The anti-union movement is on, and it all is centered around the automotive industry's quest for a rescue package/loan from the government. Limbaugh leads the charge in his Monday, Nov. 17 broadcast.
As the clip unfolds it appears that his own boss was trying to get him to change the topic. A caller who self-identifies as a Republican tries to shoot down some of the myths of the UAW that Limbaugh pushes on his flock on a daily basis. When asked about working past 67, he spins it by saying you shouldn't retire at 55.
It's a long clip, but this is what's being said. His boss even freaks out on him at the end:
Limbaugh: You're a nice guy and I'm sure that you are a salt of the earth guy but since you asked, What I am supposed to do, go back to work at 67? No, you're not supposed to retire when you're 55. You sound to me like you are totally capable of still working. Unless you work for a place that forces you out and says 55 you can no longer do the job, you got no business retiring at 55 IF you can't afford to retire. What's wrong....My boss is having a conniption there. What's wrong? Is that the unpolitick thing to say? I have not ... the American Dream. I have not redefined the American Dream. The American Dream is retire at 65. People are retiring now at 50 and 55 and so forth when they are still capable of working. According to the tables at 55, you've got 22 years left...
I have not redefined the American Dream. I have not redefined it. ... I don't understand what I said that's wrong here.
What planet is this man living in? He keeps digging deeper and deeper. Does he even know what the American Dream is?
h/t to C&Ler Dan for sending in the audio and says:
Rush basically tells auto workers that if their pension plans go bankrupt, they should go back to work.
Limbaugh obviously has no idea what concessions the UAW has already made. "GM, Union Agree on Contract to End Strike"
For General Motors (GM), a new labor contract represents a step forward. For the United Auto Workers, a big step back.
The two sides came to a tentative agreement on a new, four-year labor pact at 3:05 a.m. EDT Sept. 26, ending a two-day strike. If UAW President Ronald Gettelfinger can get the deal ratified by his 74,000 GM workers in the coming days, the contract will pull the automaker much closer to Toyota's (TM) cost structure. But for the UAW, it will roll back contract benefits and wages won over years of collective bargaining.
Many in the progressive movement did not like these concessions, but they happened. We can debate that later, but to gasbags like Limbaugh, if you work for a company for 30 years, you shouldn't get a pension and should work till you die. Does he hate policemen and firemen as well? Should they not be able to retire with a pension after trying to keeping us safe for thirty years on the job?
