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Glenn Beck

Food, Gas Top Issues for Americans; Trucking Industry Feeling the Pinch; Author: Traditional Values Key to Happiness

Aired April 22, 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 issues that should be on the top of voters` minds and out of our politicians` mouths: the global food prices that has started rioting worldwide, has finally touched our shores. How bad could this thing get?

And as food prices start to skyrocket, so do gas prices. Hmm, everything connected? I`ll tell you why you`ll be feeling a whole lot more pain from the pump than you realize.

And happy Earth Day, America. These days it`s less about planting and more about profit. But, hey, money is green, isn`t it? All this and more coming up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

I`m going to do some counterintuitive programming here. We`re not going to talk a lot about the election tonight, because I`m sick of listening to these candidates.

I want to you about what I think you`re talking about, but we will start with Hillary Clinton. She`s released a new ad campaign this week, and she`s taking a lot of heat for it. And she shouldn`t be. I want you to take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s the toughest job in the world. You need to be ready for anything. Especially now, with two wars, oil prices skyrocketing, and an economy in crisis. Harry Truman said it best: "If you can`t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." Who do you think has what it takes?

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I`m Hillary Clinton, and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Everybody is saying, "Oh, my gosh, it`s scare-mongering, you know, fear-mongering. What is she doing?"

You know what? I think Hillary Clinton would be all wrong as president of the United States. I mean, please help me. But the images in these ads are all right. Back in 2006, I agreed with the campaign ads that the Republicans were running that talked about al Qaeda, because that was the big issue that we were facing at the time and we`re still facing today. And this new ad speaks the same kind of truth.

So here`s "The Point" tonight. While all three presidential candidates were facing the world of professional wrestling, Americans like you and me were facing some of the toughest times this country has ever seen. We can all see the problems. Now maybe we should see some action. Here`s how I got there.

Food and gas. Let me say it again. Food and gas. Those are the things I`m thinking about. I`m guessing those are the things you`re thinking about, as well, today. Gas prices continue to rise. They`re going up. And the price that you are paying for everything is going up. I`ll have more on the effects of gas prices later on in the program.

Now, it`s bad enough that to drive to the grocery store it is more expensive than it ever has been ever before. But now when you get there, the price of milk and eggs is through the roof, and some stores have reportedly placed buying limits on things like rice and flour. We told you about this last night.

This is front-page news across America, literally. But in New York and L.A., Washington, they don`t even a have a clue. What was it that was front page in the heartland? Last week the U.S. agricultural secretary said, and I quote, "We have never been less secure about the near-term future of wheat. The threat here at home is real, and it is urgent."

Our wheat supply has never been less secure? But Washington is babbling on about ethanol? You know, maybe I`m crazy, but gosh, it seems like a strange priority to me. Oh, and by the way, happy Earth Day.

Tonight, America, here`s what you need to know. Issues like our food, economic and energy crisis fair game for campaign ads, because there`s nothing more important facing this nation than gas and food, the economy. You and I know that recycling is great and all, but not when compared to $3.50 a gallon gas and food shortages.

Listen up, Barack, Hillary, Mac, when you`re done smelling what the Rock is cooking, you should take a sniff at what the rest of us are worried about: food and gas. Let me say it again in case you missed it. Food and gas.

Dan Glickman is a former U.S. secretary of agriculture.

Dan, I looked this -- I looked this up today, because I didn`t want to be a little Chicken Little when I saw what the secretary of agriculture has said, that the threat is real and urgent, America`s wheat supply is the least secure it`s ever been. He never said this about the bird flu or Mad Cow or anything like this. This is a significant statement, is it not?

DAN GLICKMAN, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: I agree with the secretary. I mean, the fact of the matter is, when push comes to shove, it`s the necessities of life that are being somewhat threatened now. So you have water, fuel, and food. They are really real problems.

And the secretary is right. Global wheat supplies are at their 30- year low, and U.S. wheat supplies are at their 60-year low. Now, I don`t think we`re going to run out of food in this country, but I do think there are going to be severe shortages outside the United States.

BECK: Well, but that -- that has significant ramifications. I mean, you know, jeez, we`re -- we talked last night that it takes -- the amount of grain to feed one man for a full year is what it takes to fill a gas tank of an SUV, for one time. We`re burning or fuel supply. More importantly, we are burning the fuel supply or the food supply for the rest of the world.

How much are they going to hate us if we have debauched our currency and their economies, and we`re burning through fuel -- food for fuel?

