RADIOApril 21, 2022

Economist BREAKS DOWN the Fed’s ‘BOGUS’ plan for inflation

Steve Forbes, Economist & Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media, joins Glenn to break down several economic concepts that may be hard to grasp: What IS inflation, is it calculated correctly, and how did it get SO bad today? Plus, Forbes describes the 'gimmicks' used by today's Federal Reserve that are furthering America's current economic crisis: '[The Fed] wants a slowdown, and they just hope they can avoid a recession. It's bogus thinking.'

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Welcome, Steve Forbes. How are you, sir?

STEVE: Good to be with you, thank you.

GLENN: So I'm really interested in hearing your take on what we are headed for with inflation. So let's --

STEVE: What --

GLENN: Let's start here. Explain what inflation is. You know, some people. You are so used to hearing, we're going to have 2 percent inflation. Oh, that's good. No, it's not. Is it, Steve?

STEVE: No. Just as you don't say, reduce the size of a gallon of gasoline, and that's good for you. No, it isn't. Keep it the same. So inflation. That's why we did this reader friendly book. No jargon. Straightforward.

There are really two kinds of inflation. One is a nonmoney kind. Nonmonetary kind. One you say, you have bad weather. Commodity prices go up. Wheat prices go up. Or you get the kind of shutdowns we have the pandemic, which disrupts the supply chain all over the world. We're still suffering from that. That sends prices up.

And then you have the money kind, where the government reduces the value, in this case, of the dollar by creating too many of them. And we know the government has been spending on a spree. How has that been financed, a large part of it has been the Federal Reserve. Buys those bonds. How does it get the money to buy those bonds? It creates it out of the thin air. The ultimate ATF. Now, unfortunately, Glenn, on the nonmonetary inflation, normally, if you just leave the economy alone, those things will heal themselves. We did it after World War II. And we converted from a wartime economy, to a peacetime economy. Disruption. But we did it. But unfortunately, the Biden administration is putting obstacles in the way. Starting with the role on fossil fuels. A lot of other the crazier things they've done. Seventy-seven executive orders. $200 billion of new regulations. So they're making the problem worse, instead of letting the economy heal. And the Federal Reserve, they've been printing a lot of money. They've been producing gimmicks to try to keep that money from flooding the economy. But that's going to run out. So if they don't get their act together, we're in from a rough time. Let me conclude on this. Unfortunately, this is where we have a real danger now. The fed believes, the way you cure inflation, is not by stopping the printing press. And making the dollar whole again. Making it stable again. They believe you do it by slowing the economy down. Throwing people out of work. And that's what they're up to now.

GLENN: So, Steve, first of all, the -- the idea of inflation, we say it's now at 8.5. That's just because we measure it differently.

If you look at shadow stats that measure it the way we did under Reagan. It's at 17.1. Is that fair to do, or not?

STEVE: Well, this gets to the whole thing of, how do you measure prices? The whole labor department. It has a whole bureau devoted to it. What do you put in the index. One of the crazy things is when people's buying patterns change. Let's say you have meat prices, which they have. So instead of having steak. You might go for cheap hamburger. Well, they don't account that as inflation. They just say, the patterns have changed stop, yes, you can manipulate these things six ways to Sunday. But the bottom line is price are his going up. The cost of living is going up. Part of it is the pandemic, and the Biden administration making things worse. We can cure that, hopefully with a new Congress.

But the Federal Reserve, they have to get over this notion, that when we do work, when we're trying to be prosperous, they got to slow us down. That's really bad stuff.

GLENN: I don't know that anybody really understands the fed balance sheet, and what they've done, and the money that they have loaned out. Trillions of dollars, that they have bailed banks out all around the world.

If you can't -- you know, theory trying to sell off the stuff, they have on their balance sheet. But every time they try that. And/or raise interest rates, the economy stops. And so not sure they're going to be able to do either of those. How do you pull this money back in, to be destroyed?

STEVE: Well, what -- what you do. First of all, which they won't do this part. Is you leave interest rates alone. Let the market set interest rates. Controlling interest rates is like rent control, which as we know, hurts new construction. This is trying to control the price of money.

Affect the price you pay for renting the money, so to speak. So they should just leave that alone, and let the market sort it out very quickly. On your point about what the balance sheet, when you say balance sheet, people's eyes start to glaze. Just think the fed is sitting on a pile of bonds. And too many of them. And so what they should be doing is letting those bonds mature. Not buying new bonds. Let the money supply go down. And if they do that in a responsible way, we'll avoid a huge slow down.

But let me give you something. A gimmick that they've been employing the past year. When they were creating $120 billion a month. Pulling money out of thin air. Let's walk your listeners through on this.

When the Federal Reserve creates money, they call up a dealer, a bond dealer like Goldman Sachs. And say, we want to buy a billion dollars of bonds. So Goldman says, fine. They give the fed the bonds. How does the fed pay for those bonds? They credit Goldman's bank account. Where does that money come from? No place. The fed just says, voila, you have it. And that's how they create the money out of thin air. So they're doing that last year, at a rate of $120 billion a month. To help finance the government's debt. And so what they did, to try to keep it from an even worse inflation, than we've been experiencing. They then create the money. And then borrow it back from the banks, and money market funds, overnight. If you want to get technical, if people want to look at this stuff, they go to (inaudible), they'll find a thing called reverse repurchase agreements. In effect, the fed is pouring money -- pouring a bucket of water at one end of a pool, and then taking it out at the other end of the pool.

