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Glenn Beck

What Lessons Can We Learn from Spitzer Scandal?; Illegal Immigration Impacts Economy; Catholic Church Revises List of Sins

Aired March 11, 2008 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, the latest details in the Spitzer scandal. Do you trust any of these weasels at any level? Now, new reports say the New York governor wanted to engage in dangerous activities with prostitutes. Why? He can screw the people of New York for free.

Plus, from Hillary Clinton to Mrs. McGreevey to Mrs. Spitzer. Why is it that women stay with their high-profile husbands that stray? We`ll get some theories.

And a woman sues an Atlantic City casino because she lost. Oh, so sorry. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Somebody hit me. No, I mean it. I can`t take it anymore.

All this and more, coming up next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

G. BECK: Well, hello, America.

By now I`m sure you`ve heard all the stories and the sordid details of Eliot Spitzer`s alleged sex scandal. Do I have to say "alleged"? Do I?

It seems that New York governor -- or let me call him the Emperors Club`s client No. 9 -- likes to do things that you think might not think were safe with high-priced hookers.

So here`s "The Point" tonight. You know what? Eliot Spitzer embodies everything that is wrong with American politics. None of these people represent us, and here`s how I got there.

I really think that most Americans are feeling a little disenfranchised. You know? Our leaders are hypocritical scumbags who aren`t anything like us. And when you see the Eliot Spitzer thing, you say, "There it is again." This guy thought he was above the law, that the rules that we have to live by just don`t apply to limb.

He prosecuted the corruption in others and let his own deviant temptation rot him from the inside out. As if soliciting hookers wasn`t bad enough, he had the audacity to think that he`d actually get away with it. How in your right mind were you going to get away with it? Spitzer has a whole lot more enemies than he does friends, and it shows a tragic lack of judgment for him to think that he could spend thousands of dollars on prostitutes and keep it a secret.

So tonight, here`s what you need to know. If holding an office, any office, but governor of New York, is supposed to actually mean anything at all, the people of New York have to demand Eliot Spitzer`s resignation. Spitzer`s wife may be standing by him, which is something I don`t understand, but we`ll get into that insanity in a minute. New Yorkers must have better sense.

You know, if you think that crime in New York City is bad on the street, maybe we should take a quick look inside the statehouse and city hall. Today, the "New York Sun" listed 11 senior officials guilty of everything from fraud to drunk driving to bribery.

You know what? There`s an old saying that goes the people get the government that they deserve. I, for one, think we deserve better than low-lives like Spitzer and a lot of the clowns in Washington. And it`s about time we demand it.

Bill Bastone is the editor of The Smoking Gun.

Bill, I want to start with you. Just recap the story of what we know at this point.

BILL BASTONE, EDITOR, THE SMOKING GUN: Sure. About 4 1/2 months ago, Eliot Spitzer got embroiled in a federal investigation run by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service of a high-class or high-cost call-girl ring known as the Emperors Club.

A little bit over a month ago, he was picked up on a wire tap, a court-authorized wire tap, arranging a tryst with a hooker in a Washington hotel room.

G. BECK: How -- do we have any idea how long this has been going on?

BASTONE: Well, it`s a little unclear from the affidavit, but it was certainly clear that he was a repeat customer.

G. BECK: Right. And he had a tab, didn`t he?

BASTONE: He had -- he had money on account, and he was talking about leaving money on account after the Washington trip.

G. BECK: OK.

BASTONE: It`s believed that it dates back to mid-2007 when he would have first become a client.

G. BECK: May I ask you if you have any clue -- because I`m not wise in these ways -- what the hooker meant when she said, "He would ask you to do things that you might not think were safe. I mean, very basic things." What is basic, yet not safe to a hooker?

BASTONE: It`s actually conversation between the woman who was the -- like an office manager who booked the women who was like kind of an after- action report after the tryst is over. She`s basically asking the hooker how did things go, because I hear sometimes he asks for things that aren`t safe?

G. BECK: Do we have any idea what those things are?

BASTONE: Well, you know, it`s totally unclear from the affidavit, and it seems as if the government was fairly careful about going into the dirty details, as it were.

G. BECK: OK. Thank you very much.

Now let me switch gears here. New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey was one that just happened, right across the water. We have Representative Mark Foley that was in a scandal. We have Larry Craig and his bathroom adventures, Senator David Witter and President Bill Clinton.

The question is, do we as Americans even care about sex scandals anymore? Or have we come to expect them at this point?

