't pay their own way. Today and yesterday, for example, I spent countless minutes explaining why that's the case when it comes to health care. It borders on the criminal what has happened in the health care, the artificial elevation in price versus value. There's no way a Band-Aid costs $300 bucks in a hospital, [but] that's what it's going to cost you because somebody else is paying the bill and there are a lot of people that go to the hospital that don't pay, so those who do pay have to pick it up. The point I'm trying to make here about all this is that all of this debt that people have taken on, the government, financial institution, banks, all these with high leverages, 30-to-one debt ratio, I mean it's absurd to have only one dollar on hand for every 30 dollars you owe, that's going to come home to roost someday, it elevates the price of houses, it elevates the price of every good and service. When you go buy a car, you're really not buying a $35,000 car, you're buying whatever monthly payment you could afford. When you buy a house, you're not buying a $250,000 house, you're buying a mortgage with the monthly rate you can afford, and the house is not yours for 25 or 30 years, depending on the length of the mortgage.
If everything was priced in such a way that you could only buy it if you paid the full price, I guarantee you the price of everything would be lowered. Now, there are exceptions, obviously. People cannot go out and buy houses by writing a check, and most people can't go out and buy cars. Debt's a good thing. I mean it's using other people's money for development, to increase the quality of life is fine, but when debt extends to buying debt to buy more debt so that with that debt you can buy more so-called securities, which, the last thing they are these days is secure, this just has a rollover yo-yo effect here that elevates the price of everything, so that when you do break your leg or you do have something catastrophic, you're out of luck, there's no way you can pay for it. But 50 years ago people could.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Forty years ago people could, before the government got involved. The problem here is not insurance companies. The problem is people who don't pay and government who makes up for it by taxing everybody else and hospitals who have to raise their prices. Now, I know what the root of your question is. Basically I'm a pick 'em up by the bootstraps guy, and you think you're hear me speak and what you're thinking is "let everybody fend for themselves come hell or high water"?
CALLER: Well, I'm kind of gathering that, yes.
RUSH: No. Quite the opposite. I think that those in this country who are capable should be left alone to reach whatever height they choose. If you want to have a life where your income is $20,000 a year, that's your business and fine. Don't blame anybody else when you don't earn $30 or $40 if you're satisfied with $20. At the same time, I think that the notion here that people's lives are improved, their self-love, their self-appreciation is enhanced by their achievements, by the things they accomplish. If you just give capable people things, they're not going to achieve it, they're going to come to expect it and they're going to reach a comfort level at some point that will limit them further in working on their own behalf, but they're also going to resent the fact that a lot of people have more than they do because they think the system is rigged when it isn't. There are plenty of people in our society who are sick, who are, for whatever reason, incapable of helping themselves. We're a compassionate people, and I and a whole lot of other Americans will go out of our way to help our fellow citizens who literally can't help themselves. What bugs a lot of people is to see entirely capable people give up on life and decide to become dependent on whatever their elected official or government can do for them, because we look at that, I look at that, Grant, and I look at the people in government as helping to destroy those people's lives.
See, I believe we all only get one life. We all only get one chance. And it's so precious. We're so busy living our lives, we don't stop to think how fortunate we are to be alive and what that means. We don't stop to think how fortunate we are to be human rather than, say, a dog or cat. We're too busy. We live our lives in the greatest country on earth, a country that offers and has since its interception, more opportunity, more freedom, more prosperity than human beings in history, any human beings in history have ever known. It is simply unnecessary for Americans to check out. It is unnecessary for capable Americans to give up. It is unnecessary for capable Americans to feel down on their luck as Americans because everybody has bad luck.
But if there's one place on this planet where bad luck can be turned to good fortune with a little action, it's the United States of America. Be thankful you don't live in Cuba, be thankful you don't live in Venezuela, be thankful you don't live in Russia, be thankful you don't live in the Middle East. You live in the best place on earth. Genuine achievement through work is one of the most self-rewarding things. It is where many people really take their identities, from their work, what they accomplish, their passions, their desires, what it is they do and go out and do it, and they make things for other people, they invent things for other people. They perform services for other people. And they try to do it, those that really succeed, to the best of their ability.
