By Bill O'Reilly
The 87-year-old former Prime Minister of Great Britain died last night from a stroke. As you may know, she along with President Ronald Reagan, defined conservative politics in the 1980s.
Lady Thatcher is a legend in conservative circles. Her accomplishments are many, but she was always a very controversial figure in her own country and here in America because the British press and the American media are liberal and always have been.
For younger viewers, Margaret Thatcher was a plain spoken woman who did not suffer fools.
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THATCHER: What the honorable member is saying is that he would rather the poor were poorer provided the rich were less rich. That way you will never create the wealth for better social justices as we have.
And what a policy. Yes, he would rather have the poor poorer provided the rich were less rich. That is a liberal policy.
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O'REILLY: By the way, had Lady Thatcher delivered that sound bite today the media would have said she shouted down her opposition or some other nonsense. Margaret Thatcher believed that a robust private economy would provide the most opportunity for working people. Her opposition, the Labor Party, was like the Democratic Party in America today. Labor wanted government to largely control private industry.
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THATCHER: No amount of distance lends enchantment to the lean years of labor which gave us the lowest growth rate in Europe. The highest strike record, and for the average family, virtually no increase in take home pay. Labor's policies are a vote of no confidence in the ability of British people to manage their own affairs.
We have that confidence, confidence in freedom and confidence in enterprise. And that is what divides conservatives from socialists.
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O'REILLY: So the question tonight is did Lady Thatcher approve of President Obama who certainly echoes many Labor policy policies. The answer is no. It is quite clear that Thatcher, Reagan and other free marketeers would disagree with Barack Obama on economic policy. The bad jobs report in America last week once again points out that the President's attempt to stimulate the U.S. economy by pouring trillions of taxpayer dollars into it has failed dismally.
Yet, Mr. Obama is not changing course. The U.S. debt continues to rise. The economy continues to be largely stagnant and take home pay going down. Ironically, the only good economic news in America is the stock market, which mostly benefits the wealthy. As corporations cut salaries because of job competition, fewer jobs, they, the corporations, make more money. Thus the stock goes up.
So while the president believes his policies are helping working Americans, they are actually hurting them. Government regulations and Obamacare also inhibiting hiring. Again, fewer jobs means lower wages. In a robust economy there are plenty of jobs. Therefore, workers are paid more because companies need them.
And so the successful economic policies of Margaret Thatcher are very much relevant today. But you won't hear the press say that.
And that's "The Memo."
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