Representative Peter King is a Republican congressman from New York.

And I just want to point out, because the rest of the media just doesn`t like to seem to point out that Spitzer is a Democrat. But if it was a Republican, that`s the first thing they would lead with, Republican governor.

Peter, Dershowitz, James Carville, they`re on television, and they`re really kind of defending him, saying sex doesn`t matter. Are you kidding me?

REP. PETER KING (D), NEW YORK: I think Alan Dershowitz was comparing Eliot Spitzer to Thomas Jefferson.

Where I -- where I stand on this, is this is -- we can discuss sex scandals if you want, but Eliot Spitzer, this goes beyond that. He was dealing with a prostitution ring, which is a criminal enterprise, which invariably is linked to organized crime.

And he was the chief law enforcement officer of New York state. He was then, as governor, the chief executive officer of New York state. And he was putting thousands and thousands of dollars, which he was maneuvering around, into a criminal enterprise. And organized crime, as you know, deals with narcotics, extortion, loan-sharking. So he was, in effect, subsidizing and supporting those criminal activities.

G. BECK: But Peter, not just that. You said the key word: extortion. A guy who has this many enemies doing this with prostitutes, he clearly doesn`t want it to come out. Or maybe he does. I don`t know. This guy could be so whacked out of his mind.

But extortion. It`s like McGreevey. You put -- McGreevey put New Jersey in a compromised position, by jeopardizing the state. The same thing with Spitzer: he could have been black-mailed, and God knows what the end of that would have been.

KING: And for all we know he was. Here is the chief enforcement officer, chief executive officer dealing with organized crime or a criminal syndicate and allowing himself to be compromised and black-mailed, which ends up compromising the entire state of New York, which goes right to his oath of office.

This is the first time in 30 years of politics that I have gone after someone as far as a personal transgression, because it`s not personal.

G. BECK: Yes.

KING: This involves organized crime. It involves a crime syndicate. And he totally violated his oath of office, apart from the fact that he`s being totally hypocritical. I`ve never known anyone who has been more self-righteous and more judgmental and less forgiving in life than Eliot Spitzer.

G. BECK: Peter, I`ve only got a couple of seconds. We`ve talked about this a million times together. The people of this country are so disenfranchised, so disconnected, because they think our leaders are disconnected from us. I mean, you see this, and people just say, "Well, there`s another one. They`re all like that."

What is it going to take to stop this?

KING: Well, first of all, the -- I disagree with what you just said. The people in effect, they do vote for certain people. They know certain traits about them. They should have known about Eliot Spitzer, not being involved with prostitutes, but his arrogance and his uncaringness. They should have factored that in.

But bottom line is it`s up to all of us. In politics, we do the best we can. I`ve been in politics a long time. There`s also corruption in business, and labor, health care and also in the media, occasionally.

G. BECK: No. No. No, I don`t know anything about that. Congressman, thank you very much.

KING: Thank you.

G. BECK: Now, the thing that I`m most shocked about in this whole thing, or most disturbed about, is watching his wife stand beside him as he made these statements yesterday. Am I the only guy in America whose wife would have punched him in the face, and then I would have slept outside or at a hotel without the hookers last night?

He betrayed her. He betrayed the family, the children. My goodness. The children had to leave for school today with a whole swarm of media. Thanks, Dad.

Dr. David Eigen is a psychologist and author of "Men: The Gods of Love." I mean, with that title, I don`t know if you`re the right guy to talk to. The gods of love.

First of all, what is this going to mean -- let`s start with the kids. What do you think this is going to mean for the three kids, three daughters, teenagers?

DR. DAVID EIGEN, PSYCHOLOGIST: It`s very sad for the children. They`re going to have to go through a lot of changes.

But, you know, really the answer to this whole picture is simply that, obviously, the man has not been -- is leading a double life, and he`s not been honest. The family hasn`t been honest. Probably, the wife knows that things weren`t working.

G. BECK: Yes.

EIGEN: And she`s been going. I enjoy my lifestyle. I enjoy my position. And it`s simply -- we`ve been allowing this to go on and on. And there`s been no true dialog and that`s what really is the problem.

G. BECK: Yes, I have to tell you, that crossed my mind with these -- with these women, that I mean, you don`t stand there -- you don`t even -- I mean, you don`t even walk up to the podium, you`d be in such shock. Now, maybe they`re standing there at the podium because they are in shock, and they just don`t -- they haven`t, you know, woken up to it yet, or they knew.