GLICKMAN: Well, Glenn, actually, while use some corn for fuel, most of the food shortages are in the area of wheat and rice, which we do not use for fuel. And the main reason that we have shortages now are -- there are several reasons.

One, is the rapid industrialization of China and India is one. We`ve had some droughts in Australia. We have some disease problems in sub- Saharan Africa. And it is true that there is some food products, particularly corn, that`s used for fuel, although it is not a material amount right now. But all of these things together are causing a crisis that we haven`t seen for a long time.

BECK: OK. So before we get to all of these things together, because I do want to take you there, is UG-99. I don`t know anything at all about -- what is it -- African stem rust. But that was the disease that you were saying was going across the Sub-Sahara. And then it`s jumped. Now they think that it`s in -- in India. And it could jump over here.

How real is that? Because he was talking about 75 percent of our wheat acreage here in America is highly susceptible to this.

GLICKMAN: He would know much more than I would. But I`d say that some of these threats from fungus and disease are very serious, both in plants and animals. And we have to have a diversified enough agricultural base to combat it. We also need to kind of research what`s needed to find ways to combat it.

But that is just another part of the problem that is causing shortages around the world.

BECK: Can you help me with this? We`ve got subsidies. We`re paying $1.8 billion to farmers to conserve land to not plant anything on a farm.

GLICKMAN: Right.

BECK: Plus, you also have commodities, these traders, these huge hedge funds. It seems to me that the farmer is being squeezed in the middle. It`s too volatile for him to really know what`s going on, and he`s -- he`s making money in six different ways. That -- not stable. Am I on the right track of that at all?

GLICKMAN: Well, actually, I`ve been in politics in rural America for a long time. For years and years farm prices were very low. They`re actually pretty good right now in most cases, if you have a crop to sell.

So the real problem in terms of agriculture is that over the years in this country we have restricted the amount of commodities that our farmers could grow, and a lot of that land is put into conservation areas, where they`re not permitted to grow. That may change. If we`re running out of food capability, we have some additional land that we can plant on.

BECK: I hope so. Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.

GLICKMAN: You`re welcome. Glad to be with you.

BECK: You bet.

Coming up, higher gas prices are not waiting for the usual summertime spike. I`ll tell you how painful this increase is going to start hitting you and where it`s going to hit you. Places other than your tank.

And then, we`ll get to the bottom of the whole Earth Day thing. Yea! More importantly, how this is becoming more commercialized than Christmas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Like most things, when a mega corporation latches onto a trend and then another one does and another one and they exploit every last ounce for profit, there isn`t a lot left for the pure at heart. So say good-bye to the days when a free-loving hippy, you know, can just rejoice and enjoy Earth Day by planting a tree and smoking some dope or picking up some garbage by the side of the highway where the Indian is crying.

And say hello to NBC`s green, green Clorox. It`s bleach. Environmentally-friendly movies by Disney. Oh, yes, dollars to be made. Bucks everywhere. But that also means that there was a bubble that can burst. That`s tonight`s "Real Story," and it`s coming up in just a bit.

Now, World Bank says that global food prices have increased over 83 percent from 2005 till now. So let me ask you, do you think it`s a coincidence that gas prices have increased 81 percent over the same period? I don`t think so.

Food and fuel go hand in hand, and now we`re getting squeezed on both sides. Four-dollar gas. It makes you think about how much it`s going to cost you if things get much worse. You know, take your family on vacation.

Truth is, high oil and gas prices impact a lot more than just our cars and our vacation. Oil and gas fuel everything, from our planes to our ships, to our trucks. And that cost is buried in the price of everything you and I buy, from clothing to electronics, to cereal, to furniture. So how long will it be before we see the $3 and $4 gas filling up at Wal-Mart and Macy`s? And what does it mean for an economy that is already facing higher prices because of inflation?

Bob O`Brien is the stocks editor at Barron`s online.

Bob, I know you`ve crunched some numbers for us today, and I appreciate that.

BOB O`BRIEN, STOCKS EDITOR, BARRON`S ONLINE: Yes.

BECK: One of the questions I want to start with is I have been worried about our financial situation. And I`ve been telling my radio audience and television audience for a while, don`t worry about this unless we have significant downward pressure. A hundred and eighteen dollars a barrel of oil and then food having the problem there, could this be the significant pressure that could make things shimmy apart?

O`BRIEN: Yes, it could, because it`s going to be, Glenn, a persistent pressure on the consumer. And keep in mind, you know, No. 1, not only do American consumers typically spend more than their counterparts in, say, Europe or Asia in terms of their outlays for their oil products, their gasoline to fill the -- to fill the car, but, you know, Americans don`t save either. That means that the pressure has to come from someplace.

