Limbaugh on U.N. Development Programme proposal: "How can we rape the U.S. for $7 trillion?"

Summary: Rush Limbaugh claimed a proposal from the United Nations Development Programme to unlock some $7 trillion in wealth worldwide -- unveiled recently at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting -- was intended to "rape" the United States "for $7 trillion."

Attacking an economic proposal by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Rush Limbaugh, on the January 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, claimed the plan was intended to "rape" the United States. Limbaugh made the comment while discussing the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, which took place from January 25 to 29 in Davos, Switzerland. The UNDP plan, which was unveiled at the international gathering, proposes new approaches to global problems that its authors claim would unlock some $7 trillion in wealth worldwide. The proposal is presented in The New Public Finance: Responding to Global Challenges (Oxford University Press, 2006), a book edited by Inge Kaul, special adviser to the UNDP's Office of Development Studies, and Pedro Conceição, acting director of the UNDP's Office of Development Studies.

While talking about the UNDP proposal, Limbaugh both quoted and paraphrased a January 30 article in The Independent, a London newspaper. According to Philip Thornton, The Independent's economic correspondent, the UNDP plan would "unlock" wealth through six economic schemes, including "[r]educing greenhouse gas emissions through pollution permit trading" and "cutting poor countries' borrowing costs by securing the debts against the income from stable parts of their economies." The article noted that the plan is contingent in part upon the United States changing its stance on the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that aims to reduce or limit net emissions of certain greenhouse gases. The United States, under the Clinton administration, signed the agreement, on which President Bush subsequently reneged. After asserting that "we don't have the same kinds of problems in this country that they're [forum attendees] all discussing and worried about in Davos," Limbaugh added: "When they [the UNDP offficials] say they wanna unlock $7 trillion of wealth; it means, 'How can we rape the U.S. for $7 trillion?' "

From the January 30 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: And, you know, the problems of the world created by that kind and those -- those variations of those forms of government, we don't have the same problems in this country that they're all discussing and worried about in Davos -- "It's tearing us up!" When they say they wanna unlock $7 trillion of wealth; it means, "How can we rape the U.S. for $7 trillion?"

This is a long story, and I'm not gonna -- I'm not gonna bore you with the whole thing. Let me just give you a couple of ideas that they propose. "The scheme, by the way, which is backed by the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was born out of a proposal by Gordon Brown through a larger scheme to double the total aid budget to $100 billion a year." Now, when it says here that this -- it's backed by the U.K., France, Italy, Spain -- that's -- it means it's backed by people from those countries who went to Davos.

"In an endorsement of the report, Mr. Brown said, 'This shows we can help equip people in countries for a new global economy that combines greater prosperity and fairness, both within and across nations.' " These guys think they can manage a global economy. They can't even manage an economy in a small, little, Podunk nation that's the total -- it -- most of its budget is the result of gifts, donations, contributions, aid, foreign aid, whatever you wanna call it. And these people now claim that they have the expertise to manage a global econ -- You don't manage an economy. You deregulate it and get outta the way, leaving no room for people like this to even have a job, which would be the best thing overall for most people in the world.

—A.D.