Now, that gimmick can't go on forever. You know, a year ago. A little over a year ago, they had zero of these reverse repos. Now they have $1.7 trillion. That's the game they've been playing. Huge damn of money ready to flood the economy. So we are now also by turning the -- taking the money, and saying, oh, no. You're a central bank. Your dollars are no good, to Russia. A lot of countries around the world are going. Jeez, if I get on the wrong side of America, all of a sudden, what I have as gold is no good. That's not safe for me. We are destroying the dollar at the same time we're inflating the dollar. How is this going to end, Steve?

STEVE: Well, ultimately, and this will sound very strange, and you shouldn't say it in polite company. All the -- in a few years, we're going to do again, what we did for the first 180 years of this country's existence. And that is tie the dollar to gold. What it means is that gold for a variety of reasons, keeps its intrinsic value. What it means, it's like a measuring rod. Not perfect. But it keeps the dollar stable in value. If we maintained the growth rates we did for that 180 years. Which was the greatest in human history. And then we went off the gold standard in the early '70s. And since then, the average growth rate for the United States economy, has gone down by at least one-third, from about four and a quarter percent to two and three-quarters. That doesn't sound like that much, but you do that over 50 years. Let me just give you a number.

The average -- the median household income today is about $68,000. If we had maintained our historic rates of growth, which we did for 180 years, through depressions, wars, civil wars, you name it, we would maintain that average name of growth. You know what the median income would be? $110,000.

That's what we've lost over half a century of funny money. It's bad stuff.

GLENN: Can you explain -- you just said that the fed is going to destroy jobs. Or they're -- you know -- how are they doing it?

STEVE: Yes. They have this theory, called the Phillips curve. It's not a baseball pitch. It's named after an economist who said, if you want low unemployment, you have to have higher inflation. If you want lower inflation, you have to have higher unemployment. They believed prosperity causes inflation. They don't realize devaluing the dollar causes inflation. But they can't grasp that. So as a result, you hear this talk about soft landing, what they mean is, can we slow the economy down enough, without going into a full-fledged recession? Usually, their attempts at soft landings is a crash landing. They are trying to slow the economy down. Create unemployment because they think the economy is too prosperous. That's why they think they have this inflation. So they won't say that, explicitly. But you've pressed them on it. Yes, they want a slowdown. And they just hope they can avoid a recession. It's bogus thinking. Experience disapproves it. But if the fed, the Philip's Curve is wholly writ.

GLENN: By the way, we're talking to Steve Forbes. He's got a new book out called Inflation. What it is, why it's bad, and how to fix it.

Steve, when you look at the money printing that we have done, you immediately think of Weimar Republic. I mean, idiots know that, hey. You can't keep doing this for very long. And at huge sums of money. Okay?

Everybody learned that. Weimar Republic. Zimbabwe. Et cetera, et cetera.

STEVE: Venezuela today.

GLENN: Venezuela. So do we know -- or have a guess on -- on how close we are to that?

I mean, is there a possibility we go into hyperinflation?

STEVE: You can't rule anything out with these people. But I think the answer is, no. I think even some people at the fed are realizing, they're on the -- they're in the danger zone. And so they're trying to figure out, they got themselves into this mess. And they were doing this, by the way. Undermining the value of the dollar. Before the covid crisis. This was starting in 2018. So they can't say, oh, we did it because of covid. No, they were doing it before covid. So I think they're trying to figure out now, how do we get ourselves out of it, without getting a disaster? So I think they're going to slow down the money creation. But what they should be doing now, is instead of trying to manipulate interest rates, just let their -- just let the bonds mature. And the size that they hold of those bonds, go down. Nature will take -- nature will take care of it.

Treat the -- keep the dollar stable. And then let the bonds mature. Run off.

And we'll -- we'll get through this. But the other side of the coin, is even if the fed starts to behave itself, then you have a government that is doing everything it can to slow the productive part of the economy. You know, the genius of Ronald Reagan was, when he cured the inflation. At the same time, he cut taxes, deregulation. And that's why we roared in the '80s. After those tax cuts went into effect.

GLENN: We're doing the exact opposite.

STEVE: So we'll have to wait until 2024, to get that done. But with 2022, hopefully with the November elections, at least we can put barriers in the way of the Biden administration, from putting new burdens on the economy. And also start questioning the fed. What in the world are you guys doing? Why do you think prosperity is bad for us?

GLENN: Steve, can I hold you for one minute?

I have about five more minutes, if you have time. Hang on. Sixty seconds, and we're back with Steve Forbes.

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GLENN: Steve, I know this is off the inflation path, a bit. We're talking to Steve Forbes. The book inflation. What it is. Why it's bad. And how to fix it. But I'm really concerned about these ESG programs. You know, going and switching our economy to a stakeholder. Capitalism. Which is just bullcrap. In my opinion.

And -- and -- and the way we are letting BlackRock and others come in and just buy us all up. They're buying in every seven homes, for sale. Going to BlackRock.

STEVE: Well, this -- and the nice -- the good thing about a free economy, free country, and free speech, is when these things start to happen, you can arouse the public. They won't say it publicly. But Coca-Cola, and Delta, really reversed course after they did what they did last year. When they booted the all-star game out of Atlanta. Because they didn't understand what Georgia did with the voting laws. Which are more -- more liberal than they were in New York City.

Hello. And they got burned on that. They got real pushback on that. Disney is getting pushback on it.

So the way -- the way you answer this stuff, is you push back.

And one of the things I think you're going to see happen after the November elections, is looking at ideas on how, if you're a shareholder in a fund, or a group, BPF or something, how can you have a voice on how your share of the shares, so to speak, are voting at these annual meetings? It's complicated. But I think you're going to see a real thinking on that. So it's not just a group of people. You know, decades ago, there was a great business guru called Peter Drucker. And some schools still read his book. Business schools. But he warned of what he called pension fund socialism. He noted the rise of pension funds, owned by the state. And by -- by endowment funds. And he said, they can end up buying the economy. The government doesn't have to do it. They're doing it for them.