So simply put, if you`re spending 4 bucks a gallon at the gas pump, you`re simply going to have to pull back spending on some other part of your day-to-day life.

BECK: And then it just feeds -- and then it just feeds into each other. I asked you to give me a date on how bad things are going to be when we start to see -- because what people don`t understand, these are oil futures at $117 a barrel.

O`BRIEN: Yes.

BECK: Which means you`re not paying that yet. This price increase is not from the price of oil. That`s yet to come. What`s the date where you think we`re really going to start to feel the squeeze?

O`BRIEN: Well, I think by the time we get to, say, Fourth of July we`re going to start seeing prices either at or just below $4 a gallon at the gas pump. You`re going to start to see costs for things like consumer products operations, services like transportation, shipping a package, all of those things are going to start to go up. And I think by the time we get to that Fourth of July point, you`re really going to start to feel the strain on your wallet.

BECK: And when does the rest of the economy start to feel -- how long is it -- how long can we afford this to last? When do we -- when does it need to start coming back down for us to not just go into a recession but something worse?

O`BRIEN: Yes, and chances are that we`ve already entered a recession now. We haven`t seen the economic data that says explicitly that we have done that. However, you know, you can typically see recessionary periods stretch out for four, five, six quarters. And I suspect we could be still be talking about some of these pressure points by the time we get into the summer of 2009.

BECK: Holy cow.

O`BRIEN: Yes, I think this is going to be a persistent problem, because there`s no indication that the gas prices are going to start to come down, especially as long as the dollar is as weak as it is.

BECK: OK. Bob, thanks. Thanks, Mr. Sunshine. Appreciate you stopping by.

Now, we`ve focused a lot on airlines and how they`ve been struggling. I don`t know if you`ve bought a ticket and you had to buy the surcharge, pay the surcharge for the fuel. Smaller ones have gone out of business. Delta and Northwest are proposing a merger now.

But I don`t think anybody`s really talking about America`s real backbone. That`s trucking. I mean, these poor truckers. Skyrocketing diesel prices have truckers struggling just to earn a living. But what most people don`t understand is, sure, the skies are friendly and they`re important. But our economy shuts down when the trucks shut down.

James Hoffa is the general president of the Teamsters union.

How are you doing, sir?

JAMES HOFFA, GENERAL PRESIDENT, TEAMSTERS UNION: I`m doing great.

BECK: OK. Tell me, first of all, how bad is -- are things currently with the truckers? I can`t even imagine how they`re making it.

HOFFA: Well, all of the trucking companies are being hurt by this. The small package companies are being hurt. There was going to be a strike of independent truckers, because they have to pay that out of their own pocket.

The Teamsters organized truckers are feeling it. They`re passing on some of these extremely high costs. So this is a major problem for our entire economy, and you`re going to start seeing it in your milk, and everything that you buy is going to be going up as these prices are passed on, these astronomical gas prices.

BECK: OK. Now James, help me out on this. Because this is your job. You follow these things. We now have fuel being more expensive than labor. We`ve talked on this program that the 727s or 747s, they were never designed to be profitable at $100 a barrel for oil. We`re really redesigning the economy. The economy in no way was ever built for this kind of a situation, was it?

HOFFA: Well, you`re exactly right. And talking about airlines, we had four airlines go out of business in the last two weeks. That tells the whole story. It was because of high fuel prices.

We have a major problem in this country. We`ve got to start doing something about it. And one of the things that bothers me is the fact that the major oil companies, in an article yesterday in the "New York Times," are cutting back production just as we go into the summer driving season.

BECK: Yes.

HOFFA: And I think that`s to exacerbate the whole problem, to make it worse, to make the prices go up even more. That`s an outrage. You know, we`re being ripped off.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, the -- I feel for the farmers. I feel for the truckers. I think you guys are just -- you`re in -- you`re in trouble, man. You know, I said right after 9/11, truckers are going to be the ones that keep us safe. Truckers in this case are going to be the ones that keep us moving.

What do you suggest happens? Is there something that people should be doing or the government should be doing?

HOFFA: Well, I think the government should be doing something. We should put the pressure on the oil companies and, you know, basically, they`re receiving $20 billion in subsidies. These are companies that are making hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Why do they need a subsidy? Take that away.

