Young Turks host Cenk Uygur mockingly "agreed" on Wednesday with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's (R) philosophy regarding getting people off of federal benefits -- but Uygur had different people in mind for that approach.
"I think we should 'ennoble' the bankers by cutting off their government assistance," Uygur told co-host John Iadarola, arguing that banks not only received government aid during the 2008 economic recession, but continue to receive favorable, "near-zero percent" interest rates.
"That sounds like that would hurt their nobility," Uygur said. "I would like to ennoble them by charging them the same interest rate that we all pay. It would make them better, make them work harder, right?"
Besides the banking industry, Uygur also singled out the oil industry for his version of "ennobling" benefit cuts.
"You know who else I'd like to ennoble? I'd like to ennoble the oil companies, that are the most profitable companies in the world," he said. "I'd like to take away their $14 billion in subsidies. Conservatives, I know you agree with me, right? Those are wasteful. When we do it in regards to the poor, you hate it. You hate giving money to the poor and middle-class. You hate trying to educate people's kids so they can have equality of opportunity. Why would you want to give government handouts to the richest companies in the world?"
Pence had told Fox News on Tuesday that his administration's intentions of forcing people off of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- commonly known as "food stamps" -- unless they were working 20 hours a week or attending job training represented a return to a "core principle" of welfare reform.
"I'm someone that believes there's nothing more ennobling to a person than a job," Pence said to Fox's Brian Kilmeade. "And to make sure that able-bodied adults without dependants at home know that here in the state of Indiana, we want to partner with them in their success."
Pence then attempted to cite the saying, "Give someone a fish, and they’ll eat for a day. Teach them to fish, they'll eat for a lifetime" to defend the cuts, which could affect up to 65,000 of his state's residents.
But Iadarola argued that the analogy does not make sense, considering that, while an estimated 2 million people around the Midwest are seeking jobs, there are only about 1 million jobs available.
"If he goes to the stream and puts it out there all day long and it doesn't have a fish after a day, and then he does it all week long and at the end of it he says, 'There are simply no fish,' and you say, 'F*ck it, I'm not giving you any food,' then you're not making a nice analogy -- you're a d*ck," Iadarola said. "That's all you are."
Watch Iadarola and Uygur's commentary, as posted online on Wednesday, below.
