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Glenn Beck

How Does Bailout Affect You?; President of Georgia Weighs in on World Economy

Aired September 25, 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: Tonight, the perfect storm begins to come ashore here in America.

First, the financial crisis not seen since the Great Depression threatens to dismantle the economy. Can Congress and the administration guide us through, or are they going to cause more problems?

Then, another part of the perfect storm, our enemies are ready to strike when we`re our weakest. I`ll talk to the president of Georgia about how Russia and Iran should be handled.

And as our financial crisis grows, an energy crisis waits on the horizon. We`ll continue our special series, "Exposed: The End of Oil," with a look at what it might take to make America energy independent before it`s too late.

All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America. You`re watching the show for a while. Been telling you about something I like to call the perfect storm. For years, it`s been a theory of mine and, unfortunately, today it`s looking an awful lot like fact, which is the reason why I think I just wet myself.

Here`s "The Point" tonight. If we`re going to make it through this storm, we need to be saved, not by the government. We need to be saved from the government. And here`s how I got there.

Last night, I don`t know if you saw it. President Bush addressed the nation. Here`s a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We`ve seen triple digit swings in the stock market. Major financial institutions have teetered on the edge of collapse, and some have failed. As uncertainty has grown, many banks have restricted lending. Credit markets have frozen. And families and businesses have found it harder to borrow money.

We`re in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and the federal government is responding with decisive action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Perfect. You know what? Before we get to that decisive action the government is taking right now, ask yourself: why did the president decide to make this speech? I mean, you know, if it was about terror, you`d say, you know, just trying to scare everybody.

Well, with less than 40 days until the election, doesn`t exactly make the Republicans or the presidential candidate look very good, you know, when Bush says, "The economy, woo, does this stink?" When you`re the incumbent party, that`s close to political suicide.

I think he said it because it`s really, really bad. If you need more proof, there it is. He was on TV last night. That ain`t going to help.

Then here`s the thing that really -- I don`t know if anybody else felt this way. This speech pissed me off last night. After 9/11, the president got on and said, "OK, you know what you need to do? Your patriotic duty. You need to go out and spend. Need to spend."

Then the Fed lowered the interest rates. Feed the economy.

Now, the president is saying that spending and borrowing is what helped get us into this mess. And you know what? Don`t cheer, Democrats. Because it was you guys, back in the -- I think it was 1992, with President Clinton. You`re telling us that we need low-income mortgages with less restrictions. It`s racist to ask anybody to prove how much they`re making. You know, we all know how that turned out with Freddie and Fannie.

Washington, you know what? You cannot have it both ways.

So tonight, America, here`s what you need to know. I don`t think there`s anything more terrifying than the words, "Hey, I`m from the government. I`m here to help." You know what? We can get out from underneath this economic crisis if the rescue plan -- I love that -- is clean and doesn`t get distracted by a bunch of special interests. Well, that boat has sailed. You should see this thing, what they`re working on now.

We can solve our energy crisis if the government will get out of the marketplace`s way. We can fight two wars, if the politicians will let the military do what they`ve been trained to do, and that`s fight to win.

The perfect storm is coming ashore. And it will sink us if we don`t finally realize that we, the people, aren`t just a best -- you know, the best chance for survival. We, the people, are the only chance for our survival.

So how does saving Wall Street fat cats affect you and your family? Ali Velshi is here, CNN senior business correspondent.

You know, I don`t know about you, but I was thinking left night when I was watching this, I was thinking to myself, what about me? The forgotten man is the one who didn`t borrow so much, works hard every day. Not the poor, because they`re going to get whatever they need. Not the rich, because they`re going to get whatever they need. It`s just the rest of us.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Everybody in the middle. Yes, and works hard every day is the key to this whole thing, Glenn. People have to think of this. And I think -- I think the White House and the treasury`s done a terrible PR job of connecting this. This has become -- called the Wall Street bailout, so nobody in America thinks it`s got anything to do with them.

The sad reality is that it`s got a great deal to do with you. You may not have known last week that you are connected to international credit markets. But the bottom line is your company, many companies, large public companies, what you call stable companies, depend on taking short-term loans.

BECK: Right.

VELSHI: And you can`t just go to the bank for a billion-dollar loan so you have to float a bond and you have to get that credit. That credit has dried up. And there are companies that are having trouble raising that money. And when they can`t get operating money, that results in them having to cut costs. We don`t want you to be that cost they cut.

BECK: Right. And that`s not just big companies like -- I don`t want to name any companies, because in this market, but it`s not just big companies but...

VELSHI: That`s everybody.