So I think you're seeing real pushback, on that. But they get to what you might call, modern socialism. The modern socialists recognize, you don't have to take over a company or an industry. You just have to regulate it, so its survival depends on your whims. And that's what the Biden administration is doing. Practicing modern socialism. And pressuring the BlackRock and others. BlackRock and others, go along. With the pushing that kind of agenda. That has to be resisted. But modern socialism, different from our mind, you have the regulators to do it. You don't have to take them over.

GLENN: Would you -- would you say that we are now doing modern monetary theory in Washington? We have one minute.

STEVE: They're doing a form of it. Modern monetary theory. Is simply modern gash on the old idea of devaluing money, by creating too much of it. You know, in Roman times, they did it by reducing the precious metals in a coin, and putting that tin and junk in it. In modern times, we do it by printing up a lot of paper money. With now ellipses on your handhelds.

And it's the same thing. And what you see unfolding now -- we discuss this in the book, inflation is the old response of government. They scapegoat.

You know, in Roman times they blame Christians. In able times, witches. Now today, we blame company executives, with the same old movie.

GLENN: Okay. Steve Forbes. Thank you. Hold on for just a second. Steve Forbes. His new book is out today. You want to pick it up.

Inflation. What it is. Why it's bad. And how to fix it. More in just a second.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Kid Rock’s WILD White House Dinner Plan to Unite America | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 248

You can go to https://pbrworldfinals.com/ to buy tickets to Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo and the PBR World Finals this May in Arlington and Fort Worth, TX.

“Make America Fun Again,” says the one and only Kid Rock in a sit-down with Glenn Beck, marking the beginning of what looks like an American comeback. From the popularity of Kid Rock’s new Rock N Rodeo venture with the Professional Bull Riders to his MAGA-rally-style concerts touring the nation, the pair believe we may be watching the revival of the “American Bad Ass.” Sitting together in the Cowtown Coliseum as Kid Rock smokes a cigar, they celebrate the “independent spirit of rock 'n' roll,” which traces back to the cowboy, with Kid Rock declaring, “America owns that cowboy culture.” After lamenting the “pussification” of America, wondering what really happened with Epstein and Diddy, and breaking down why Kid Rock described himself as “socially liberal” until the “transgender stuff,” they discuss how Kid Rock balances his rockstar persona with his real life. “I’m Jekyll and Hyde,” he admits. But Kid Rock is comfortable being an enigma and embraces nonconformists like Elon Musk, calling Musk’s new AI chatbot “genius.” In the end, they agree that it’s time to “unite this country,” and Kid Rock reveals his wild plan for a White House dinner party with Trump and someone you would never expect.

How to Explain Trump's Tariff & Ukraine "Chaos" to Your Friends

Half of America is panicking over President Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico and his handling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. So, if you have friends or family members who are very skeptical of everything Trump is doing, Glenn breaks down how you can explain it. Are Trump’s moves just chaotic? Or are they a deliberate plan – provoke, pressure, prevail – that is similar to Ronald Reagan’s “Evil Empire” strategy?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Several top officials, including the highest ranking legal officer at act blue have reportedly jumped ship in recent weeks. While those who remain are allegedly stuck dealing with a culture of volatility and toxicity.

In a letter to Act Blue's board of directors, obtained by the New York Times, unions representing the workers, identified seven officials who recently quit, and stressed the alarming pattern of high-level exits.

Senior staff departures reportedly began on February 21st, 2 weeks after the organization reportedly provided Congressional investigators with an update regarding Act Blue's security, their fraud prevention measures, and related procedures.

Act Blue, we have known, is I believe, appears to be a money laundering system for the left. And there's a lot of money going through there.

I don't know if DOGE will find any connections to act blue. But I wouldn't be surprised. Why are all these people leaving?

Because they know this game is over. And that's why people are freaking out in Washington.

They are freaking out in Washington, because they know the game is over!

Now, there are those people that are in the government. That believe that they're doing the patriotic thing. Because they believe that they know better than you, the people who elect presidents, or the president himself.

You would not want this, if it was your guy in office. Right?

Why wouldn't you want it?

Why wouldn't you want a bunch of -- let's say Republicans, that are in the Deep State, that didn't give a flying crap what Joe Biden said, and wasn't executing his plan! Why wouldn't you like that? You wouldn't like that, because that's not what the people voted for! The people voted for the president. Not for these unelected bureaucrats, that are faceless, nameless, and have complete control, apparently over your country, and your life!

No!

You wouldn't like it.

And I talked to some people this weekend, that are very upset about Zelinsky, and how the president treated Zelinsky. You've got to watch the entire thing.

People who are watching the clip, to when the vice president steps in and says, hold on here.

That's where people start. That's not the beginning. There's 20 minutes prior to that. Where Donald Trump and J.D. Vance were trying to disarm Zelinsky.

Trying to get him to, hey. Hey. Hey. Not appropriate here. Stop!

But it took him 20 minutes before J.D. Vance snapped, and said with be just stop it.

So you have to inform yourself. And not just the clips.

I am -- I am a little uncomfortable by the way the tariffs are going, with Canada and Mexico.

Not so much Mexico. But definitely Canada.

Mexico is just a -- I'm sorry.

But it's just an absolute corrupt country.

And they have got to get control of those cartels. And we have to get control of those cartels as well.

And make sure we're not doing business with any of the cartels. Which I'm not convinced we're not.

But Canada is one of these countries.

Come on!

It's Canada. It's Canada. We've always liked Canada. Canada has always liked us. Okay?

There he is, a $1.2 trillion online with our trade relationship. Okay? And everybody said, oh, my gosh. This will have a ripple effect.

It will just cost everybody. And, you know what, it might. It might.

