RUSH: I mentioned yesterday, ladies and gentlemen that we had this story, a media montage of all the reporters going bonkers over the recovery. “We’ve bottomed out. Now, this is it! I mean, this is real. We’re finally now in the recovery! There were 3,000 fewer claims for unemployment, and the Census Bureau report from last year said a lot of people are moving again! Yeah, they’re leaving their parents’ homes. There’s like four-tenths of 1% difference from year to year people moved.”
So when we were doing this, I was beginning to accumulate (even yesterday, prepping today’s show) a bunch of stories that belie this notion that the economy is recovering. And I don’t like this. As I said at the beginning of this program, it’s a dichotomy. This stuff is sad because there are real people’s lives behind all these numbers and behind all these facts and stories. And yet, for the purposes of our side in the campaign, the news is useful in terms of illustrating to the people that vote in this country that we’re on the wrong track with this regime.
So let me just give you a little sample of some of the economic news around the country that I’ve been accumulating. From the Chicago Tribune: “Illinois Unemployment Rises Again to 9.1% in August — Household Income in Chicago Nearly $7,000 Less Than the National Average.” That’s one. “US Stocks Follow Global Markets Lower.” The Raleigh News & Observer: “Batch of Worrying Economic Figures Tugged Stock Market Slightly Lower Thursday.”
Despite the way the Drive-Bys read these reporters, the market was not amused.
“Measures of Manufacturing and Business Activity in Both China and Europe, Slumped.” We also had a story toward the end of the program yesterday that China’s economy is about at a standstill. That’s not good. “CRS Report: Number of Able-Bodied Adults on Food Stamps Doubled After Obama Suspended Work Requirement” in welfare reform. This is another thing Obama did with the stroke of a pen. He just stripped the work requirements out of welfare reform.
It’s been the law of the land since 1996, and Obama just stripped ’em out. Why would you do that? The program was working! There were fewer people on the welfare rolls. Well, that’s exactly why you do it, folks. I hate to say, but you don’t want people being self-reliant and self-sufficient if you are a Democrat today. If you are a big American leftist (Democrat, socialist, Marxist, whatever) you want people dependent. You don’t want people self-reliant.
Does that…?
Let me ask you a question. Seriously. When I say that, does that sound believable? I mean, it’s the damn truth, but how does that sound to you when I say it? I mean, I know you agree with me, but it doesn’t sound like it’s actually possible, does it? So you say something like that — which is true from front to back, 100% — and I’m trying to imagine some on-the-fence voter saying, “Ah, come on! I can’t believe the president of the United States really doesn’t want people being self-sufficient today.”
I don’t know how to deal with that. If you hear me say that and you think that it’s over the top, I assure you it’s not. It’s mainstream. Let me just ask you: Why take the work requirements out of welfare? What in the world is wrong with work? (New Castrati impression) “Mr. Limbaugh, the economy is in such bad shape that we must do everything possible to help people be able to survive.”
No, no, no! The economy is “recovering.”
You guys gotta keep your story straight.
We’ve either got a rank, bad economy where people are helpless, or we’ve got a recovering economy. Either way, it doesn’t matter. The way out of the economy is people working. The way out of a bad economy is people working and being productive. So now, after stripping the work requirement off welfare, the work requirement’s gone from food stamps! That’s what this story is. It’s not the same thing. It’s a new one.
Why would you do this?
“Obama administration officials have insisted that their decision to grant states waivers to redefine work requirements for welfare recipients would not ‘gut’ the landmark 1996 welfare reform law.” But: “Number of Able-Bodied Adults on Food Stamps Doubled After Obama Suspended Work Requirement.” I think this is a big story. I can’t believe it’s gotten so little attention. This is Gutting Welfare Reform Part 2.
Without anybody even noticing, what Obama has done here is effectively stripped out the requirement that able-bodied adults without dependents eventually have to work a little to continue to get food stamps. That’s gone. He slipped this in around the stimulus bill. “Incomes Fell or Stagnated in Most States Last Year.” This is from the Wall Street Journal. “The income of the typical US family fell or was flat in almost every state last year, with the drop particularly steep in places where the economy has been hit hard by the housing bust.”
“Median Income in Ohio Hits 27-Year Low.” This is the Columbus Dispatch. “Ohio households were poorer last year than theyÂ’ve been in more than 25 years, and the number of people living in poverty [in Ohio] is higher than itÂ’s been in more than 30 years,” and this is from the Census Bureau report that the media was all agog about yesterday talking about the economy recovering. Same census report. “‘People are getting squeezed from every direction,’ said James Newton, chief economic adviser to Commerce National Bank.”
I am among many who say very freely that it’s beyond my comprehension how a majority of people in Ohio could vote for Obama given this, given the economic realities on the ground. And if you read the latest NBC poll… It doesn’t matter, the latest poll is out this week. Obama is cleaning up now in Ohio and he’s cleaning up in Virginia and he’s cleaning up in Florida. Obama’s wiping the slate in these swing states.
It’s over. Romney doesn’t have a chance. The only chance he’s got is to strip away the voters already pledged to Obama. The undecideds already made up their mind. “Median Income in Ohio Hits 27-Year Low — Ohio households were poorer last year than theyÂ’ve been in more than 25 years, and the number of people living in poverty [in Ohio] is higher than itÂ’s been in more than 30 years.” How is any of this the fault of Mitt Romney or the Republicans or anybody else?
Let’s see, do I have more? Oh, yeah! Here, I’ve got it.
“Connecticut Unemployment Rate Jumps to 9%.” This is AP. “Connecticut officials on Thursday questioned new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data that show the state’s unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point to 9 percent from July to August, the largest monthly percentage point increase since 1976.”
“Massachusetts’ Unemployment Rate Rose to 6.3% in August as Local Economy Lost 4,800 Jobs.” That’s the Boston Globe. The hits just keep on coming. I’ve got a whole page here just from Google. “Mingo Hit Hard with Alpha Layoffs.” “Layoffs Hit Sony PR.” “Layoffs At American Airlines Could Make Things A Lot Worse For Passengers.” Eleven thousand people we’re talking about. “Group Health Announces Layoffs, Cuts.” “FirstEnergy Expects About 200 Layoffs.” That’s in Akron, Ohio, a power company. From BBC News: “Eurozone Recession Looms as Business Activity Falls.”
What is this story about the economy rebounding? There’s no such thing. And not just here. It’s worldwide. There is no economic recovery. Folks, when Greece goes south or Spain or Portugal or whatever, and nothing against those places, but it doesn’t ripple across world. When we do, it does. The world needs the United States to get the world back to working. The world needs the United States for the world to get back to prosperity. How do these European Union countries survive? We do it. We provide their defense. We enable their warfare states because they don’t have to pay for much of what they really need and do. If we go south, if our financial system implodes, there’s no backstop like there is if Greece or Portugal or Germany or what have you. So that’s just a summary of some of the economic news that was reported yesterday in this midst of all this highfalutin talk about a great economic recovery because of the Census Bureau report that people are moving.
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