BECK: Bill, the grocery store.

VELSHI: That`s everybody. Credit has frozen up. If you have an 850 credit rating and a house that you know is going to go up, and a job that`s solid, you might get a loan right now. This affected you. This wasn`t about -- and unfortunately, they just never got the message across. And I, like you, think that this is not a great deal. Nobody thinks that we should have to have this deal.

But the bottom line this isn`t about fat cats on Wall Street, sadly. This actually is about your ability to get a loan, your ability to stay employed. We cannot afford to lose more jobs in this country.

BECK: What do you think -- what do you think it means that China came out today and told their banks, watch out, no more loaning to the United States of America? What does that mean?

VELSHI: This is our biggest -- this is our biggest creditor. China keeps this country afloat in many ways by buying up the debt of America. So the folks who buy all our debt are saying, "You know what? Not sure you guys are good for it entirely."

I don`t think it`s a sudden move, Glenn. We`ve seen this sort of thing inching up. Why would you think that you should keep loaning money to America?

BECK: Yes, I know that, but they have, and we`ve been assured that they won`t. I mean if that happens, you`ve got to believe that the United States` credit rating is going to be downgraded.

VELSHI: Right.

BECK: If that happens, you`ve just -- I mean, but people have to understand, this works the same way as your car loan does.

VELSHI: Your credit rating goes down, your interest payment goes up. Your capital payment goes up. We don`t have the money to do that. Nobody`s talking in this election about the debt that we`re in. The candidates aren`t talking about it, Glenn.

You`ve been talking about this. But you and I don`t have a staff of economists able to explain this all to us. We have to figure it out ourselves.

BECK: Yes, I know. That`s the problem.

VELSHI: This is a big deal.

BECK: That`s the problem, these people who are listening to these think tank people who are so arrogant that they think everything`s protected. Because we got a system for it.

VELSHI: Right.

BECK: That`s called gambling.

VELSHI: You see, that`s the problem, Glenn. Folks don`t understand that -- they can`t understand. People have been e-mailing me saying, let Wall Street fail. Let the banks fail. Because we don`t know that those banks failing has something to do with us, because we didn`t -- we didn`t partake in that deal.

BECK: OK. Thanks so much.

Now, listen, we have -- this crisis is on par with 9/11. You just don`t know it, because the towers didn`t come down. There`s not -- you know, it`s not on television. We need to tackle this recovery like we did the recovery after 9/11, as Democrats and Republicans, being Americans first. Put aside the party politics. Can we -- for the love of Pete, can we see a leader here?

Watch this. Look what Congress is doing now. They apparently have agreed to a fundamental agreement on the principles of a plan -- whatever the hell that means.

John Fund is here. He`s the editorial page writer for "The Wall Street Journal" and also author of "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens our Democracy," which by the way, John, I got to have you on next week. That is a fantastic book. Absolutely fantastic book.

So tell me -- tell me what they`ve agreed on in principle.

JOHN FUND, AUTHOR, "STEALING ELECTIONS": In principle, they`ve agreed to a massive federal investment in a bunch of bad paper. They`ll get some of that money back years down the road.

But here`s the bottom line. And this is the main thing I want to say. Let them read the bill. They all want to get a deal by Friday so they can leave town and they can have this debate. Well, the markets don`t open until Monday morning. I say, for once...

BECK: Yes.

FUND: ... let them read the deal over the weekend and let them actually know what they`re saying, because I`ve sat through the prescription drug benefit. I`ve sat through the Patriot Act. I`ve sat through bill after bill that was passed on an emergency basis, and they were literally printing it off of the copying machine as they were voting on it.

Enough of that. This is really important. We pay them to do their job. Let`s have them read it as well as vote on it.

BECK: Let me ask you this. Democrats are now standing up for corporate welfare. They`re accepting corporate welfare. The Republicans are accepting socialization or nationalization. I mean, we`re all going to be investors in these -- I don`t want to be investors. If I want to be an investor, I`ll invest money in those banks. They`ve both sold their soul to the devil.

FUND: Glenn, we finally -- we finally have seen the curtain parted on Washington. And here`s what it took. This crisis happened five weeks before an election. If this were happening after the election, I can assure you, we`d have a far more reasonable, far more scaled-down, far more responsible plan. But because it`s happening before the election, everyone is scared of being tarred with causing the next Great Depression.

BECK: They should be.

FUND: And therefore, this is a political bill in search of a solution to an economic problem.

BECK: Is anybody -- anyone saying, why don`t we cut -- we need investors? We need money? Great. Let`s cut the capital gains tax to zero?