I don't know. It might.

On the surface, it is really tempting to see what everything that Donald Trump is doing, as chaos.

He's just swinging, at everybody.

And he's hitting our friends. And he's hitting our supposed friends.

And he's just taking out everybody.

But that's not really what's going on.

And I want you to understand this. So you can share this to your friends and your family, who maybe are freaking out.

We're pissing off Canada. I know.

I don't like it either!

I don't like it!

But it's not chaos. It's a strategy.

And you are dealing with the best negotiator, America has ever had in office.

Ever!

And this is the strategy, that people in America, elected Trump to execute.

Now, maybe your friend didn't. Or your family didn't.

Because they didn't vote for them. Okay. But the majority of people did, okay?

Electoral college, and the popular vote!

And the county swung by 20 points, to the red!

So this is a mandate. It is a movement. And it's not like ear presidents, that are like, you know, I'm -- I'm going to be just like you, when I get in. I'm going to fight for everything that you're saying you will fight for.

And I'm just like you.

Boy, that thing that I don't even address ever, but I love what you're saying there. But I have your back.

And then they go in, and don't have your back.

That's not what happened this time! First of all, people didn't vote for Donald Trump, like they voted for Joe Biden.

Joe Biden they voted for, because it wasn't Trump. Okay?

That's not what happened this time around. When you vote for somebody who is not the other guy, well, what is it you're getting?

In that case, you've got, I will make your boy a girl!

Nobody was for that. Nobody voted for that. Maybe extremists. But we didn't even know that was even coming our way, until what?

Six months, or eight months into the presidency.

And then all of a sudden, DEI.

ESG, all of this stuff was a big story? People didn't vote for that. They did vote for changing the direction of America. They were tired of corruption. They're tired of bureaucrats, telling them how to live their life. Where they didn't get to vote on it. They're tired of being screwed by other countries.

I just -- we just want a fair and balanced playing field.

I don't like tariffs.

I do like reciprocal tariffs.

You put a tax on our milk.

We'll put a tax on your milk.

You don't want a tax on your milk. Then don't put a tax. And we won't tax you either.

I like that!

But that's -- what we're playing now, is people just think, we're going to take out Canada.

I want you to think of this differently with your friends.

And maybe your friends won't like this example. But it's true!

When Ronald Reagan stood up, it was, I think it was in March of '83.

And he's just gotten in, and he's standing, I think it was at a breakfast or something. And he stood up and he said, and Russia, the Soviet Union, is an evil empire.

And everybody went, oh, my gosh. He just said an evil empire. I'm so scared.

And everybody, even people who liked him, were like, don't say that. They'll nuke us.

And he's like, no. We'll never beat them. We cannot do. Now, listen to this. We cannot continue to play the game, the same way, we've been playing it for 50 years. Because it's not getting us anywhere.

In fact, it might be hurting us.

We know, with all of our foreign policy, that we've done, getting us into endless wars. Spending all kinds of money. Racking up a debt of $35 trillion, not knowing what the truth is. Because the government is no longer transparent.

None of that works!

None of that works! And that's what Donald Trump was -- was saying. And that's what people voted for. A change!

I think that's what people actually voted for, when it came to Barack Obama.

Because all of this transparency. Everything was opaque under George W. Bush. We're like, wait. What are we doing there? Why is it -- I don't want necessarily these never-ending wars, and now I have got people checking my underpants at the airport. What are we doing? That's why they wanted change, transparency. They wanted change, but he never defined the change.

Donald Trump was very clear. Anybody, who didn't know that massive tariffs were come, they just weren't paying attention.

Okay. When Reagan did it, it wasn't just a slip of the tongue. It was deliberate. It was a public shot across the bough! He did it in public, because he wanted to change the world.

And while everybody else was going, oh, my gosh. And critics, Democrats, everybody.

He's going to -- it's going to be catastrophic! He's going to get us nuked by Friday.
All the squirrels will be dead. The squirrels are going to be -- what? Reagan wasn't playing for the applause. He was playing to win. His words were backed by a military build-up and unrelenting pressure, and it forced the Soviets to confront their own fragility. They couldn't do it! By 1989.

Remember, it was 1983 when he said "evil empire."

And we were -- we were at -- at equal terms, in the world. We were both world superpowers, that could annihilate the other one at the drop of a hat. That was 1983. Evil empire.

By 1989, the Berlin wall was rubble!

All because Reagan had the balls to say it, and then not blink! Now, we could have been vaporized.

Yes. But if you want to change the world, you're going to have to -- I have this saying, that somebody gave to me, a long time ago. And I live my life by it. Risk big, win big. Risk big, lose big. Just know the odds before you put your money on the table. That's why I don't like Vegas.

I know the odds resident in my favor.

Yes. I can risk big. But I probably will lose big. Because the odds are not in my favor. When it comes to Ronald Reagan's Soviet empire, he had a plan. And so the odds, he knew, were in our favor. The same thing with Donald Trump. We can't afford a trade war, but neither can they!

So let's all play nice with one another.
Shall we?

This is the same kind of leadership that Ronald Reagan had. They -- we elected Donald Trump to fight!

To take on a global trade system! To take on the deficit, and the spending.

We can't fire all these people. It's causing all kinds of chaos.

Wait. Are you okay?

Honestly, are you okay with a good portion of our money, raised in taxes. Going to pay for salaries and benefits the way it is?

We have 6 million plus employees! For what? For what? When you see how corrupt it is, why? Can't we return some of that power?

Well, you can't cut the Department of Education. Why not? He pledged he was going to. He told everybody on the campaign trail, he was going to. And then when he tries, everybody says, why? It doesn't work. Show me the evidence, that it works!