And then tell them, "We`re not going to give that back until you start increasing production, you start reducing refineries, you start doing something about the cost of gas in this country." And you`re talking about Exxon, BP, Chevron, and on and on and on.

BECK: Yes.

HOFFA: Put the pressure on them. That`s where the problem`s at. They haven`t built a refinery in 30 years, and they don`t intend to build.

BECK: James, it`s not them, though. It`s these damn environmentalists that won`t let anybody build a refinery in this country. It is insane what we`re doing.

HOFFA: Glenn, this is a national emergency. I think everybody agrees, we`ve got to build refineries. And you know what? I think we can talk to the Sierra Club. We can talk to everybody. They`ve got to be brought into the loop.

Let me tell you what. This has got to be -- this is a national emergency that we have here. We`ve got to help America. We`ve got to control these prices, because this is actually killing our economy.

BECK: I`ve got to run. I`ve got to run. Back in a second. Thank you so much.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, the pursuit of happiness is a right guaranteed to all Americans. The pursuit of happiness. Not happiness itself. But what is it that we should be pursing that makes us happy? Well, if you`re Barack Obama, when times are tough, people get bitter. They cheer themselves up with God and a little bit of gun. You know what I mean? Not only is that insulting, but it is also dead wrong.

Arthur Brooks is a professor of business and public policy at Syracuse University, author of the new book, "Gross National Happiness."

Arthur, I`ve got to tell you, I read your editorial piece a couple of days ago. And I thought, finally somebody really has it down. I think that liberals are miserable human beings. And it`s because they`re not pursing -- they have a misunderstanding of what makes you happy. Can you tell me what makes you miserable first?

ARTHUR BROOKS, AUTHOR, "GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS": Well, you`re on to something when you talk about the political differences in happiness. But the main force that makes Americans miserable is feeling like they don`t have control over their lives, feeling like they don`t have liberty to make their own decisions, and that primarily comes from interventions in our lives from the state....

BECK: Right.

BROOKS: ... we demand ourselves in the long run.

BECK: So the more -- so the more state we put between ourselves and God or our happiness, the more miserable do we become?

BROOKS: Oh, yes. That`s right, exactly right. Now, in the short run, people ask for security against every kind of danger and ask us to -- for the government to give us things that belong to other people. And that gives us a little bit of satisfaction in the short run, according to the evidence. But in the long run, we`re resentful of that, and it makes us less happy.

BECK: OK. So now on the flip side, what makes us happy?

BROOKS: What makes us happy are traditional values. You know, I sort of hate to break it to a lot of my friends, but in point of fact, faith, family, freedom, hard work, charity, these are the things that -- the values with which we really buy our happiness.

BECK: Yes, I have to tell you, in today`s world, especially if you look at the Marxist policies over France, for instance, they`ll tell you that it`s vacation time that makes you happy. They`ll try to cut work out. And I mean, I grew up in a hard-working family, and I work hard for a living. And that makes me happy. And then going home and being with my family. But that`s counterintuitive. Most people will say, no, no, no. Don`t work so hard.

BROOKS: Yes. No, that`s right. People are telling us not to work so hard all the time, but in point of fact, 89 percent of Americans are satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs and more people wish they would work more than the percentage of people in America who wish they could work less.

BECK: OK. How far away are we -- if you look at the direction our country is going and the way Americans view the world today and politics today, how far are we from going the complete wrong direction?

BROOKS: We`re suspiciously close to be going the complete wrong direction. You find that the scope of government in our lives has increased year after year and decade after decade. And you know, sadly, this is not just because one political party is in power.

BECK: Yes.

BROOKS: so we can`t just vote them out and choose the new party. You find over the past seven years, there`s sort of promiscuous regulation in spending has gone in largely the same direction that the Democrats have taken us. And it`s a mistake.

BECK: And it`s beyond the parties. It`s in our own families, as well. We`re teaching the wrong things in our own -- in our own families, in many cases. We`re looking for the wrong things.

BROOKS: We are. We need more self-determination, which in the short- term is uncomfortable. In the long term, brings real happiness.

BECK: Arthur, I have to tell you, great book. Please, America, pick this up. Because this is the right track.

Coming up, a side of Earth Day you`re not going to find anyplace else: bigger government. This is fantastic. "The Real Story," don`t miss it. It`s coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, welcome to "The Real Story." More importantly, welcome to Earth Day. I have to be honest. I mean, I care about our planet and all, but I`d be a little more interested right now in Keeping My Family from Starving Day or Afford a Tank of Gas Day. You know, more than Earth Day, which, quite honestly, has become more about profits than pollution.