FUND: Glenn, you couldn`t be more late. You know, it`s just like going to a used car lot, and there`s a high-pressure salesman saying, "You`ve got to act now. You`ve got to act now."

And you say, "Well, can I look at the other used cars or the alternatives?"

"No, no, no, you can`t look at those. You`ve got to decide on this car. You`ve got to decide right now."

BECK: We have the president of Georgia on in just a second. He cut his income tax rate to, I think, 12 or 13 percent, when they were having a hard time. Why wouldn`t we do that? Instead of sending $25 billion to GM and the rest of them, why not just cut their income tax?

FUND: Glenn, we might have to pass a partial bailout, but we can combine it with some growth measures. The president, with the stroke of a pen, could say, you know, these capital gains that you get when you sell a stock, half of them are usually inflationary gains. In other words, the prices have gone up, so you`re not really -- but you pay tax on that.

Let`s get rid of the inflationary tax on capital gains. You can do that by redefining them through the Treasury Department. That would make sense. That could be done tomorrow. That would restore investor confidence. That would free up money. That would free up credit.

BECK: John, real quick. I`ve only got 20 seconds. If this deal passes, I just don`t think it`s going to actually do anything. It`s not -- this is another bubble.

FUND: If you...

BECK: If it doesn`t pass, we`re going to collapse.

FUND: I think we`re buying some short-term time. But let me tell you what should happen. The way this was handled, I hope incumbents of both parties who were most responsible for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and this disaster get punished. We can do something about that, Glenn.

BECK: Yes. Thanks, John. We`ll talk to you next week.

Coming up, we move on to the other fronts in the perfect storm, the invasion of Georgia by Russia. An act of aggression born out of desperation. Are they shoring up their strength and getting ready to put the squeeze on America? And if so, what do we do? We`ll talk to the president of Georgia here in just a second. He`ll be on the set.

And later on, we`ll get a little refresher on Islamic extremism. Geert Wilders, creator of the controversial film "Fitna" will be by to discuss the radical movement in Europe and how it continues to threaten us on our shore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, how far have we gone in our search for alternative energy? Anybody got a hemp car yet?

One thing I know for sure, we`d be -- I don`t know -- a lot farther along if our government would get the hell out of the way. Don`t miss tonight`s final chapter in our weeklong series, "Exposed: The End of Oil." It`s coming up in just a second.

First, a huge front in our perfect storm is blowing in. Our enemies from around the globe are paying attention to what`s happening to us right now. North Korea is taking steps to now put their nuclear program back online. Hmm. Iran continues working on their nuclear capability. Venezuela conducting military exercises with Russia. And Russia, well, it`s just more fun than ever before.

The worse things go for us, the better it is for all of them. Their strength grows from our weakness. And, meanwhile, politicians in Washington ain`t doing jack to strengthen us.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flexed his muscles and compounded our energy crisis when his invasion of Georgia shut down major pipelines in the area. An oil supply that America, and quite frankly, rest of the world, needs.

My next guest is a man who witnessed Russia`s latest aggression firsthand. He is the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.

How are you, Mr. President?

MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA: Nice to be here. Last time we spoke with you, I was just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from flying around. And I wasn`t sure whether we would finish the broadcast.

BECK: I was impressed that you were out on that balcony, weren`t in some bunker someplace. You`re an impressive man.

SAAKASHVILI: Thanks. The very fact I am sitting -- I wasn`t supposed to sit here. So it`s not as grim as you say because they didn`t -- we won that war at least...

BECK: You know, it`s an interesting week to be here in New York from another country because it`s a -- it`s a rough, rough week for America. I understand peace through strength in a different way. Not necessarily just the strength of your military, but strength of your economy. And I think - - I think Russia, not only an enemy of yours, but enemy of ours, that may use this opportunity to make even more moves. Agree or disagree?

SAAKASHVILI: Well, I mean, you said, you beat -- every time there is any sign of weakness from the leader of the free world, the leader of the free world, that this is America, and the free world is back after many years of absence from airwaves.

I think anytime there is some kind of sign of weakness or problem, those bad guys get emboldened. We feel it firsthand in our own soil, on our own experience. So of course, we are worried. Of course we are watching. I still think you will overcome. This is no way you wouldn`t overcome that.

BECK: Did you see the president`s speech last night?

SAAKASHVILI: It was pretty grim, but...

BECK: Yes, did you hear him grabbing onto the side of the podium? I mean, you could hear it in America. You could hear his hands gripping the side. I mean, it was a pretty intense -- it`s an intense moment in America.