Now, I don't have resentment for those who aren't trying. I have pity. And I also don't entirely blame them. Many of them have been told by Democrat liberal politicians for decades that the deck is stacked against them in this country because they're either black or they're women or they're some kind of minority or what have you, and that evil, rich Republicans and white people or whatever other kind of successful people you're talking about, are preventing them from getting where they want to go. This country will permit anybody to get where he wants to go if that person has stick-to-itiveness, has a little dose of realism and understands it isn't going to be easy and there's going to be a lot of unfairness along the way and there's going to be a lot of excrement sandwiches along the way, but there are going to be tremendous awards, too. But if you believe in a political philosophy that says your chances are nil, you really don't have any hope, the country's best days are behind it, and the only way we can make things fair is to take from those who have unfairly achieved more than others. They're asking you to be made happy by the suffering of others, not by your own success and good fortune.
I think it's a crying shame, but it's reality. It's a crying shame we've gotten to the point where, use your example, you have a car wreck, and you break your leg, and you have to go to the hospital and you have to stay there for a couple days or weeks depending on how had been it is, that you can't afford it, but there is insurance for it now, the insurance is high priced, as we all know. Most employers, people think, are paying for it, but you have to realize you're paying for everything you get. You just don't see a lot of it. You're paying for your benefits package at work. You just never see it. I've long contended that if people were given the full boat of what they're paid in the form of salary, then you go buy your health care and then you go buy this and whatever the company is providing for you, I guarantee you that happening en masse nationwide, all that competition for services, prices would come down. We're going the wrong direction here, though, Grant. We're talking about nationalizing health care. Obama wants to make sure that everybody's ensured and that everybody gets coverage, with the illusion that nobody's going to be paying for it. You are going to be paying for it and so am I. But despite this recession, we got more opportunity than 99% of people in the world here.
This is a brilliant way of illustrating the difference in core philosophy between conservatism and liberalism. Conservatism says the individual can succeed if he or she works hard and struggles through the tough times. Liberalism says the individual doesn't have a chance, so he or she shouldn't even bother trying. Limbaugh is exactly correct that people who give up and resign themselves to being taken care of by the government never achieve anything. When was the last time you heard of someone on the welfare rolls making a breakthrough discovery, solving a real-life problem, or providing jobs for thousands of Americans? They don't. It's not because they don't have the means to do so, it's because they have given up on the opportunity to achieve those things. They've decided to allow the government provide what they need rather than going out and providing it for themselves, thus placing severe limitations on themselves. The people who achieve success are the ones who fight through adversity, work hard, and reach toward their dreams. You may only achieve 50% of your dreams throughout your lifetime, but you will miss 100% of the dreams you never even try for.
The cliche holds true: if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Liberals believe in handing out as many fish as possible because that keeps as many people as possible dependent upon the government, thus the government has more power and control.
On the other hand, conservatives believe that everyone benefits from a man who learns to fish. The man gets a fish and also learns a skill that he can use to continue benefiting himself and his family. On top of that, the man can use his skills to help those around him, teaching others to fish, selling his fish at the market, etc.
See the difference?
This is the ideological struggle that we face as we move into 2009 - Obama and the Dems in Congress are far-Left liberals, bent on putting as many people onto government handout programs as possible. They want more power, which means they need more control. They will promise Americans the moon and the stars while making it sound like they'll be free. Of course, the key thing to remember is that the government has zero money on its own - everything it has must be taken from American taxpayers first. So, the more handouts the government promises, the higher the tax burden we all face. It's that simple.
If we lose this battle, we lose the freedom upon which America was founded, and for which America stands in the world today. The country won't cease to exist, but it will cease to exist as the beacon of freedom in an ever-darkening world. We are in for a dark chapter over the next 2-4 years, but this is a battle that we must win if we want to provide a free and opportunity-rich nation for our children and grandchildren. It all starts with core conservative principles in people honest and strong enough to hold them, and strong enough to stand up and fight for them. Just like our Founding Fathers did.
There's my two cents.
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