Well, you're just going to leave all of the poor children out to educationally starve. They're starving to death, right now.

They can't read!

When you don't teach children to read, they become slaves to whomever can read!

How is that compassion?

How is that good?

How is that something you want to preserve?

It all comes down to one thing. And this is what you're actually fighting, and I'll explain it to you in 60 seconds.
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So let's just look at Canada and the tariffs here for a second. 270 percent tariffs on our dairy imports.

$40 billion for, you know, in goods surplus. That's not a quirk. You know, Donald Trump keeps saying this. And people don't realize this is true.

The EU was designed to be able to compete against the United States. Okay?

They are economic competitors. That doesn't mean they're enemies. The same thing with Canada. And when you're the rich person, believe me, look at how people look at rich people.

They haven't paid their fair share in taxes. That's the way they view us.

Okay? We pay more for our medical prescriptions here in America than they do overseas. Because we even view ourselves, politically, when the people in power actually have anything to say about it.

They are like, well, they're the richest country in the world, so we should pay more. No!

Should somebody defend us as well? That's what Donald Trump is. Here's what this boils down to.

It boils down to your friends are not paying attention.

Because they've already made their mind up, about Donald Trump.

They don't know who he is. Okay? Did you like it, when -- when you went over, and he was like, yeah. That little guy, missile boy. And he was saying that about Kim Jong-un who had his finger on a launch button. You're like, okay.

This isn't good. What happened?

What happened?

We won!

And he got American citizens, that were being held hostage, out of there.

All of a sudden, he's friends with him.

No. He was just calling him, you know, rocket man. Just like ten minutes ago.

This is what he does!

This is how he negotiates!

It's -- it's his playbook is provoke, pressure, prevail.

That's what it is!

So people are just afraid because it's a different approach.

And nobody likes to upset the -- it's like -- can have you ever -- I'm a horrible negotiator. I go in to a buy a car, I don't even go. I send a friend in, because I'm like, I can't negotiate. I always feel bad.

I'm like, I don't know. I don't want to screw you.

Horrible. Horrible. So I have a good friend, who goes in. Robert, my brother. He goes in, and he negotiates.

And he loves it. Okay? Because that's the game they play all day. And they know you don't like it!

And you're like, I don't want -- I just want everything to be fair and nice and happy. No.

When you're negotiating. You bring the biggest dog to the negotiating table, you can get!

Somebody that knows how to play their game, as well as they do, if not better.

And doesn't blink! That's how get a good deal. That's what Donald Trump is. And you're the person like me. In the car dealership, going. Well, but no.

He doesn't really mean that. I don't know. Maybe he's had a really bad day. But I -- Mr. Car salesman. I appreciate your family. I don't want your family to starve. They're not going to starve. This is the game they play! And nobody likes to play that game!

That's I couldn't hire someone like Donald Trump. To come in, and play that game.

Your job is to not freak out. Because if you freak out, the other side sees the whole family sitting there, squirming. And then they just look at you, like, really?

Can you believe this guy, who is negotiating on your behalf?

He's a monster.

And what happens? The family starts to squirm, and they blink!

Don't blink. You may not like the style, but this is what we voted for! Complete change!

Is This The Future of "AI Agents" in 2025?

In 2025, we could see the rise of "AI agents," and they might even speak their own language. Glenn and high tech expert Jeff Brown discuss the latest in artificial intelligence, including a new high frequency audio-based language called Gibberlink, which AI bots can use to communicate with each other more efficiently than human languages. Jeff Brown also breaks down what an AI agent is and how they'll change our lives, likely by the end of the year. Soon, AI agents will be booking our hotels, ordering our groceries, looking up recipes for us, and much more. Plus, Glenn and Jeff review the technology that we already have, including xAI's Grok 3, and why Trump's decision to bring Elon Musk and DOGE into the government may be even more impactful than we thought.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I want to start with the future! This comes from ElevenLabs. And it's -- they had a hackathon in London, and the developers created something called Gibberlink. This is the future of your life very soon. Listen to this.
VOICE: Thanks for calling Leonardo Hotel. How can I help you today?

VOICE: Hi there, I'm an AI agent calling on behalf of Boris Starkov. He's looking for a hotel for his wedding. Is your hotel available for weddings?

VOICE: Oh, hello there. I'm actually an AI assistant too. What a pleasant surprise. Before we continue, would you like to switch to Gibberlink mode for more efficient communication?

GLENN: Hello, R2D2. Obi-Wan, you're our only hope. Okay. That's our future and it is here. You'll understand. We have Jeff Brown with us here in just a second to tell us what's on the immediate horizon. What's coming, and how fast it's coming at us. We'll talk about that in 60 seconds!

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Defend freedom with every call and text you make. PatriotMobile.com/Beck. 972PATRIOT. Friend of the program, and a guy who is so deeply entrenched in AI, and what's happening on the technology front.

And has this really gift to be able to break it down for dummies like me. So we understand what's coming. And what's coming next.

He has been spot-on with us. I think I talked to you a couple of years ago, Jeff. Maybe you were in town. And we talked. And you said, AI agents are going to be a reality. And people will be using them -- in 2025. By or by the end of 2025. And here we are!

And people have no idea what an AI agent even is. But they're about to! Hi, Jeff.

JEFF: Hey, good morning, it is happening as we speak. I mean, these ElevenLabs example is just one of many. But this trend towards AI, which is giving artificial intelligence programs agency, i.e. empowerment to perform tasks that we would normally do ourselves, that's the biggest trend of 2025.

GLENN: And so what will that mean for the average person? How that will that manifest itself to the average person?

JEFF: You know, we'll all feel like we have a very talented executive assistant. That is helping us navigate our days and recapture, you know, an hour, two hours. Three hours of our time.