SAAKASHVILI: I -- I had brief chat with him at the U.N. and he was extremely preoccupied. He takes this very, very seriously. But he was somehow convinced that they could do some -- apply some strength measures and overcome that.

BECK: Any doubt in your mind -- you know, the Russian stock market has kind of had a bad go of it here recently, as well. I think it`s still closed today, if I`m not mistaken. They need -- they need energy to be expensive to be able to survive. Any doubt in your mind that Putin or Venezuela, Iran, anybody he`s making allies with, would try to disrupt the flow of oil even more than they already have?

SAAKASHVILI: Well, you know, they shot the SS-26 missiles, the best ones they inherited from the Soviet Union, at our pipeline. But the interesting thing is that, you know, you mentioned their stock market. You know, there was war between two of us.

Our economy recovered within two weeks. I mean, investment was back, banking system didn`t collapse. Currency, you know, was on the same level. Theirs collapsed as a result of that aggression. And that really shows you what fundamentals are there, how vulnerable they are, and how much the -- damages the economy, as well.

BECK: But you know, they haven`t -- here`s the thing. And this is why -- you know, how long have we talked to each other, maybe two years I`ve been a fan of yours. I...

SAAKASHVILI: I`ve been a fan of yours.

BECK: I have watched -- I have watched what you have done. And we`re following not your path. What you`ve done is made sure that people knew, unlike Russia, that the government`s not going to step in and just grab your business. You, I know, when Russia tried to squeeze you, what you did is cut your income tax rate, what, to 12 percent?

SAAKASHVILI: Yes. What we did -- Russia did the economic embargo.

BECK: Right.

SAAKASHVILI: That was the year when we further liberalized -- liberalized the economy, opened it up, removed the hurdles, and we had double-digit growth rate.

They cut our energy supplies. And we totally depended at that moment upon them. It was 2006. The way we downsized, we downsized the government involvement, we cut corruption, and we started to export energy to Russia instead of importing it.

What is really important to understand that you know, after this war, this is very important, the World Bank upgraded us to be one of -- the world`s top 15 economies, in terms of attracting foreign investment, trading, you know, convenience for economic activity.

And Russia is like number 100-something.

BECK: Yes.

SAAKASHVILI: When I was here in New York, I learned that Transparency International, the top corruption watchdog, upgraded us to be among the world`s most developed economies, while Russian was downgraded to 200th -- 247th place.

BECK: Right.

SAAKASHVILI: Long behind -- you know, far behind Nigeria. Why is that? I don`t rejoice at it.

BECK: Right.

SAAKASHVILI: I mean, it`s really a shame that they would have that. But the point here is, that you know, no matter how much oil and gas you control, unless you have freedom, unless you have rule of law.

And, you know, the way to respond to Russian aggression, I told my people, we should have less taxes. We should have more democracy. We should have more open society. We should have more wide open, you know, civil society.

BECK: America, ready to put a yard sign for this guy in your hard? For the love of Pete. Back with...

SAAKASHVILI: This is our experience. We are not -- we are not for America. We are building something like America there, but, you know, those values are universal. They`re not American values; being free is universal.

BECK: Back with the president of Georgia in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Back with the president of Georgia. And we were having a conversation about Putin. And Putin has made a couple of statements this week. He`s -- he`s just disregarding the borders your country. He said, "We`re just going to erase those borders" this week.

SAAKASHVILI: Well, this is not going to work. I mean, that has been tried in the past. It`s nothing new. I mean, they could have come up with something newer than that.

I think redrawing borders by force has not worked in the past, cannot work in the 21st century. Remember how they were, in Russia, in the past, it`s an old Polish saying, they don`t want to attack foreign countries. They just want to protect minorities there.

They were -- always got attacked, by the way. They were attacked by Finland when Stalin was running, as they said, so they had to protect, so they had to take over Finland.

BECK: Right.

SAAKASHVILI: Now they said they got attacked by Georgia. By narrative, Glenn, you know, when (UNINTELLIGIBLE) becomes closer to the truth. Truth is coming out now and I`m very happy about that.

BECK: What do you think is -- what do you think his next move is?

SAAKASHVILI: Well, I think you are dealing with fundamentally secure society because it`s a closed society. You know, the way decisions are taken there, they`re not accountable to anybody. And this is a tragic situation. So you know, they`re fundamentally vulnerable from inside. Their economy`s very, very fragile. And so I`m afraid to predict. But, you know, prospects...

BECK: Not good?

SAAKASHVILI: Well, prospect inside look very grim. I will be the last one to draw a wedge between Russia and the rest of the world.

BECK: Sure.