Take a look around at who is really promoting Earth Day this year. It`s companies like GE, which once again, oh, because they love us so much and the planet, they`re running Green Week. It`s their way on NBC to get you to buy the GE light bulbs and appliances. Then there`s Disney, which is launching new Disney Nature, an environmental films unit.

And my favorite of all, it`s newspapers, which, today, printed gigantic specials on Earth Day in sections today. You`re kidding me, right? You`re a newspaper. You kill CO2-sucking trees to make your insipid product. You really think clear-cutting forests is a good way to promote your love for the environment? And yet I`m the one who doesn`t get it?

"The Real Story" is the whole green movement is nothing but a bubble built on greed and misplaced good intentions. Like all bubbles, it`s eventually going to pop.

Now, that doesn`t mean that there aren`t good, smart, earth-friendly ideas that we should be working on. There are, and I`m going to introduce you to a couple of them in just a minute. But it does mean that Earth Day has become completely distorted over the years.

Earth Day was supposed to be about planting a tree. Now we kill them to promote it. Earth Day was supposed to be about clean energy. Now we`ve brought on a food crisis by ripping up our farmland for ethanol. And Earth Day was supposed to be about being green and, quite frankly, I believe it`s only about making green now.

The truth is, the answer to our problems are likely right in front of us, right around the corner. If somebody told you 20 years ago that you`d have a device the size of a deck of cards that made phone calls from your car, downloaded your e-mail, which back then, you`d never heard of e-mail, logged onto the Internet, again which you had never heard of, showed you`re exact location on a GPS-based map, allowed you to text-message friends and take digital pictures, you should have said, "You`re crazy."

Well, you know what? Call me. Call me crazy if you want. But I say the same kinds of unthinkable advancement is going to happen with our energy technology. It`s right around the corner. We just have to get out of the way and keep government out of the way, as well.

Ray Kurzweil is an inventor. He`s an entrepreneur who`s been called a visionary thinker and futurist by Bill Gates. This guy is amazing. His books are a tremendous read. He`s got a new one out. The singularity is near.

Ray, let me take you here. I`m afraid that there is so many people that are trying to solve, with good intentions -- trying to solve this global-warming crisis. But what they want to do is stop us and bring us back to the pre-industrial age. Where that`s not the solution, to stop the economy or progress. The solution is, let progress happen.

RAY KURZWEIL, INVENTOR & ENTREPRENEUR: I agree with you, Glenn. At the National Academy of Engineering, they put together a panel to try to address this problem. And we noticed that there`s actually 10,000 times more sunlight than we need to meet all of our energy needs.

Now, today`s solar panels won`t do it, but there`s a new generation emerging that`s actually quite efficient. And the tipping point, where the cost of energy from solar panels is less expensive than coal or oil or other forms of fossil fuels, it`s only a few years away.

Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, and I were on this panel, and we actually headed up the energy plan. And we believe that within 20 years we can meet 100 percent of our energy needs with solar energy. And it will only take one part in 10,000 of the sunlight to do that.

BECK: OK. Wait a minute. Hang on. You`re saying in 20 years we can do this?

KURZWEIL: Actually, within five years the cost of solar energy per watt will be less than coal or oil. So that`s the tipping point. So even if you don`t care about the environment, just economic issues will drive us towards this very inexpensive form of energy.

BECK: Ray, I have to tell you, I`m -- this is what I`ve been trying to say. And this is more of a free market kind of answer that free market is going to solve this thing. And it`s almost like we`re trying -- it would be like back in the 1860s, somebody saying, we have got to solve the problem of all of these coal stoves, because in 100 years. Well, the coal stove is completely gone 100 years down the road.

KURZWEIL: Well, it`s part of the exponential growth of information technology, because this is a form of information technology. It`s applying nanotechnology to these new solar panels. And there is an exponential -- we`re actually doubling the amount of energy we`re getting from solar energy every two years. We only need seven more doublings to meet 100 percent.

And people who are actually quite knowledgeable about this are investing billions of dollars. There`s a lot of venture capital going into this.

BECK: OK. So if global warming is not going to be the problem over the next 100 years, because we can -- we can make clean energy in 20 and solve 100 percent of our energy problem, here you are, a futurist. What is the problem 100 years from now?

KURZWEIL: Well, the same technology is going to allow us to reprogram our biology, to make us healthier so we can reprogram our genes away from cancer and heart disease.

But a new problem. One is that a bio terrorist could use these same tools to reprogram our biology, to create new dangers, like a bioengineered, biological virus.