Can you live with a guy who`s making it with hookers for years and not really know?

EIGEN: Well, you know, this is a sad situation. But you know, the bottom line is -- how do I say this genteelly? They`re paid to not worry about it. And they`re in a position -- they`ve bartered themselves, in many cases, and unfortunately, you know, she`s made her bed, and she`s sleeping in it.

G. BECK: Ay, yi, yi.

EIGEN: And that`s the unfortunate consequence of all of this. Obviously, they need to -- they need to have a real true dialog. Getting counseling would be wonderful, absolutely necessary between him and his children, especially. Because they`re the collateral damage, if you will.

And, you know, but it`s about, hey, what`s the real truth? Who am I as governor? Who is the wife? Do we have a relationship? What`s it based on? Are we done being fake, or are we really going to be real now?

G. BECK: OK. Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate it.

EIGEN: My pleasure.

G. BECK: Let me tell you something, Governor Spitzer, I don`t want to see a book from you. I don`t want to hear how tragic your childhood was. I don`t want to hear any of it. Go into therapy, don`t go into therapy, I don`t care. Get out!

Now, coming up, the election cycle may be favoring the economy over illegal immigration as the most important issue, but in a minute, you want to try to piece together that illegal immigration cannot be dissevered from the economy.

And if those original seven deadly sins weren`t enough, the Vatican now has a new batch of new sins, including my personal favorite, excessive wealth. We`ll have that story, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

G. BECK: Well, you know and I know that the real estate bubble has burst or exploded in our face. It`s ugly. I mean, have you looked at the homes that are for sale in your neighborhood?

Well, everybody is busy just pointing fingers at the lenders and the home appraisers and Uncle Sam. I have to tell you, this is just the beginning. That is tonight`s "Real Story," along with some practical, real advice about what homeowners can do. What do you do to stay in your house? What do you do if your loan is about to reset? We`ll tell you tonight.

But first, one day the headlines, it seems, are all about Iraq. Then it`s all about Hillary offering the vice-presidential slot to Obama. And then sometimes we get a treat and, you know, we get to talk about a governor who`s getting caught with his pants down with a hooker or hookers.

The mainstream media is all about ratings. It`s all simple-minded and single-minded. They fail to see the big picture. That is the goal of this show, and sometimes we fail, but we`re going to try even harder to help connect the dots.

Lately, most of the news has been centered on the election. And the election coverage should have been focused on the economy, because that`s what you care about. "Houston Chronicle" poll just out said 35 percent of those surveyed named the economy as the most-important issue this election year. Next, 15 percent named the war in Iraq. Eleven percent said it was health care. But the problem is when we forget that all of these issues are related, that`s when the problems really start.

Take illegal immigration. It is an issue with connections to a bunch of other issues. There`s health care. How long are you waiting for somebody at the emergency room?

State`s rights. What can we do? Can we be a sanctuary city or not?

National security. Who`s coming across our borders at night?

And economic security. Yes. Illegal immigration is a huge economic issue. Even if the politicians are doing everything they can to convince you otherwise, it is. Illegal immigration has a dramatic effect on the American workforce and our foreign economic policy with Mexico. It drains resources. Billions of dollars are being sent out across our border. It doesn`t increase our tax base.

The bottom line: illegal immigration is costing you money. And have you noticed eggs cost you more than 40 percent than they did last year? How much longer are we going to let things get worse?

Representative Brian Bilbray, he is the Republican from California, chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus.

Congressman, let me just give you stats that have just come out. Cost of arresting and incarcerating illegal immigrant criminal suspects has doubled since 1999 to $192 million in the fiscal year of 2006.

Counties have spent $1.23 billion from `99 to 2006. Just to process illegal immigrants in the justice system in fiscal year 2006 alone, it was $192 million. University of Arizona and San Diego University say the four border counties in Arizona, costs have increased 39 percent to $26.6 million in fiscal 2006. This is an economic issue, is it not?

REP. BILBRAY (R), CALIFORNIA: Oh, absolutely. Because you can`t -- you can`t have a drain and that kind of overhead and costs without it drawing off on your economy. It`s a loss leader.

And when you look at the federal government, just one study was pointing out that $26 billion it cost the federal government. You could do a lot with $26 billion for a lot of different programs, a lot of different infrastructure. And more importantly, you could give that back to the people you took it from, and that`s those citizens who are paying taxes.

So, no, this is a huge impact. And we would like to look the other way on.