SAAKASHVILI: I`m not -- I`m not -- this is not...

BECK: I`ll drive it. I`ve got a stake. I`ll drive it.

SAAKASHVILI: My business is to rebuild my country. I think the fundamentals here is that if our economy gets, you know, strong again, as it will, if we succeed, if we rebuilt what we wanted to build, showcase for success, a shining example for our origin, this kind of people -- I mean, I`m not talking Russia per se, and the people who are taking decisions there, are going to lose. But I`m afraid that they`re also going to lose short term if they pursue policy they have.

BECK: I want to ask you -- I want to ask you two questions. I think I have 90 seconds. Just give me your impressions. You met with Sarah Palin yesterday. What is she like? What was your impression?

SAAKASHVILI: I mean, she`s wonderful. She`s hot.

BECK: You want to go deeper, OK.

SAAKASHVILI: I mean, it was a very intellectual conversation...

BECK: But could she hold -- could she hold -- did she know what she was talking about when she sat down with you?

SAAKASHVILI: I think -- I think -- I had the impression she did. But you know, I`m also close friend with Joe Biden.

BECK: Joe Biden, I know that. I`m not asking you to get involved in the politics at all.

Let me ask you this -- this last question. Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, does he spook the living bejesus out of you?

SAAKASHVILI: Well, you know, again, we are dealing about -- closed society here. You should realize that they have another way of seeing things because there`s another way of taking decisions, another way they treat their people, another way they regard what the economy is all about. Another way that they control -- what control is all about. So we should be aware of that.

We should -- we should deal with them having, you know, more openness, transparency, strength. One thing should be clear for every democracy.

BECK: Yes.

SAAKASHVILI: You know, those guys out there, every country that is more or less has closed system, they think democracies are inherently very vulnerable, weak, can be manipulated, can be bribed, can be blackmailed.

However, if democracy really lives up to the expectations of strength, really stands up for principle, it`s undefeatable. We`ve shown -- and we`re a small country. How can the big country be scared? How can a big democracy be scared? I`m sure the U.S. will not be scared and will be, you know, successful.

BECK: Mr. President, what a pleasure.

SAAKASHVILI: Thank you so much, Glenn.

BECK: Good to see you again. You bet.

Back in just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Welcome back to the program. Our week-long series tonight, "Exposed: The End of Oil."

We`ve been talking all night about my perfect storm theory and how I believe that America can handle a lot of threats to our system, a lot of shock -- I mean, look how resilient this country has been in the last few years.

The problem is of all of these shocks coming at once. We`ve made it through a depression before. We made it through a ton of recessions.

But are things the same as they were back then? Back then, we didn`t have trillions of dollars in debt. And now we do. Back then, we had a real gold standard. Our money meant something. We also had real industry. Now we have a dollar pegged to nothing but industries made up of derivatives and credit swaps.

And most importantly, back then, we had cheap energy to power our economy. Now -- yes, not so much.

Last night, we had the former president of Shell Oil on, John Hofmeister. He`s great. He came on and answered questions from callers.

And I was struck by how many people were asking about alternative energy. We had questions on hydropower, and hydrogen fuel cells, wind farms, sugar ethanol. And one, which unfortunately, we didn`t have time for, on the amazing possibilities of hemp power.

The point is that people are excited about the future. And Americans can solve any problem. We`re not married to oil. It`s just what we happen to be doing right now. But we want to know that whatever`s around the corner is actually around the corner and is not going to be dictated or controlled by environmentalists or Middle East sheikhs.

We don`t want the future of our fuel chosen by politicians or lobbyists. We want it chosen by us, the market.

So tonight, instead of just talking about generalities of the American entrepreneur and the innovator who is out there making a difference, I thought we`d actually introduce you to some of them directly. The kind of technologies are being backed with actual dollars and how close are any of these things to becoming a reality?

Michael Derosa is the managing director of Element Venture Partners. Ahava Amen is the CEO of New Earth Renewable Energy. And Telis Demos covers energy beat for "Fortune" magazine.

Telis, let me start with you, what is it that people are talking about -- that people are -- that you think is really on the horizon that people are excited about, in the alternative energy category?

TELIS DEMOS, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: I think that there are a couple really big areas right now. The first it would wind power. T. Boone Pickens, the oil investor, has been going around and talking about how we can really increase our wind energy production.

And the Department of Energy recently released a report saying that up to 20 percent of our nation`s electricity could come from wind power. I think that`s a really big area right now. Another is still looking at alternative fuels for cars. People are looking at natural gas-powered cars; the state of Utah has made some inroads there.

BECK: Right.