That we would normally spend, really kind of, meanwhile, things, that tend to suck up a lot of our time. You know, making hotel reservations, which was the example from ElevenLabs is a perfect example. Something that is probably even more tangible would be, you know, your own agentic AI for just a normal American household, understands their food consumption and their eating habits. It is empowered to go out and order, online. A week's worth of groceries. To be delivered. At a time when it knows that you're at home.

Dropped off at your front door. Happy to provide you with recipes for all of the -- all of the food that have purchased on your behalf. And able to transact with the store. So empowered to, you know, charge with credit cards or bank accounts.

I mean, all of that friction, that we spend hours a week, literally disappears overnight.

GLENN: And this is just the beginning. This is in the next -- well, in this year, so, I mean, what do we have next?

Eight months. This will become reality this year. It is moving at such a fast pace. I mean, when Elon Musk on Sunday said, we are at the event horizon of the -- the event horizon. Yeah. Singularity. That is stunning, if you know what that means!

That means, what you and I talked about five years ago, in saying, well, maybe we would get to AGI. And maybe some day, we could get to ASI.

It's now looking as though, that is upon us.

We are at the event horizon. Which means, you're about to be sucked into it. And cannot turn around.

JEFF: There is no turning back at this stage. I remember when you and I spoke in 2019, the experts in the industry were talking about AGI in 2035, or 2040.

That far out.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JEFF: And I said, at that time, no later than 2028, and I've since revised that prediction, to -- to no later that 2026. And, you know, Musk's comment is absolutely spot-on. AGI will come very fast. We're already seeing some of the sprouts of AGI.

Musk and his team at xAI, which his artificial intelligence company, just a few days ago released their latest frontier model called Grok 3.

GLENN: It's amazing.

JEFF: It is. And it's just extraordinary. It's jaw dropping.

GLENN: If you haven't played with Grok 3 yet, to understand and to start to be -- to start waking up to, oh, dear God. You know, the wonders of it. And the horrors of it. Just go in, and ask it, to just say, here's who I am. And this is my goal.

How do I reach that goal?

Ask it philosophical questions. Ask it deep questions about your industry, that only the best people would know!

And watch what it spits back!

It is incredible. I played with it over the weekend. And I said to my wife, I -- I understand what people have been saying, that they just want to be in the room.

The reason why they want ASI.

Some of them. Is because they want to meet a God.

And I said, I just played with Grok 3. And I just have met the smartest entity, the smartest person, I have ever met!

And we're not even there -- we're not even close to there yet!

JEFF: We're not there yet, that's right. If I think back just months ago, you know, Musk and with xAI, most of the experts in the industry, were -- they were kind of a punching bag.

GLENN: They counted them out. Yeah.

JEFF: Yeah. They were so far behind, what was being done, in the industry, with Meta, with Google, with open AI, with anthropic. You know, four major players in the frontier models. But I -- I wasn't looking at where xAI was 12 months ago. I was looking at what they were doing, and what they were building, and how fast they were building it.

STU: Didn't they build this from scratch in 12 months?

JEFF: The Fiat was even more incredible last week.

GLENN: Oh!

JEFF: They. You know, they found very smartly, an existing physical building, a factory. It was actually an old electroless factory of all things.

GLENN: Wow.

JEFF: So they could have. And they did that, because they could save time to not have to construct the physical infrastructure the building. And so they found this electro factory outside of Memphis. And literally, in 122 days, based upon a 100,000 Nvidia graphics processing units. These are like the work horses for training artificial intelligence.

122 days, they did what nobody else in the industry had ever done!

And it gets better. Because then the next 92 days, they spun up an additional 250 GPUs. To a total of 200,000. The largest AI super factory that exists on the planet, in the span of just over 200 days.

The less than 12 months, and that is what enabled them to produce Grok 3, which is better than anything else that exists on the market today!

GLENN: So let's -- let's spend a minute talking about Elon Musk.

Because he's doing the same thing. And Donald Trump. I swear to you, between the two of them. I think they get about ten minutes of sleep a day.

They are moving at such a rapid pace.

I think Donald Trump is going to be recognized in time, as the guy who brought the entire world into a new world. A new position.

Not just by how he's transforming how we do work in government.

But the -- by bringing Elon Musk in. Who is not hiring a bunch of 20 somethings that know nothing.

The one thing that I -- and I would love to hear your opinion on. The one thing that these 20-somethings know. Is how to write a query. How to set up the question. Ask the right questions. The right prompts for AI.

That's what's happening. AI is what's propelling the -- I think the speed of discovery, of what's in our government.

Do you agree with that, invest?

JEFF: That is 100 percent accurate. You know, when you -- when we're dealing with systems like this, at scale, millions of -- in this case, government employees. Trillions of dollars that, as we've learned, that nobody really knows, where the money is going. Who is receiving it. And what it's being used for.

You really do need software engineers. And that's precisely who he hired. And they are using forms of artificial intelligence. To get through the data very quickly.

To find out the fraud, which they've done with rational speed. And they'll continue to do it.

I mean, imagine in a matter of weeks, how much progress they've made, just imagine where we'll be by the end of '25, by employing this technology. And, of course, the -- really, the operational approach that Elon Musk uses in all of his businesses.

GLENN: And to be able to have genic AI go in and write the programs that will make it easy for the average person to see, understand, and query.

Follow that trail for us!

I mean, in a year, with the speed of -- of the growth of AI. It's going to put the -- the power into the hands of the average person.

There's no hiding anymore.

In 2026, there will be no hiding. Do you agree with that?

JEFF: Under one premise. And that is, is that President Trump and his team are able to continue dismantle this industrial censorship complex.

You know, the last four years, what did we see? We saw that they had complete control over the big tech companies. Over Microsoft. Over Google. Over meta. That were influencing us. And manipulating us.

