Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., argued that President Obama is not being honest when he indicates that tax increases on the wealthy, without significant spending cuts, can bring fiscal stability to the nation.

“They offer you baubles,” Paul said in describing D.C. lawmakers, especially Obama. “They offer you something for free: ‘Here’s a cell phone. Just take the cell phone and vote for me, it’ll be okay.’ Here’s the problem: It’s not free. On the one hand, you get the free cell phone; on the other hand, you get four dollar gas. On the other hand, you get the price of food rising. Why do prices go up? Because we run a deficit up here giving you free stuff, and then we print up money to pay for it and that steals value from what you have.”

Paul seemed to be alluding to the woman who cited her government-provided cell phone as a reason to vote for Obama’s reelection.

“He gave us a phone,” the Cincinnati woman said. “Keep Obama in president.” The Washington Examiner’s Charlie Spiering explained the program she was mentioning.

“The program is called Lifeline, established in 1984, originally created to subsidize landline phone service for low income Americans, funded by government-collected telecommunication fees, paid by consumers,” Charlie wrote. In 2008, the program was expanded to support cell phones which quickly escalated the cost of the program. In 2008 the program cost $772 million, but by 2011 it cost $1.6 billion.”

Senator Paul mentioned the cell phone immediately after criticizing Obama. “So, instead of having a president who runs around saying he’s going to stick it to rich people, what we really need are honest people to go round the country and say to people, ‘if you are working class or you are retired, the government is stealing from you,” Paul said. “The government is stealing your savings through big government.”