DEMOS: And also, we continue to look at ethanol.

BECK: So let me go to Michael because you`re a venture capitalist. What is the name of your company, sir, again?

MICHAEL, DEROSA, ELEMENT VENTURE PARTNERS: It`s Element Partners.

BECK: Ok, so you`re a venture capitalist. You`re a guy who goes and says, ok, let`s go find some money and let`s go find the products that we can invest in, that we believe in.

And when I look at natural gas, natural gas has been around forever. It`s really not that hard to change you know trucks or whatever to natural gas. We can do it. Utah is doing it right now.

Why hasn`t that taken off? Why hasn`t some of the other things taken off?

The answer is always government getting in the way and slowing up venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Is that the biggest problem you think we face? Or am I on the wrong scent here?

DEROSA: Well, it depends about what technology you`re talking about. Certainly for a technology like compressed natural gas for transportation fuels, we can do that. That exists. You do have a delivery infrastructure challenge. There aren`t a lot of natural gas stations on every corner of America. Yes, so we certainly would have an economic challenge there.

BECK: But the technology has been around forever. I mean, how come - - if it`s so easy to do how come we haven`t done it?

DEROSA: We have the means to get to energy independence and correct our energy problem. It`s the question of, do we have the will, do we have the policies and incentives, and are we going to implement them and in what time frame?

BECK: All right, so are you seeing -- and this has frightened me I don`t know if I want the answer to this one because I think I know it -- money staying in this country? Are we not only falling behind, are we just way behind?

DEROSA: Well, certainly, I think what many people don`t realize, particularly some of the politicians. There`s a belief that leading this energy technology revolution is going to create millions of jobs and sort of bring America out of the doldrums that we`re in right now.

I was recently looking at an investment banking report that was talking about the 29 most important highest market capitalization alternative energy companies. And it struck me that only five of them are based in the United States. Many are in China, some in Germany, and throughout Europe; some even in Canada. But we are already well behind in creating the companies that will lead this energy technology revolution.

BECK: All right, so let me go to Ahava. You have quite possibly my favorite energy source of all time. Explain what e-coal is.

AMEN: Thank you, Glenn.

BECK: Yes.

AHAVA AMEN, NEW EARTH RENEWABLE ENERGY INC.: E-coal is basically 100 percent biomass of flex-fuel alternative to fossil coal. And what that means is that new earth, we`ve created a renewable energy fuel that basically has all the energy as fossil coal, acts like fossil coal, but without the pollution side effects.

BECK: Ok, it is my understanding that biomass is bio-waste, comes from people. Or is that "Soylent Green?"

AMEN: Well, no, you can get biomass from people, but biomass is basically anything that grows and is organic.

BECK: So this is not -- because I could see now what I`m thinking -- I think my producers pulled a prank on me. This does not include human waste?

AMEN: Yes it can include human waste. But you`re -- you want to get biomass from what we call cellulosic sources. So everything from energy crops to human waste, agricultural waste, animal waste, algae, seaweed, anything, you name it. Anything that is organic in nature basically has energy in it and so you can take that.

What we do is we take the energy out of that, we remove the other things of all sorts of organic compounds, water, things like that. So we get a very pure energy component. And that can be used to, you know, fuel everything. We make bio-oil out of it. We make e-coal, which is basically a renewable type of coal. So you get the same properties but without the pollution.

BECK: So Telis, why is it that this kind of stuff -- why doesn`t everybody just -- there is enough bull-crap in Washington alone to fuel cars until the end of time. Why is this not being pushed by -- why are we not hearing about these things?

DEMOS: I think --

AMEN: Well, I mean, there`s two reasons. One, I think we are hearing more and more about it. It`s -- that`s a function of public awareness. You know, thanks to people like you, you do raise the public awareness.

But a lot of average people aren`t involved. And then of course the playing field for renewable energy isn`t as even as it is for, say, some of the other fossil fuel industries.

So we -- what`s happening in Europe right now is that`s changing. Most of our customers come from Europe. And so we have a superior technology really developed on these shores. But, you know, like wind, it`s exported to other countries that are more sincere about their commitment to the environment.

BECK: Telis.

DEMOS: Yes, I was just going to say that. I mean, I think it`s a couple of factors. One is cost. These things just -- a lot of these energy, as promising as they are and as good for the environment they might be, they just -- they aren`t competitive with other kinds of energy right now. You know with oil, gasoline for cars or with natural gas for electricity.

