RUSH: Okay, from Breitbart: “23% of Small Business Owners Went a Year Without Pay — Barack Obama has said the private sector is doing fine. Tell that to small business owners; a new survey by Citigroup shows that 23% of small business owners have gone more than a year without pay. The study also says that 54% of them have gone without at least one paycheck; 38% of them said their employees had worked overtime without being compensated; and 18% of them had been unable to make a paycheck for their employees at least once.

“During recent years, 78% of the owners have taken less profit, 70% have been working more hours, and 69% have used their own funds in order to keep their businesses afloat.

When asked what issues have been the most problematic for them, the owners didnÂ’t rank their access to financing in the top five, instead claiming lack of sales and consumer confidence were the most troubling factors.”

Well, of course. Anybody with any common sense knows that. Everybody, the regime, Obama, running around trying to make this a credit problem. It’s not. These business owners are scared to death of the future. They don’t know what’s in store, but they have a good idea, and they’re frightened. They’re frightened of Obamacare. By the way, a lot of people were expecting the court to announce its Obamacare decision today, but no. So next Monday, the 25th, looks like the day. The story is that they’re still working on this opinion, and they’re working diligently to get it right. Now, I don’t remember who told me this. It was in a chat earlier this morning. But I would think this thing’s already written. If they’re still working on it, I would be dumbfounded. But I could be wrong about that. Anyway, that decision’s coming Monday.

And look at this. Investor’s Business Daily: “October Surprise? Debt May Hit Limit Before Election — At the recent pace of debt growth, the US will reach its statutory limit of $16.394 trillion some time in October — just before Americans go to the polls. The government has ways to stay below that ceiling for a few months, giving lawmakers a grace period. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the deadline is early 2013.

“But the recent slowdown in economic growth bodes poorly for federal tax receipts. Any pickup in the rate of debt accumulation could pull forward that deadline into the super-charged environment of a presidential election. If the government is seen as dysfunctional in another debt standoff, the public will likely hold President Obama more liable than Republicans.” And, by the way, that is also the opinion of noted Rothenberg Political Report Deputy Editor Nathan Gonzales. So let’s say we hit the debt limit before the election and the same rancor assumes with the arguments and the debates over whether to extend it, that would be a real test for the Republicans. You know the pressure on Boehner and the boys? Oh, can you imagine?

It’s a victory waiting to be had. It’s a victory waiting to be snatched from our jaws, I’m afraid. But the other way of looking at it is, even if you let Obama win it and you expand the debt, that doesn’t help. That’s not what people want, and it would inspire even more anti-Obama turnout. So we shall see.

Let me grab a call real quickly here before we go to the break because Madeleine from Orange County, California, has been on the phone for a while. She is a business owner, president of a large corporation, and she wants to weigh in on this. Thank you for waiting, Madeleine. Glad to have you here. Hi.

CALLER: Oh, thank you, and let me just say, you are the champion of patriots.

RUSH: Well, thank you very much.

CALLER: Real quickly with my story. You know, I started over 20 years ago, got a divorce, went and worked for a company, learned everything, and went on my own and built a corporation running about a thousand men. I’m in construction, I’m a female, and we’re private, we’re not union. And so over the last four years, I have laid off 800-plus men. And I have made up my mind that if Barack gets four more years, I am going to close. I’m going to close the company down. I’m down to maybe 200-plus men right now. And my stress comes from laying these people off, and now I’m getting the lawsuits for wrongful termination. Someone called someone an old man, so I’m being sued for six figures on that.

RUSH: Wait a second. Hold, hold, hold, hold, whoa, whoa, whoa, just a sec. Wait a minute. I want to get the picture of this. You, Madeleine, are the only woman in a company that had a thousand employees.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: You had to lay off 800 of these guys, you’re in the construction business.

CALLER: Yes, over the last four years.

RUSH: Last four years. Did you get any stimulus money for shovel-ready jobs from President Obama?

CALLER: Not a dime. Please. Not a stinking dime, because if you are a private company and you take one dollar of government or state or county money, you have to sign a deal with the union. And there is no way. So I do track residential. The union guys do the commercial, and they’re not involved —

RUSH: You see, I asked her that ’cause I knew what the answer was gonna be. The key here is that Obama insisted that every job that got stimulus money to assist had to be a union job, be it a bureaucrat in a state government office or on a construction job, so you didn’t get a penny because you aren’t union.

CALLER: No. No. And nor do I want to be. The union is the reason why the economy is so horrific, and why he doesn’t understand that — well, he does. But it’s just a matter of here I’ve laid off over 800 people who had jobs, who took care of their families. I didn’t fire them. I laid them off so they’re collecting unemployment. But now the stress is they’re finding ways to come back at me. Seven months later I have a lawsuit where a guy said one of my guys called him an old man, Rush. So he found an attorney in LA who would take his case and he is now suing me —

RUSH: Let me tell you something, Madeleine, I know people who have told me that they live in fear of what’s happened to you. They have to lay people off, and they know they’re setting themselves up for lawsuits like the ones you’re getting. But you have no choice, right? I mean if you had a 15,000-employee firm, you’re down to 200, you didn’t do that because you’re mean. Nobody wants their business to shrink that much, right?