And we have solutions for that. We have ways of actually protecting ourselves. But we need to invest in protecting ourselves from, for example, a bioterrorist creating a new biological virus.

BECK: Does this technology -- I mean, it always does, but does this technology become cheaper? I mean, right now we`re talking about health care problems and biofuel problems and everything else. And yet it`s almost like we can`t afford some of the things that we have.

I mean, partly because we don`t want -- we don`t want -- we still want to retire, even though we`ve still got a lot of life in us.

KURZWEIL: Once we have perfected these technologies, they actually become half as expensive every year. When I was at MIT, all of MIT shared one computer that cost $11 million. The computer in your cell phone today is a million times more cheaper, and it`s a thousand times more powerful. That`s a billion-fold increase in price performance.

BECK: Ray, I`d love to spend an hour with you. You are a fascinating, fascinating man. And you just fill me with -- honestly, some of the stuff you say fills me with terror, but other parts fill me with hope tonight. I appreciate your work, sir. Thank you so much.

KURZWEIL: My pleasure.

BECK: All right. Now, a few weeks ago I brought you a story of the company that has a revolutionary idea to fight global warming and high gas prices by -- getting this -- coming up with a better product. Who would have thunk it? I know, crazy concept.

The company is called Zero Pollution Motors. Their idea is to create a car powered by something that is plentiful, clean, and completely free, called air.

Nothing would make me happier than seeing how dumb people look going, you like -- like Al Gore when we clean up our air by simply compressing our air. But is it realistic?

Shiva Vencat is the president of Zero Pollution Motors.

Shiva, we`ve been trying to get you on for a while now. I know, because it`s Earth Day.

SHIVA VENCAT, PRESIDENT, ZERO POLLUTION MOTORS: yes, I`m glad to be here on Earth Day.

BECK: And you took -- you took the bus?

VENCAT: Yes, I did. I did. I wanted to contribute to the Earth Day event.

BECK: OK. Here`s the -- I was going on a date with my wife tonight. We were just going to take the car. I`m going to get a stretch limo just to offset your contribution to Earth Day.

OK. We have the guys from "Popular Mechanics" on, and they said this car -- you know, they`re not blown away by this stuff. And they -- you know, they were like, you know, we`re very skeptical that this thing works. They really believe that this -- you`ve got something here. How realistic is a car powered by compressed air?

VENCAT: Well, it is very real, and you can actually even see it if you go to Nice, France, the base where MDI, the company that has developed the car, and meet the inventor, who is also the CEO of the company. It`s - - it`s out there running. We`ve been developing this technology...

BECK: But I mean -- I mean, come on. There`s a guy who`s also made the flying car, as well. I`ve been promised that since the 1930s, as well. I want my flying car. How much is this car going to be? When will it possibly be out?

VENCAT: Well, the schedule now is that we`re going to start producing pre-series in France by the latter part of 2008, early 2009. We plan to start manufacturing these cars in the U.S. by 2010, early 2011. It will cost $18,000...

BECK: Holy cow.

VENCAT: ... for a six-seater, 75 horsepower, which will do up to 95 miles an hour and will do over 100 miles per gallon.

BECK: OK. Now, somebody has told me that, just like ethanol, I mean, ethanol sounds great and all, but then you realize it takes more energy to produce ethanol than, you know, a gallon of gasoline. Somebody told me that compressed air takes more energy to compress it than what you`re getting out.

VENCAT: Well, absolutely not. Because it depends on how efficient the compressor is. And in our case, the motor is the motor compressor. It compresses the air that is going to be used to run it afterwards.

Either you use an electric outlet to compress the air or you use a little bit of gasoline to heat the air and compress it as you go along. This is why we can claim that we can do over 100 miles per gallon.

Compressed air is -- is a technology that has actually been around for a long time. Back in the 1800s, there was a whole network of public transportation in France...

BECK: Right.

VENCAT: ... that was running on compressed air.

BECK: They were trying to do it here in New York. I think pneumatic tube was the original idea.

VENCAT: Exactly.

BECK: Shiva, thank you very much. We`ll continue to watch your car.

That`s "The Real Story" tonight.

Coming up in just a second, you ever wonder what food prices have to do with the end of the day`s prophecy? Me neither. But wonder no more. Or start wondering, and then you can stop in a second, because we have the answers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: You know, I have to tell you, this is a segment that you`re just not going to see on TV everyplace else. End-time prophecy. And end- times stuff is complex. It`s highly interpretive. I mean, people have been saying Jesus is coming for 2,000 years.

