RUSH: Tommy in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Tommy. I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the show.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. I owned my own trucking company. During the Bush administration, did great, and about a year-and-a-half into the Obama administration, I was put out of business because I had three contracts with two different companies, and they could not afford to pay us the fuel surcharge, and that basically put me out of business, and I went from basically over a hundred thousand dollars a year to $12 an hour, which I’ve been stuck at for the last two years working with a temp company that my wife owns.
RUSH: Let me ask you a deeply probing question based on your comment.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: I want to make sure I understand here. You said that you had a four-truck truck company —
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: — all during the Bush years, and all four trucks were on the road.
CALLER: Yes, they were.
RUSH: Throughout the Bush so-called recession and the Bush recovery, four trucks, you’re on the road constantly, and you were successful.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: And you pulled in at the end of the year a hundred grand for yourself, correct?
CALLER: Exactly. So did my other three drivers.
RUSH: So there was no interruption to your business during the eight years of Bush. And then a year-and-a-half into Obama, you lost most of the trucks because of the fuel surcharge, you just couldn’t stay in business?
CALLER: That’s exactly right. And even during when prices spiked during the Bush administration, we passed along that cost, and we were paid very well for it, but then once we got into the Obama administration, the companies could not sustain it —
RUSH: Why? What was the difference? Why were you able to pass along costs in Bush but unable to do that during Kardashian?
CALLER: Well, actually from what we were told, one of the companies went bankrupt, and because of what was coming down the pike with the Obamacare, they could not sustain costs to maintain all their other employees.
RUSH: Oh, wait a minute, so my deeply probing question has produced answers. So, in other words, the businesses that you were frequenting and doing business with, did not go out of business in the eight years of Bush but they did, a lot of them, shut down during Kardashian?
CALLER: That’s exactly correct.
RUSH: Well, there you go.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: That’s why we ask deeply probing questions here. So the Bush recession, did you even know there was one?
CALLER: I think from time to time, but, you know, we just chugged along. There was a few times when fuel was running short and I sat for a day or two, but everything worked out, and I always listened to you. I’ve been listening to you since day 63 of the hostage crisis, and I appreciate and thank you very much for the education and you’ve got me through a lot of mean, lean times.
RUSH: (laughing) Well, I appreciate that. I really do, Tommy. Day 63 of the hostage crisis. Yeah, America Held Hostage, Clinton, for you new listeners, that really ticked ’em off when we did that. We started America Held Hostage, day 1, on the day Clinton was inaugurated. And he’s talking about day 63 here as when he started listening. That’s what that means. So when you say you’re at $12 an hour, does that mean you’re out of the trucking business and you’re working hourly wage jobs now?
CALLER: Yes, I work in a warehouse for a heating and air-conditioning distributor.
RUSH: Is your trucking business dormant, or could you revive it if economics —
CALLER: No. Two of the guys that actually worked for me, they bought two of the trucks out from under me, which they helped a lot, and they run containers out of Charleston, South Carolina, and they’re lucky if they pull two trucks a week as opposed to one every day, from Charleston to Charlotte.
RUSH: I see.
CALLER: Yeah. They’re doing okay. I mean they’re making a living. They’re just making it, though, but —
RUSH: Right. But you got in trouble ’cause your clients got in trouble?
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: Exactly right. Your clients fell prey to the Kardashian recession. Tommy, I’m sorry that that all happened, but I’m glad you called. I love hearing your news, but I don’t at the same time.
CALLER: Yeah. Well, I thank you for everything you’ve taught me, and I love the things you do.
RUSH: I’m just telling you, Tommy, it’s people like you. When I read that Obama, or hear that Obama had a tough week, I just want to get sick. Obama doesn’t know what a tough week is. Not having a hard week. People like you are having hard years because of Obama. Anyway, hang in. Hang in. It’s gonna get better and you’ll once again be the master of your universe in time. Of that I am profoundly confident. Tommy, thanks much.