G. BECK: OK. It`s an economic impact on us, a huge economic impact on us. It costs us jobs, and maybe these are the jobs that Americans just won`t do. But I have a feeling Americans will do a lot more jobs next year than they were willing to do last year.

And the other thing is, here you are sitting in the state of California. Tell me what your emergency rooms and hospital situations are like now?

BILBRAY: Glenn, I used to be a county chairman of San Diego County. And I used to work a day in different departments and sat in the emergency rooms and watched the foreign license plates parked, waiting for women to dilate to ten centimeters so they could come in under emergency.

You go into Los Angeles, and "General Hospital."

G. BECK: Yes.

BILBRAY: Remember, the show was about. It looks like a third-world lineup there, where you`ve got people just lined up. And basically, if you want to get free health care in this country, just say you`re illegally in the country. It gives you a free ride, and it`s a huge impact, and it`s the way that, you know, the employers of the illegals have been able to shift and shaft.

They`re able to profiteer on illegal employment and then send the impact off to everybody else by these unfunded mandates.

And education is the other thing. Huge impact. We`re talking about - - we`re talking about in California over a billion dollars. You`ve got to remember, you`re not only educating somebody who`s not supposed to be in this country, but then you have special programs because many of them are not proficient in English, so that jacks up the price, 20, 30 percent per student.

G. BECK: All right. Congressman, thank you very much. And we`ll keep a close eye on what`s happening in Congress this week with the Shuler bill.

Now, got an update. We haven`t forgotten, and I want you to know that we haven`t forgotten. And neither should you. I believe the border agents Ramos and Compean are this nation`s first political prisoners.

As long as they stay wrongly imprisoned for doing their jobs, we will do whatever we can to shed light on the truth and pray for justice for those two border agents.

We`ll be back in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

G. BECK: The new sins are in; the new sins are in! The Vatican has dug deep to keep up with our ever-changing world. They`ve come up with seven more categories of sin.

According to a Vatican City local paper, it is now a sin to pollute the environment, to perform morally dubious experiments, like stem cell research. Glad I got that one clarified. And to be -- my favorite sin -- excessively wealthy. That damn Bill Gates.

Father Edward Beck is a Roman Catholic priest and the author of "Soul Provider." By the way, Father, my middle name, Edward. Last name Beck. Don`t know if we`re the same person.

FATHER EDWARD BECK, AUTHOR, "SOUL PROVIDER": Well, you know, I get it all the time when I`m traveling. Are you related to Glenn Beck? And I say, no, I`m not.

G. BECK: You might want to keep that answer, even if we are related. Shame on the family. But anyway, OK, polluting the environment, I get it. We`ve got to take care of the place we live. That`s great.

E. BECK: Even if you don`t believe in global warming, right?

G. BECK: Absolutely. Bioethical violations, you know, stem cell research. I don`t want to make half-man, half-goat things. I think that`s really pretty bad.

Drug abuse, our body is a temple. I think that`s great. Here`s the problem that I have.

E. BECK: All right.

G. BECK: Excessive wealth?

E. BECK: Well, I`m sure you do have this problem.

G. BECK: I mean, Father, I mean, I don`t -- no disrespect here, but have you seen the ruby slippers that the pope wears?

E. BECK: Well, do you really believe, though, that wealth is in service of the individual or an institution that`s trying to propagate good, is the question.

G. BECK: OK. Thank you for that answer.

E. BECK: You`re welcome.

G. BECK: Thank you. Because Bill Gates, would you agree, has excessive wealth?

E. BECK: Yes. But this is excessive wealth also inked to contributing to the poverty of others, not being magnanimous with your wealth. Not sharing what you have.

G. BECK: OK. So is it actually -- because this is the list that I got from the AP.

E. BECK: Right.

G. BECK: Do you explain it that way? Or -- because the other sin before it was contributing to the widening divide between the rich and the poor. And I thought, well, saying excessive wealth without saying, you know what? It`s the love of money; it`s not money that is the problem.

E. BECK: That`s true. And you know from the gospels that the rich young man, the problem wasn`t that he was rich. It was that he couldn`t part with it.

G. BECK: That`s right.

E. BECK: And I really think that, if you read some of the minutia of what this text is about, the excessive wealth is when you`re inordinately attached to it.

G. BECK: OK. Because I know a lot of rich people that give a lot. I mean, look at Bill gates.

E. BECK: Right.

G. BECK: I mean, look how many people he`s helping with his money.

E. BECK: You cannot deny that in the gospel there is a socialism kind of aspect to it. It`s very communitarian. And there is a sharing of wealth that the gospel provides, whether you like it or not.