CALLER: Right, ’cause there is no work, and whatever work there is right now, it’s just a matter of no profit, rolling dollars just to keep the employees who have been with you 20- plus years going. And now as far as me, I still take a check, I would have shut down if I would have taken no check. Because that doesn’t make sense to me to risk the liability, to risk everything —

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: — and you’re not even taking a dollar?

RUSH: I understand that, but you’re gonna shut down if Obama’s reelected?

CALLER: Yes, I am, sir. I certainly am.

RUSH: Specifically why?

CALLER: Because the worker’s comp has doubled because of the lawsuits. Just I’ve had it, I’ve really had it, and there is no profit. You’re rolling dollars. I’m not borrowing money because I’ve been a good business steward to keep it afloat, but there just is no more profit in it, and so why do I want to risk the lawsuits and the liability and the workers’ comp, why do I want to risk all that? Workers comp has doubled.

RUSH: Right. Well, plus, health care is part of that, but on top of that, to boot, you’ll be buried.

CALLER: Exactly. So it’s bye-bye after 20 some years. I don’t know where my employees who have been with me for 20 some years are gonna go and get a job because everybody’s in this situation.

RUSH: Well, plus, it’s California, so you got a double whammy.

CALLER: Double whammy. He’s gonna raise the taxes and thinks anybody who makes over a certain amount wants to pay more so we’re gonna vote for that. I mean, it’s crazy. I’m headed to Texas where Governor Perry is.

RUSH: Wow. See, that’s federalism, folks. You can move. But when the Feds start doing this stuff, there’s nowhere to go to escape it. Madeleine, God bless. Good luck.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Bill in Clayton, North Carolina, welcome to the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Rush, it is a honor. I have tried numerous times to get in touch with you, and I just came out of Lowe’s here in Clayton, North Carolina, and I got through. It’s a very big honor.

RUSH: Well, that’s the first time I’ve had anybody on the phone that just came out of Lowe’s.

CALLER: Rush, you said something today that really tickles me. I want to say it. It’s when you talked about Sarah Palin and you said, “Right on!” I love it when you go, “Right on! Right on!” I love it every time you say that. It makes me chuckle. But I wanted to get to the point that a lady said a few times when she called back in. She hit the nail on the head. And I said, “I gotta sit down with my employees.” I only have two employees here in Clayton. One I just hired from New Jersey and he never voted in his life. Well, he voted for the mayor one time. At least that’s what he said. And I told him that if this president gets in again — and my wife said this morning she thought it’s crazy, but — I will close down. I’m tired of this. I work my tail off, like I told Snerdley. I work sometimes late, late, late at night because I can’t hire nobody.

RUSH: What is your business?

CALLER: I’m in heating and air. I own my own business. I run it. I answer the phones. I do everything. I started from nothing. And I have a lot of customers, but what it is is the government. Like that woman said, workmen’s comp is one of the biggest things. With just employees — two employees, not counting me — I pay $8,000 a year. Just for two employees. This story right now I’m gonna tell you —

RUSH: Wait a second. Wait, did you say $800,000?

CALLER: No, sir, $8,000.

RUSH: Eight.

CALLER: Eight to ten thousand dollars just in workmen’s comp. That’s if someone gets hurt, they’ll take care of it. And we never had a problem with anyone getting hurt. But with a small company like that, I can use that for something else. I can hire me a secretary to answer phones.

RUSH: Let me ask you a stupid question. It gets hot in North Carolina. What is the problem with your business? Do not people make sure their air-conditioning is working in the summertime? I mean, if it goes out, they have to get it fixed.

CALLER: They do, but it’s not about the problem with the summertime. It’s for the full year. I mean, we are so busy right now, it’s unbelievable.

RUSH: Well, then why are you gonna shut down if you’re so busy?

CALLER: ‘Cause I’m just tired of working my tail off. I’m tired of all these other people getting their handouts and I stay here working all night.

RUSH: Oh, okay.

CALLER: I have a family.

RUSH: Okay, I got it. You’re working all these hours and you’ve got pay all this other stuff to everybody else before you pay yourself.

CALLER: Yes. I mean, the thing is it’s not the main thing. It’s the principle of it. It’s gotten to the point of where we’re just a handout, and why should I have to pay for somebody else’s handout and my taxes and everything.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: Well, you’re “going Galt,” buddy. You’re “going Galt.”

CALLER: Yeah, I’m gonna go work for somebody else.

RUSH: No. No. Galt means, “To hell with it.” You’re tired of pulling the cart. You’re tired of pulling the cart and 99% of the people in the cart being pulled. You’re tired of pulling it. You’re going Galt. Ayn Rand, John Galt. You’ve had it. Madeleine in Orange County, California, essentially was saying the same thing. If Kardashian is reelected, they’re just gonna shut down. He’s working 90-hour weeks and he’s got nothing to show for it. That’s his problem. A lot of other people have a lot to show for how hard he’s working, but he doesn’t. That’s what he’s saying. He’s thinking he owns a business, “And if I’m putting in all these hours, I ought to be getting something out of it.”

But he sees it all mandated to others.

I hear what he’s talking about.

I know it firsthand.