The other factor is scalability. And that means that, when an investor -- venture capital is another investment fund to have a ton of money to put to work. And so they`re looking for something that they can invest a few million dollars in and expect to get big returns on that. And they are just -- there aren`t, you know, big, large-scale, commercial- scale, you know -- possibilities in some of these technologies yet.

BECK: Ok, so Michael, you`re a guy who -- you got to make your living off this. You got to go find the thing. When do you think -- because everybody`s like, we`re going to be out of oil in ten years and we`re all done. We`ll be on this noon Jack and his magic bean.

What do you think is reasonable to expect that America could be powered by something that we don`t necessarily know about today?

DEROSA: Well, some of these are already available today. I mean, for instance, we`re an investor in a company that makes something called wood pellet fuel which is a home heating source that is about half the cost of heating oil.

We have about eight million homes in the northeastern U.S. that still heat with oil. There`s a carbon-neutral source of energy that`s available. It`s cheap, it`s ready. The industry is there.

Ironically, there are absolutely no incentives or government subsidies to help spur the creation of this industry.

It domestically produced fuel but you know very few of people know about it; it`s been on the market.

BECK: All right, guys thank you very much. We`ve got to cut and run. But Michael and everybody else, I appreciate it.

Coming up, we go inside the world of Islamic extremism with the producer of a controversial film. It`s called "Fitna" Geert Wilders will join me in just a second. Do not go anywhere. It`s the rest of the perfect storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, I know averting a complete economic meltdown is what everybody is thinking about tonight. But I want to talk to you a little bit about the "Perfect Storm."

And we`ve go to continue watching and talking about other pieces of that storm because they`re not going away because we`re not looking at them. In fact, they may even grow stronger or pounce because of our economic uncertainty.

One of those pieces in fact is probably the most important piece; it`s Islamic extremism. A couple of years ago, you might remember, we ran a one-hour special here on the program called "Exposed: The Extremist Agenda." It was one of the first times in America any of this stuff had ever been seen.

It showed video of terrorists targeting American troops. A video of young school kids calling Jews apes and pigs. A video of the propaganda used in the Middle East to incite hatred against America. It was one of the most talked about, most controversial and also one of the most highly- watched specials we`ve ever done.

Yet it hasn`t stopped those who, for whatever reason, just don`t want people to understand the type of people and the mind set that we are really dealing with that want to destroy us. Earlier this year, a Dutch politician, his name is Geert Wilders, he witnessed that firsthand when he released a documentary called "Fitna." His goal was to show the world the unthinkable depravity that the West is really facing.

But once again he was met with threats of violence. In fact, he`s on the studio now. And we have security all around the cameras. He was eventually able to get this video released on the Internet. But soon even that was taken down as the company that hosted the video received serious threats against their employees.

You want us to finally see what the controversy was all about? Here`s a quick clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]: The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allah commanded us to spread this religion worldwide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will take over the USA! You will take over the UK! You will take over Europe! You will defeat them all! You will get victory! You will take over Egypt! We trust in Allah!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Geert Wilders is the leader of the Party for Freedom, a member of the Dutch Parliament and producer of "Fitna." Nice to meet you Sir.

GEERT WILDERS, CREATOR, "FITNA": Nice to meet, a pleasure to be on your show, Glenn.

BECK: You are a guy who`s marked for death. You come from the same country that Ayaan Hirsi Ali came from. You were in the same party as a matter of fact. You come from the country that Theo Van Gogh was stabbed to death in the street for saying these kinds of things. What is it that you need people to hear?

WILDERS: What I need people to hear is that the Islamization of our western culture, of Europe, maybe also of the United States, and is a real threat to everything that we stand for. It is a real threat to our freedom of speech and to our democracy because I believe that Islam is not just a religion. It`s a very dangerous and very harsh and violent ideology that at the end of the day, if the numbers become stronger, and they are already very strong unfortunately in Europe, it will kill everything that we stand for.

BECK: You don`t separate extremist Islam -- because I know a lot of Muslims that are peace loving -- I mean I have one of our correspondents on this program is a Muslim and he is -- he is dead set against what`s happening over there --

WILDERS: Also I make of course distinction between the Muslims and the ideology.

BECK: Ok.

WILDERS: I believe there is no moderate -- or there is no modern Islam. And there is only one Islam and that is a fascist ideology. However, of course, there are Muslims who are moderate and who want to assimilate in our society.

Unfortunately if you look at Europe today, the numbers are growing. We have a mass immigration from Muslim countries. And people are not there -- I call them colonists. They are not in our societies to assimilate or to integrate, but to take over, to submit us to the worst kind of thinking.