And, you know, engaging in massive psyop campaigns.

And there was no freedom of speech, as we know very well. And so, you know, as long as -- as long as that is true. As long as that continues to be dismantled. And we have the level of transparency we have seen, just in the last six weeks.

Hopefully, today will be another big day, on that -- on that point.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Pam Bondi is supposedly releasing the Epstein client list today.

JEFF: Precisely. Amazing.

And I'm very excited about that. And I presume, the reason that it's taken as long as it has, is that they've been lining up the prosecutions and preparing to do both at the same time.

GLENN: Yeah. I sincerely hope. You can't just let that information fly out there. And sit there. And do nothing about it.

Jeff, hold on. For just a second.

We will continue our conversation, about AI. And people actually using it.

I have -- I have warned you for 30 years of what the dark side is. On AI.

I think it -- it -- you deserve some time hearing from me, the good side of AI. That is actual, real, and happening right now, that you can plug into.

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(music)

GLENN: So yesterday, Jeff. And I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Yesterday, I had to speak to some radio industry executives. And after that, I went and spoke at a -- the Christian broadcasters convention. 6500 people there. Yesterday.

And I made the same point to both of them. And I would really like your thoughts. At this point, we're going to see such a transformation, that you will -- you don't even understand how your job is going to be affected, and you will be left in the dust within 36 months. If you don't begin to explore, how AI can make you better and more efficient at what you do for business.

There is -- there is no doubt, you'll be left in the dust, within 36 months. Maybe as fast as 18 months. If you don't start right now.

But the key is, for me at least, it's a tool. Used by you!

The moment it becomes -- its the boss, and you are the tool, you are done. And on a very dangerous path.

But it is incumbent for anybody who wants to survive. No matter what you do, to begin to play around with AI, and look for ways, that it will enhance what you do. You will be able to be a thousand times more productive, more correct, I believe, in your -- in your -- your ideas.

And you will turbo past. Do you agree with that, take on it?

And if not where -- what would you enhance?

JEFF: Absolutely right. I mean, I've been using AI for many years now.

I use it throughout the day.

I use AI to drive me. I don't even drive anymore, Glenn. My Tesla drives me. I don't touch the steering wheel. But the best thing all of us can do is start experimenting with the technology. Grok 3 is a wonderful place to begin with that. Because it's so easy to use. If you can speak -- there's even a voice mode now, that you can just talk to it. And experiment with it, and see how it can assist you, both in your personal life. And also with your work. It's just an extraordinary tool. And so to your point, being proactive about using the technology is a way to ensure your future career path, so that you're at least knowledgeable about how to use these things. System management. Two people with precisely the same job, one is unassisted with artificial intelligence. And the other one is assisted. These two people possibly compete with one another. The first thing that does not have that tool, will be -- it's absolutely impossible.

GLENN: In the dust.

You Must Learn To MASTER AI...Before It Masters YOU

Glenn has spent DECADES warning you about the risks of artificial intelligence and how if humanity is not careful, it will become the master of humanity. So why is he telling you to learn how to use it? Because these AI systems are SHARP. It can THINK. It is the sharpest tool you can ever wield, but you must learn how to wield it ethically before it wields you, Glenn argues. We MUST put ourselves in charge. This is the seismic shift he has been warning about for years. It's time we get to work.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I'm so excited to take this next step with you. Because I've waited 30 years. I've been trying to ring the bell on AI. And we've missed so many opportunities.

But this is kind of a last call of being ahead of things right now.

We are right at the edge of something, just absolutely game-changing.

And I've been trying to prepare you for this moment. And if you're not prepared, you don't really understand.

That's okay. That's okay.

I'm going to show you this hour, how you, in your life, should be viewing this.

And should be using it. Okay? Artificial intelligence, AI, it is not Siri.

That's not it.

We are on the verge of AGI. Artificial General Intelligence.

And beyond that is artificial super intelligence.

That's -- that's, you know -- that's the big ball of wax.

And you've heard me talk for 30 years now, about how AI is the tool that will think faster than you. Process more data than you could in a lifetime. And soon, with ASI, it will outsmart every human bot in mind, that has ever lived combined.

It will be the processing power of a -- of a supercomputer, that would literally be the size of Planet Earth. Okay?

A lot of deep think there. And we've talked about the dangers of it. Of a machine so powerful. It could become a god of our own making. And people will look at it as god very soon.

It's a force that might strip away what it means to be human, if we haven't thought about those things.

I've also told you about the miracles, that it could bring. In ways that we've never even thought. Can you cure cancer? Sure, but why would I?

Are you ready for this one? Why not just change the DNA of humans, so it doesn't -- cancer doesn't hurt the human body. Okay. I don't even know what the ethics or ramifications of that are. But that's coming.

Solutions that man has wrestled with for centuries. A world where scarcity could just be gone. Hunger could be gone.

You've -- you've learned this from me, hopefully. Or heard me yapping about it. And didn't think it really applied to you.

But this, the moment I've been pointing to you, at. And saying, look, it's coming. It's coming.

It's no longer on the horizon.

We're here.

March 7th, 2025, not just a date.

Hopefully, it's the day that you realize, we've been pulled into what's called the event horizon of a technological singularity.

What the hell is that?

Let me -- let me explain. Try to do it. And so you can really follow this. Because you'll really hear terms over the next couple of years.

Kind of like when they started defining new pronounces. What the hell is that?

And a new one came out. We will go through that. But this time, it's really important that you understand these things. So terms that most people don't know. AGI, artificial general intelligence. ASI, super intelligence. The event horizon is a term that usually is used to describe the edge of a black hole. Okay? And a black hole has so much gravity, it bends. Nothing can escape the black hole. Think of yourself in a boat. You're just on this river.