G. BECK: Father, excuse me, hang on just a second. Nowhere did Jesus say, "I`m going to set up a government, and I`m going to take that money from you forcibly and redistribute it."

E. BECK: Not forcibly. No.

G. BECK: Exactly.

E. BECK: It should come from the person.

G. BECK: But that`s not socialism.

E. BECK: No, it`s not socialism. I don`t mean as an enforced thing.

G. BECK: OK.

E. BECK: I mean as a free-will kind of thing. We should share what we have.

G. BECK: Yes, absolutely. And I`m with you 110 percent.

E. BECK: I`m sure you would be. I`m sure you would be.

G. BECK: The thing that bothers me is a lot of churches today -- and I`m not saying that the Catholic Church is doing this. A lot of churches today, even members of my own faith, think that you`ve got to go to -- you`ve got to go to the government. No, that -- the government doesn`t change your heart. Being share to share your wealth is what changes your heart.

E. BECK: We`re in total agreement, Glenn. I couldn`t agree with you more.

G. BECK: It`s because we`re related I think. Thank you very much, Father Beck.

E. BECK: You`re welcome. Thank you.

G. BECK: Coming up, practical advice to the homeowner. In today`s crumbling economy, what do you do with your house? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) * BECK: Well, what happens in America today if you gamble away your life savings? Come on. Stay with me. You sue the casino for not stopping you. It`s the American thing to do.

At least that`s the idea of one former attorney who has gone bust. Details coming up in just a second. Blood shooting out of your eyes.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story."

At the end of the every major financial bubble, it marks the beginning of the finger pointing. The current housing market collapse no different. Lenders are beginning, you know, to be blamed for taking advantage of unsuspecting borrowers. The borrowers are getting blamed for having eyes bigger than their bank accounts. And the government has been blamed for making money so cheap for so long.

But all the while these groups are just pointing fingers at each other, something else isn`t happening, and that`s "The Real Story." There is another group that, at least publicly, has avoided taking their fair share of the blame. And those are the real estate appraisers.

With sellers, mortgage brokers, banks, real estate agents all looking for the highest possible price on a sale, the appraisers have been the great equalizer the whole time. They`re like our entire system of government checks and balances all conveniently wrapped up into one person. But during the bubble that system failed.

Instead of preventing greed, many appraisers encouraged it. A lender would call them up and tell them, you know, the house is selling for $500,000. It sure would be helpful if I could get an appraisal on that, and then the appraiser would go out and deliver a report for -- what a coincidence -- $500,000.

If, many times, they didn`t deliver on that number, the banks would just stop hiring them and go hire somebody else. That`s blackmail. But very few people had the courage to stand up and say, you know what? I don`t care. I`m not doing it.

People lacking courage a real problem in America these days.

Well, now the whole charade has been exposed. The government, proving once again just how far ahead of the curve they really are, is finally stepping in with new regulations. Just what we needed.

For example, lenders can no longer pressure appraisers to give them inflated reports. Yeah. And banks can no longer lend money based on reports issued by appraisal companies that the banks own.

What does it say that we actually need government to make laws on common sense?

Of course, not all appraisers, you know, are scumbags or are in on the scam. Some stayed honest. But the appraisal industry seems to be a lot like prison. Right now, everybody is saying they are innocent. Something that makes it tough to tell who the good guys really are.

Fortunately, we found one. His name is Jonathan Miller. He is the president and CEO of New York appraiser firm Miller Samuel. He`s been an outspoken critic of the industry practices for years.

Jonathan, good for you for actually having a spine, my friend.

First of all, how can a bank have an appraiser that they pay? I mean, that doesn`t make any sense at all.

JONATHAN MILLER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MILLER SAMUEL APPRAISERS: Well, I think the big problem was that there was really a disconnect between the quality function of a lender and the sales function. That during the housing boom, the sales function had greater political power, and there was a concentrated effort to really push for the results that were needed to make a deal.

BECK: OK. And the -- it`s my understanding -- I saw a report on CNN Money that said -- and this was 2006 -- that they would actually have these auctions. They would e-mail out a blast. They`d say, hey, we need an appraisal for $562,000, whose got it? And they`d bid on it without ever seeing the house.

True or false?

MILLER: Right. It would go to -- it goes to the lowest bidder, and they would get the assignment. And the whole problem with this whole concept is that the people that would sort of play ball were the people that were given a lot of work, and the people that didn`t play ball really, you know, have had to move on to other things.