BECK: Your country has always been so proud that you can just get along with everybody. I mean, you guys -- I mean, nobody`s ever really had -- yet, you`re now having that welcoming attitude that, hey, let`s just all get along, really turned upside down on you.

WILDERS: Exactly, well, like you said, Glenn, we had this political murder in the streets of Amsterdam. We have Moroccan youths really acting like Barbars, and killing people, and assaulting people, and doing the most terrible things.

And the people in the Netherlands and the people throughout Europe are fed up with the fact that they are losing their country. They are losing their country to an ideology that is so far from our western values, from our dominant, and so far Christian-Judeo -- and values.

And people are fed up with it. And I`m here today in the United States. I had an excellent, very nice gathering just one hour ago at the Hudson Institute. And had spoken about that I hoped that the America will not be the last man standing. Because if they lose Europe, if they lose Europe to the Islam -- and it`s very close to it.

BECK: Well, we`re very great -- well you couldn`t even -- on the street where Theo Van Gogh was killed, correct me if I`m wrong, they put up just a -- kind of a billboard, painted wall that said "Thou Shalt Not Kill."

WILDERS: Yes.

BECK: That had to be taken down and covered up because it was hateful. True?

WILDERS: It`s true. And more terrible things happened --

BECK: So haven`t we already lost Europe?

WILDERS: You have almost lost Europe. I think its one minute to 12:00. And I think that we need a lot of support from the United States that it won`t come so far. That is why as 30 European politicians, we gathered in December in the Israeli Knesset as a lawmaker summit to show the world and to show Europe and even the Americans that we are not only a few mavericks, that there`s an enormous group of the European population that are fed up with the Islamization of the continent.

I want to be proud of our identity again, we want our neighborhoods, our streets, our countries, back to how it was in the past because the Islamization once again is nothing for the better. The Islam is a very violent culture, and backwardness culture and something that we should fight against and not assimilate in our society that we did so far.

And our political elite, the political elite in Europe, is acting like Chamberlain -- is appeasing to the people who really don`t to be at peace. Who don`t want to assimilate, who wants to kill everything.

BECK: I will tell you that I saw that American students were meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and they said hey, he`s a man of peace.

WILDERS: He should be in jail in New York, not speaking to the United Nations. Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran is a butcher. He`s nothing from a leader. He is something that is threatening the world both by force, by ideology and he should not be here.

BECK: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it and we`ll be back in just a minute.

WILDERS: Thank you Glenn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Wow, this has been a fun show, huh? The last guy scared the living pant crap out of me.

Well, it`s been a great week so far.

On this program we attempt to attack important issues in a couple of different ways. There are lots of times that we have to roll up our sleeves and be serious about things and sometimes the best way to get a message across is to make fun of it.

And I get a lot of people who say, oh Glenn, you know what first of all some say, is that Glenn Beck and they try to hunt me down the streets and the other is why don`t you run for president and then besides immediately dismissing them as having a very low expectations for their candidates. And I`d tell them, I`d be the worst politician of all time. I mean, I`d be the guy who just blurts things out and he`s constantly making the ticket look bad.

I mean, I wouldn`t be thinking the wrong president was speaking on a non-existent television set during the 1929 stock market crash like Joe Biden did this week. I wouldn`t be mixing up the brigades and the battalions like Joe Biden. I wouldn`t be screwing up my own position on clean coal like Joe Biden.

I wouldn`t be calling my own campaign ads terrible like Joe Biden. And I mean, at least I probably wouldn`t tell people who were confined to wheel chairs to stand up, but I`d be bad. Not that bad, but I`d be bad.

One thing for sure is I most definitely would be unelectable. When I went on a tour this summer I was already sick and tired of politics as I am now and so I try to do two things.

In the first half of this stage show, I basically made fun of every idiotic politician that I could think of. I mean, I didn`t have any Joe Biden material because he only got like one percent of the vote in Iowa and then dropped out and so he was kind of pretty much, like he is now irrelevant.

But then in the second half I gave the speech that I`d like to hear from a politician. Of course, no politician would ever give it because they don`t have the -- you know what, you know what I`m saying and they don`t think that you can handle the truth. They think America just wants to hear sound bites and generic and vague statements of hope and change. That isn`t it.

I mean, if that`s the sort of politics that you love you`re going to hate this DVD. But for the rest of you, "Beck `08 Unelectable" is out now on DVD. The stage show is -- let`s just say it`s totally different than what I do here on TV. In fact I`ll even go this far. I think that the stage show here is something that you`d actually like. It`s available in stores now all across the country or you can go to glennbeck.com for all the free video and all the details. Check it out now.

From New York, good night, America.

END