But one thing that most scholars can agree on, and I bet you if you`re a religious person, your gut tells you this, as well. But our current world situation is full of red flags. Mideast wars, faltering economy, shortages of energy and food, all worthy of serious discussion. Some of these things that were in the Bible that say that Jesus is coming have only happened recently.

Now, my next guest, joining me for a full week and a full hour on this topic on Friday is one of the real big experts in the world. Yesterday we talked about Jimmy Carter`s play-date with Hamas. And he`s back today, Joel Rosenberg, the founder of the Joshua Fund and author of an incredible new book, "Dead Heat."

Joel, let me just -- let me start -- let me start here with the food and the oil, the fuel shortages that we`re going through.

JOEL ROSENBERG, AUTHOR, "DEAD HEAT": Sure.

BECK: This is the kind of stuff that`s talked about in the end-times prophecy?

ROSENBERG: It is, actually. I mean, you have to be careful. We don`t want to overreach and take every headline that`s in the news and say, "That`s, you know, end time prophecy."

But Jesus was asked very specifically by his disciples in Matthew Chapter 24, Luke Chapter 21, "Hey, when are you coming back and what are the things that we should be watching for?"

And among the things Jesus said, wars and the rumors of war, one of them was famines, global food shortages. Now, is that the kind -- certainly the kind that you see in Sudan or Ethiopia or sub-Saharan Africa over the years, but you would be watching for trend lines of food shortages and, of course, hyper inflation and other things that go with it. When you get to the book of Revelation, you see all kinds of economic disasters and food shortages.

BECK: Right. Well, it`s -- I mean, a lot of people will say that, you know, global warming, I mean, this is just yet another sign. If this - - if this stuff that they`re talking about is true, it is so catastrophic. It is exactly what the scriptures are outline, is it not?

ROSENBERG: Well, you know, I come from a conservative political background so I`ve been skeptical of the far left reactions to why is global warming happening and what are the solutions to it?

But clearly, in the Book of Revelation, in the prophesies, it talks about a third of the grass and trees being burned up eventually, because the sun is so hot. Why is that? Well, the Bible doesn`t explain all the, you know, astrophysics of it.

BECK: No, it doesn`t...

ROSENBERG: But it`s a trend line we`d be watching for, global climate change.

BECK: No where did John write SUV?

ROSENBERG: No.

BECK: Nowhere. All right. Yesterday we talked a little bit about Jimmy Carter and, you know, his fun games with Hamas. And we ran out of time. And I want to come back to this, because you see it as significant in end-times prophecy. How?

ROSENBERG: I do potentially and this is why. Because Hamas -- what Carter came home with was a declaration from the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, to say that Hamas, the terrorist organization, would consider a 10-year peace treaty, or a hudna. A truce, as it were, with Israel.

Why is that significant? Because in the Bible, Daniel, Chapter 9, it talks about a seven-year comprehensive peace deal between Israel and the many nations and enemies that surround it. Seven years.

Now, up until now, in the modern Arab-Israeli peace process, in the last 60 years, nobody has ever suggested a time frame for a comprehensive deal. You didn`t see that in the Camp David Accords in 1979. You didn`t see it in the peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. You didn`t see it in the Oslo Accords, this idea of a time-limited comprehensive treaty.

But now Hamas, with Jimmy Carter`s help, has just injected a ten-year time-limited treaty. And this is -- I don`t believe Hamas. I don`t believe they really want peace. But that`s not the point. The point is, this is the first time in the Arab-Israeli peace process where someone has said, "Let`s do a deal but for a limited period of time." In this case, only three years off the one the Bible said.

BECK: Joel, we`ll -- I want you to hold on for just a second.

ROSENBERG: OK.

BECK: Because there is something else that has happened in America that I think you need to be aware of and see if it`s in the Bible someplace now.

But first, we want to go to our "Real America," brought to you by CSX. And tonight`s "Real America" is about your birthday. Your birthday should be, you know, a day that you get lots of attention from your family or friends, unless you don`t like your family and friends. And then, "You just leave you alone on my birthday, please."

But what happens if you`re thousands of miles away from home, and it`s tough enough, you know, not being recognized for your serving your country there. But what happens on your birthday and nobody is around?

Well, one man, he`s amazing, he wants to make sure that every soldier gets their day, one cake at a time. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH KAYE, FOUNDER, BAKEMEAWISH.COM: I grew up in a financially- challenged background. I never had a cake growing up. I remember the feeling of how I felt on my birthday, not having a cake. And I pictured myself in that soldier`s -- being with that soldier, feeling how lonely it is. You know they`re in harm`s way, and it`s their birthday.