BECK: OK. How much is the average home overvalued because of these bogus appraisals And what are we talking about? What is the real scope of this?

MILLER: Well, I think from a conservative standpoint, it`s probably at least 10 percent. We sort of -- appraisers that are -- you know, the people that have sort of been lost behind -- left behind in this whole process sort of joke that the people that did play ball were called "10 percenters," because values always seemed to be about 10 percent above what was needed.

BECK: OK. So how many people does this -- about 10 percent are -- are overpriced at this point because of the appraisal, and then there`s an 80 percent number that you have?

MILLER: Well, the way that I look at it is I`d say right now, between 70 percent and 80 percent of active appraisers really are the problem. That it`s really the inverse of what we saw five, seven years ago before the housing boom, where you had a profession that was, you know, 80 percent very competent, very solid, but that 20 percent really was enabled over the housing boom simply to keep the process moving along.

BECK: And yes or no, because I`ve got to run, but the government knew about this two, three, four, five years ago, didn`t they?

MILLER: I really -- I don`t think anybody really understood it. It was one of those sort of little -- little sort of side things, but eventually, you know, for this whole process to work, the appraiser has to enable it, and that`s what happened.

BECK: OK. Thank you very much, sir. We`ll talk to you again.

Now, I want to announce a slight policy shift on a couple of things on this program.

I met with my producers last night of radio and my television program, and I just -- I have a gut feeling here. The first policy shift here is on politics.

I think -- and I could be wrong -- I think most of you, if you`re watching this program, you don`t have a horse in this presidential race. You don`t trust any of these people. You think they`re going to screw you no matter who gets in. They`ll do what they want -- from Eliot Spitzer, all the way up.

They just stand for themselves. And I am sick and tired personally of lending them my voice.

I think the horse that you have in this next election is your family, your country, your values, the issues. You don`t want to lose your sovereignty as a nation. You care about your country, you care about our security as a nation, you care about your job, you care about your family, you care about your house. So that`s what we`re going to focus on this program.

Now, will we cover the political mudslinging once in a while? Probably. I mean, have to. Sometimes it`s funny, but hopefully it will be the exception and not the rule.

The second thing that I talked to my producers about last night that I want to shift on is the economy.

For almost a year now, I have been warning you about how bad things could get, and I still believe they could get that bad. But now virtually everybody is on the bandwagon that, uh-oh, we`ve got trouble. So I think it`s now time for us to take the next step and lead the pack again and figure out what we can actually do about it. What you can do about it to protect yourself.

For example, you see these doomsday stories on television every day, and you`ve got to be thinking to yourself -- because I know I am -- OK, housing prices stink, how long are they going to stink? What does that mean to me? What should I do?

Should I put my house on the market now? Should I wait for a year? Do I ride it out? What do I do? Most importantly, what does all of this bad news mean to my family and my job?

Well, Peter Morici, he is an economics professor at the University of Maryland who has some answers.

Let me just -- I`m going to focus tonight on real estate. Honestly, Peter, I had a real estate agent come over to my house over the weekend, because I thought, you know, maybe we should sell our house, because we`re thinking about moving for some other reasons, et cetera, et cetera. And then I didn`t know what to do.

I mean, I could sell my house and not take a bloodbath on it right now. Should I? Should I hold on to it?

What does the average person do with their house?

PETER MORICI, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Well, I think the average person has to ask themselves, where are they going to live next and what part of their life are they in? I mean, Glenn, if you`re about to move up because your show has improved and you`re earning more money...

BECK: No, no.

MORICI: I`m just saying, if you were in that circumstance, then it would be a good time to sell.

BECK: Right.

MORICI: Because you might be selling at a low price, but you`d also be buying at a low price. So what you should do is spec out where you want to go, see what it would cost.

BECK: OK.

MORICI: Try to get an honest assessment -- I know that`s hard -- of what your house is really worth where you are.

BECK: Well, we were just talking about that. I mean, who do we -- who do we go to -- the real estate agent, the bank, the appraiser? Who?

MORICI: I would go to real estate agents, and have five agents come in and appraise the house.

BECK: OK.

MORICI: Tell you what they think they could sell it for. But I wouldn`t tell them what one another says, because they bid each other up to get the listing. And don`t tell them how much money you`ve got in the house. Don`t give them a sense of how eager you are to sell.

BECK: All right.

MORICI: So you do that...

