RUSH: Here’s Stan in Two Guns, Arizona. I tell you, some of the best names of towns in this country are in Arizona. Show Low, Winslow, and now Two Guns, Arizona. How are you doing, Stan?
CALLER: I’m doing really good, Rush, and 1989 dittos to you.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.
CALLER: Hey, before I get to my question, a quick comment, if I may. I definitely appreciate your observations on global warming/climate change, but you’ve got to stop referring to it as man-made. You’re giving aid and comfort to feminazis all across the world.
RUSH: So what should I say it is?
CALLER: Well, human-caused. It’s caused by everybody, females as well as men.
RUSH: Well, I don’t know that women are playing a role in this. That’s part of the feminazi creed. The women, they’re nurture; they’re not destroying anything. It is man-made destruction. But I get your point, nevertheless.
CALLER: Okay. All right, sir. Hey, to my question. You’re getting dozens of calls from people calling in about losing their doctors — of which I am one, by the way — and also having trouble finding affordable health care plans under Obamacare. Now, you know lots of influential people; you are an excellent, very smart businessman. How about if you start a health insurance company? Call it Rush to Excellence Health Care. You’re gonna have millions of people join, you’re gonna make lots of money, and the problem will be solved.
RUSH: Are you kidding? I’d become the biggest target the Regime would have in its crosshairs.
CALLER: Well, that’s true, but you would have millions of followers right behind you who would love to join any company that you start. I’m sure you’re all aware of that.
RUSH: That’s a nice thought, and I appreciate the thinking behind that, but stop and think here for just a second. The whole problem with Obamacare is that nobody can do it right. It is so convoluted that even if I were to try to set up an insurance company, there are laws, guidelines, and so forth, that make it impossible. I have to — just like patients have to — do certain things. The insurance companies have to do certain things.
They have to make certain things available and nobody has any choice in this. The choice in health care has been stripped from everybody. Now, I don’t know if you’ve heard of about this, and I don’t have it right in front of me, but professional athletes have been talked into something that is somewhat intriguing. What you really are after, Stan, is you want to invest in me. That’s really your goal.
Your idea was that if I started a health insurance company it couldn’t lose, because I was doing it. It would be mine, and many of people would like to be part of it, and therefore you would like to be part of it and share in the bounty. Now, what you’re really saying is you just like to invest in me. Right now, you can’t. The EIB is not publicly traded. The EIB Network specifically is not publicly traded.
So there’s no way you can invest in me. Now, there’s a new thing that’s happening with professional athletes just getting started. I’m not sure that I fully understand it. But, for example, Vernon Davis, is receiver for the San Francisco Fort’iners. Vernon Davis is making himself an IPO. He is doing an initial public offering of himself and his earnings. He’s got a contract, so what his future earnings are are stipulated.
He’s got additional income opportunities with, ah, outside/ancillary things that athletes tend to have a chance to get into — endorsements, sports broadcasting and commentary. So he’s trying to establish some IPO and allow people to invest in him, as though he were or is a corporation. I don’t have the details, but I think I’m getting it right here. Yes. “IPO Seeks New Way to Trade Star Athletes.” Vernon Davis is first up. I’ll get the basics of this and come back and tell you what he and other athletes are trying to do here and see if something like this might appeal to you.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: “Professional athletes frequently get traded to other teams, but San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis is about to be the first ever to be traded like a stock. Davis, an eight-year veteran of the National Football League, is serving as the litmus test for a risky concept: Whether sports stars should be treated like public companies, whose moneymaking potential can be bought and sold on an exchange by ordinary investors.”
I’m only mentioning this ’cause I know that there are millions of you who would love to be able to invest in me. And you can’t, per se. Now, I understand the desire. But we’re not publicly traded here. Listen to the way this works. There’s an outfit called Fantex, F-a-n-t-e-x. Fantex, Inc. Here’s the way it works: “San Francisco-based Fantex Inc. plans to operate the exchange and will orchestrate Davis’ initial public offering of stock after getting regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The deal requires Fantex to pay Davis $4 million in exchange for 10 percent of his future earnings, including some of his off-field income. To cover Davis’ fee, Fantex seeks to sell 421,100 shares of stock at $10 apiece. The company hopes to complete the initial public offering in the next few weeks.” This story is dated March 25th, so it’s just recent. Now, Vernon Davis is 30 years old.
He’s gonna need to make — and I must admit, this sounds kind of shaky to me. Vernon Davis “will need to make more than $40 million just to deliver a small return on Fantex’s investment in him. Fantex is counting on him to earn most of that money after his current contract with the 49ers expires in 2015.” Here’s the risk: Vernon Davis is 30. When you hit 30 is when they begin to start looking at how few years you’ve got left.
Vernon Davis, for renegotiation, his contract expires 2015. So he will probably start talking to him sometime this year, if they want to keep him, and if he doesn’t get injured — and that will be very important. I mean, if he goes through the season healthfully and has a productive year, then he can score big bucks in his final big contract opportunity with the Fort’iners.
If the Fort’iners aren’t willing to pay Vernon Davis what he thinks he can get on the open market, then he’ll choose free agency. I don’t know what his status would be, restricted or full or what have you. But the belief here at Fantex is he’s got one big contract left, if he can get to it and stay healthy, and they’re betting that he will. So they’re gonna give him $4 million in exchange for 10% of what he makes now and whatever that next deal is.
And he’s betting he’s gonna get a lot of money. So fans are gonna be able to buy stock in Vernon Davis, and as he does well, they will do well. You can buy a share of Vernon Davis at… (interruption) No, don’t hit me with that. Would you please…? (interruption) There’s no slavery here, for crying out loud. How in the world can anybody think that? Vernon Davis stands to make money on this.
There’s some people saying, “What do you mean, selling Vernon Davis?” Don’t even go there. You want to talk about capitalism? What did that priest call it, “radical capitalism”? This not radical capitalism. Anybody’s got a choice. If you want to invest in Vernon Davis, you can buy a share of stock in him for 10 bucks, and you’re betting that his earnings are gonna skyrocket just like everybody else buying stock hopes that’s gonna happen in the company they invest in. What’s new here is that it is an individual and not a corporation, even though he may be incorporated as Vernon Davis Inc. or whatever. But it’s an individual, and he’s getting $4 million from the exchange for 10% of everything he earns, and I’m sure that’s pretax.