BECK (voice-over): Josh Kaye is the founder of BakeMeAWish.com, an online company that sells and delivers cakes anywhere in the country.

Two years ago, Josh received a phone call that changed his company forever.

KAYE: I received a call from a mom, and the mom said, "Can you send my -- my son is having a birthday. He`s in Iraq. Could you send him a cake?"

The first thing I said, yes, right. Send Iraq a cake? I just don`t think so. Then I stopped, and I thought to myself, what an amazing possibility that could be.

BECK: So Kaye created Operation Birthday Cake through a partnership with Soldiers` Angels and the Armed Forces Foundation. He sends 5,000 cakes a year to soldiers overseas, all for free.

KAYE: I received this -- a letter from a soldier. And she was stationed in Afghanistan. And she received a cake on her birthday in the mountains of Afghanistan. And she said, "You just don`t know what it meant to me. It picked me up; it gave me a lift."

KAYE: Kaye also gives free cakes to kids through the Make-a-Wish Foundation, in addition, to 5 percent of his company profits.

KAYE: When a child receives a cake, their illness disappears for that moment. They feel special. They feel wonderful. It`s all about them getting that cake and taking them from the moment of being a child with a life-threatening illness to being just a child.

BECK: Kaye`s next mission: secure a large corporate sponsor so he can provide a sweet taste of home to every single soldier on their birthday.

KAYE: I`m excited because I`m making a difference in this world, and that`s my goal in life. It`s about me being here to make this place a better place to live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: You know, all of the things you worry about, man, doesn`t that make you feel good? You want to see more stories like that? Click on CNN.com/Glenn to look for the "Real America" section. Get involved with that guy. Look up that information. That`s tonight`s "Real America," sponsored by CSX. It`s how tomorrow moves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Let me draw the picture for you. Last night, at about 8 p.m. at night, phones at the radio affiliate of Newstalk 92.3, KTAR in Phoenix, Arizona, where I have my radio program, they began to ring. Dozens of calls coming in, reporting the same thing. Floating red lights in the air.

Now, the nearby airports, there was Deer Valley Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and Luke Air Force Base, nobody could explain the lights.

What I believe these lights were, big-eye, suction-cup people. I just -- I don`t have any proof of that. It`s just what I`m feeling right now.

Joel Rosenberg is back with us. Joel...

ROSENBERG: Yes.

BECK: ... in the end-times prophecy -- I got in an argument with my producer about this today. Can we have the video -- can we show the little video of what I believe are the suction cup people? There they are.

Now, some people are now saying that those were Chinese lanterns that somehow or another just got loose from a wedding.

ROSENBERG: Right.

BECK: I don`t think so. I believe I`m going with the suction-cup people.

I had an argument with my producer today, and I said that that if Jesus were giving us warnings, he would say, "Oh, by the way, I`m coming shortly after the suction-cup people came."

Is there anything in the Bible that says, suction-cup people come in the end days?

ROSENBERG: I don`t think so. But I know a lot of people think that you and I are suction-cup people, because we`re even having the conversation.

BECK: No. I just...

ROSENBERG: Look, I don`t believe there`s anything like that in the scriptures, but...

BECK: How about a big-eye people? Just like a big eye and a leg that comes from outer space? Does the scripture say anything about that?

ROSENBERG: Anyone who`s read the Revelation or Ezekiel, the beginning of Ezekiel, there was actually a spinning wheel, that you know, some people is -- in the first chapter and second chapter of Ezekiel that looks like a UFO.

Look, the nut cases in the world are not those of us who talk about geopolitics and prophecy. It`s people like Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran, who`s building nuclear weapons now. His end-times theology that are threatening to kill millions of people. That`s the real threat right now.

BECK: You`re taking it back to Ahmadinejad -- blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Suction-cup people are coming.

Joel, thanks. We`ll talk to you again tomorrow.

Just a reminder, he`s going to join me for a full hour this Friday to talk about the current state of the world that may be moving us closer to the end times or suction cups.

He also wrote an exclusive essay for my free e-mail newsletter on how Jimmy Carter`s visit -- oh, my gosh. I just thought of this. Jimmy Carter may be an alien. That explains an awful lot. How his visit with Hamas could trigger a disaster. Have you read it yet? Sign up right now at GlennBeck.com.

From New York, good night, America.

END