BECK: Yes?

MORICI: ... and then you put the house on the market, but you say to yourself, can I take 10 percent less than what I`m putting on the market for as my strike price? Try it for 90 days. If it sells, sell it, and then buy another house.

BECK: OK.

How about this one -- because I just read another disturbing report today that people are actually closing their 401(k)s now, which I think is so much trouble.

What -- if you were sitting in a house where your loan is about to reset, and you`re going to be all upside down in this house and you`re not going to be able to make it, or if you`re sitting there and you know you`re going to probably go into foreclosure, what do you do? What is the best thing you can do?

MORICI: The best thing to do is not touch the 401(k), but to go down to the bank and try to get the loan adjusted.

BECK: Will they do that?

MORICI: Well, in many cases they will right now because the Treasury secretary wants them to. He`s pushing them to.

If your loan is about to reset and you can`t pay the reset rate, they are supposed to make adjustments. If they don`t, you`re much better seeing a bankruptcy lawyer than you are going into your 401(k). Once that`s gone, it`s gone. If you go through bankruptcy, then you`ll probably be able to keep your retirement account and get rid of the house.

BECK: OK. Peter, thank you very much. We`ll talk to you again as well.

Now, coming up, there is a woman suing a casino now because she had absolutely no self-control. She gambled away her entire life`s work.

Fabulous. Welcome to America.

It`s coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: I want to make a confession. Many years ago, I drank a gallon of Jack Daniel`s every single week. I can`t even imagine how much money I spent on that stuff.

Done a lot of soul searching. I decided I want my money back. The way I figure it, between my lost wages, my pain and suffering, Jack Daniel`s and the state of Tennessee owe me $10 million to $12 million.

What do you think? Huh? Got a case?

This is exactly the same argument of a woman who claims to have gambled away over $1 million. She`s making it. She recently filed a $20 million federal racketeering lawsuit against six Atlantic City casinos, claiming they had an obligation to stop her.

How about just shut the pie hole? Who do you say?

This is -- this is the problem. Nobody from our politicians, all the way down, will take responsibility for their actions anymore.

Keith Whyte, executive director of National Council of Problem Gambling.

You agree or disagree with me, Keith?

KEITH WHYTE, NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PROBLEM GAMBLING: I absolutely agree that personal responsibility is something that she has to take. That has to be the foundation of every conversation on gambling problems. However...

BECK: Uh-oh.

WHYTE: ... I think the casino have some responsibility as well.

BECK: How does the casino have any responsibility?

WHYTE: Well, if you look at their own policies and procedures, they talk about training their employees to recognize the signs of a gambling problem. And if what this plaintiff alleges is true, she spent five days continuously gambling at the tables. So we would say that maybe the shared responsibility starts with, you know, 36 hours, 48, 72 hours of continuous gambling.

BECK: Come on.

WHYTE: Maybe there`s a line there.

BECK: This woman is a -- she is a -- she is an attorney. She`s clearly an educated woman. She knew what she was doing.

She may have a problem, but since when is it my responsibility to stop you from being stupid? And let me tell you something else. I`m an alcoholic. Nobody could stop me if I wanted to do it.

WHYTE: Absolutely.

BECK: She would have been stopped at one casino, she would have gone to another casino. They would have stopped her there. What, do they then have a responsibility to call each other up? She`s wearing a red dress, green purse, stop her, all costs.

What else do they have to do?

WHYTE: Well, I think the parallel is to what a bartender has, the responsibility that they have under the Dram Shop law to know when they`ve served a patron too much. And she does have a problem. She has a mental health disorder. But her responsibility -- her responsibility would be to get help.

BECK: What is the mental health disorder?

WHYTE: It`s pathological gambling. It`s a mental health disorder. It`s recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. But her responsibility, even though she has a mental disorder, her responsibility is to get help for her addiction.

BECK: Yes. Do I have a mental health disorder? Because I think you`re causing one.

I`d like to know, does the American Psychological Society, do they think alcoholism is a psychological disorder as well, do you know?

WHYTE: Yes.

BECK: Yes.

WHYTE: Absolutely.

BECK: Yes.

WHYTE: And, again...

BECK: Wait. No.

WHYTE: ... the primary...

BECK: I`ve got 30 seconds. I`m going to end this one.

WHYTE: All right.

BECK: I don`t have a psychological -- well, yes, I do, but not in regard to this. I don`t have a psychological -- it was my choice to drink.

Everything bad that happened in my life was my responsibility. I take full responsibility. No lawyers.

Keith, thanks a lot.

WHYTE: All right. Thank you.

BECK: Let me introduce you to somebody for "The Real America," brought to you by CSX.

I`m going to introduce you tonight to somebody I met, I don`t know, about six months ago, and I was so moved by this guy. I don`t know if you`ve ever met somebody where they shake to you the core and you carry that person around for a week after.

I`m going to introduce you. He is a true hero, and is he walking among us. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice over): Once in a great while, you`ll hear somebody speak. And their story, their passion, their spirit sticks with you. For me, that person was Sergeant First Class Greg Stube (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to be a fighter. I wanted to be a shooter.

BECK: Stube (ph) is one of the Army`s elite. Part of the Special Forces that represents less than 1 percent of the Army Corps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The training is tough enough where you come through something together long before you reach the battlefield.

BECK: The intense training took him to the hills of Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we moved up the hill, an improvised explosive device went off and blew the vehicle up. It was excruciating, it was very painful.

I felt the fire burning me. I felt holes in my body. I felt -- I felt my right leg dangling and dragging behind me.

BECK: Stube`s wife Donna (ph) got the call that every military spouse dreads.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I made up in my mind before I heard the next call that no matter what -- what it was, I just wanted him alive. I didn`t care if he was missing limbs. I just wanted him back.

BECK: Donna (ph) got her husband back, but Greg (ph) was unrecognizable. After spending more than a year in the hospital, Greg Stube (ph) was finally well enough to return home. He lost 70 percent of his intestines, but miraculously remains active duty. He now spreads his message of hope and help off the battlefield by helping other wounded soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s worth it. Every bit of it is worth it. I don`t have a single regret.

People in uniform have left parts of their bodies and their lives on battlefields worldwide to protect this wonderful thing we know as freedom.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: I to have to tell you, I have only met one person more amazing than Sergeant Stube (ph), and that is his wife. And I am thrilled to bring them to the studio on Friday, 7:00, for a full hour.

Please tell all of your friends. This guy and his wife, absolute inspiration. Do not miss Friday`s program.

Now, if you`d like to see the story again or more stories his wife. And I am thrilled to bring them to the studio on Friday, 7:00, for a full hour. Please tell all of your friends this guy and his wife, absolute inspiration. Do not miss Friday`s program.

Now, if you`d like to see the story again or more stories like it, click on CNN.com/glenn and look for "The Real America" section.

That`s "The Real America" tonight, sponsored by CSX. It`s how tomorrow moves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, last night I told you about media bias. And it was all about a joking question meant to belittle those that believe that, you know, every politician is the Antichrist. It happens all the time.

Well, what I said had been splattered all around the media as if it were serious. It has been everywhere from fairly credible news sources, all the way down to Keith Olbermann and "The New York Times."

Another famous example happened on the radio with the blogs when I said that Ben Franklin said this...

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: "We should make the poor uncomfortable and kick them out of poverty." I love that.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: Well, here`s what they said about me. "Making stuff up about other people goes double for people like Ben Franklin, whose supposed view of poverty is the foundation for this round of Beckian rhetorical diarrhea. You know what I would love? To be able to find out when or where Franklin said this, because so far I have had no luck."

Well, guess what, blogger? You`re about to get really, really lucky. You are Eliot Spitzer tonight, because Franklin said almost exactly what I did back in 1766.

He said, and I quote, "I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading them or driving them out of it."

So, in an off-cuff recollection from a 1766 Ben Franklin speech about corn prices, I substituted "kicking them out of poverty" instead of "driving." Oh! How could a blogger have ever figured that one out, huh?

Franklin actually became more specific about his dislike for government handouts in the next few sentences, and I`d like to share them with you.

He said, "In my youth, I`ve traveled much and I have observed in different countries that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And on the contrary, the less that was done for them, the more they did for themselves and became richer."

Now, I want you to know I bring this up not because anybody cares about some failed blogger, you know, that`s in the basement of mom`s house with a passion for shift-F7. You know, what he says about me, who cares?

I bring it up because of what Ben Franklin was saying about us. He made it crystal clear that when you start giving and accepting handouts, it slowly crushes your self-reliance. And since our founding fathers had to fight a war just to earn the right to rely on themselves, I believe they probably understood it better than anyone else.

Don`t forget, you want to know what`s on tomorrow`s program or any of the other information? Check up -- sign up for my free e-mail newsletter at glennbeck.com.

From New York, goodnight.

END