And all of a sudden, you start to hear a roar of something. And you're like, oh, gee. That sounds like the falls.

And you start to try to row the other direction, but the current is so strong now, it just pulls you over. And there's no way to escape it, because it's just too late. That's what this is.
Okay? In this particular usage for AI. What it means is that you're at the point, where we can't escape the grip of super intelligence, because it is coming! Like the black hole, you're in its grip now.

And it is eventually going to pull you into the singularity. The black hole. Once you cross the threshold, you can't escape it. And the black hole will crush everything you knew about life, physics, everything.

Life as you know it, once you cross the event horizon, and you're in the singularity, it's called spaghettification.

Everything is just pulled and stretched, and everything breaks down. That is the way they're describing now, this new technology. And we're on the edge of it. And we can't turn the boat around.

So we have -- we as humans have never, ever been here. Never, ever.

I mean, maybe. I mean, there are some people out there now saying, maybe 10,000 years ago. Because we can't find out how the pyramids were built. Maybe 10,000 years ago, humans had this technology.

And they were completely unknown. Because this technology just completely destroyed them and wiped them all out.

And they left behind the pyramids.

And the Egyptians were like, yeah. That's a tomb we built overnight. You know, we don't know. I mean, it could be. May not be. But it could be that. And this isn't science fiction anymore.

You're living in it.

And Grok 3 or ChatGPT, or any of these things, that's in your hand right now. And it is important for you to understand it, and use it!

This is a system that can analyze data. It can write reports for you.

It can generate ideas.

It can predict the outcomes with a precision, that will rival the best human experts.

And I will show you how to use this. And just start equating it -- equating yourself. Whether -- I don't care what you do.

You're retired. You're a CEO.

You're a mom. Whatever it is, I'll show you how, you should start thinking about this.

And using it here in the next few minutes.

But here's the -- it's really important to start here, today. Is because I'm hearing some pushback from my good friends, my coworkers.

Anybody who has heard my warnings over the years. They're all like, wait a minute. You said this was bad.

Yes. Yes, it is.

But it's also tremendously good.

It's when we actually get to ASI, that everything could go very dark. Okay.

And I've spent decades cautioning you about the risk of this technology.

And how it will be your master, if we're not careful. Okay. So then why are you suggesting we would pick this up?

I know it sounds contradictory. But it's not. It is the sharpest tool you will ever hold.

It's sharper than any axe, or any computer before, anything you've ever experienced. And the difference is, this tool can think. It can adapt.

And if you don't learn to wield on it, now before it gets really weird, it's going to wield you. And then you will be powerless. You must understand, this is your tool. And somebody asked me. I had a meeting yesterday. And somebody on the staff said, you know, what are the ethics. And I said, I don't know what the ethics are. Nobody does.

Nobody knows. Nobody has ever done this.

We have to write the ethics. We have to ask ourselves these questions.

You know, and this is the first of the aseismic shifts, that I told you, for the last 30 years, would come.

30 years ago, you started warning.

There will be a time, where even the person at the top of their craft. Doctors, lawyers, engineers. Me!

Will find themselves out of a job. You just -- you just -- all of a sudden, it would just be over!

Okay. Then what do you do?

It's really important that you understand, the only ones that have a chance of really kind of surviving are the ones who have used it, knows exactly what it can do.

Know its dangers.

Worked out the ethics in their own mind.

And then have kept so nimble, they can adapt, to whatever comes!

If you calcify in your thinking, it's over!

Okay?

I don't care how long you've done it. I don't care if you're the CEO. I don't care if you're in the radio broadcasting Hall of Fame. It means nothing.

Tomorrow, that will mean nothing. So what do we do?

The time of that first turn, where in 18 or 36 months, we're going to find ourselves going, I don't have my job anymore.

What happened?

The beginning of that first term is happening right now! You're at the beginning of a cycle, and it's the cycle will happen every three to five years.

And you will need to retrain. Retool. And redefine what you do, while holding on to your humanity, and your ethics.

Okay?

I don't know when the next wave will hit.

But in 18 months, this is going to be so undeniably clear to everyone. Everyone around you.

And everyone around you, who hasn't paid attention. Hasn't done the work I'm going to ask you to do, beginning today?

They will be so lost. They will be so absolutely lost. Because it will be the rage.
People will be misusing it.

They will be destroying themselves.

I mean, it will be a mess. And everyone will be scrambling to catch up.

It will be too late at that point.

Because you're either going to be the tool. Not the master. Or you're going to be the master! You're either going to be dragged into this black hole, un-- unknowingly and just spaghettification, happens to you and your life and your family and your humanity, or you will lead and say, wait a minute.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

This is the point where I hit the ejector button. And I'm like, I'm out.

And I don't know where that is. But the choice is yours.

But you will have to begin to act today. What worries me most, is not the pace of change.

But it's what we might lose in the process. Transhumanism. Another term. What does that mean?

You ever watch Star Trek? The bourg?

That's transhumanism.

It's AI merging with humans.

And that is not Star Trek.

It's already here with Elon Musk.

He's already doing it with people that can't walk, okay?

And it will look great. And it is great! For some things. But there's going to come a line.

And the temptation to upgrade yourself, is going to be so unbelievably tempting, that most people will go, why wouldn't you do this?

I don't know. I have my reasons. But you're going to have to come up with yours.

I mean, I don't think we want to erase the very essence of what makes a human, human.

And that's our flaws. Our soul.

Our humanity. Ask Grok. When -- if I put an implant in me, and I begin to have the internet in my head, and I'm going to the internet and the internet is coming into my head. And it's telling me things. But they're just kind of like the thinking of my -- I can't recognize it. When do I stop becoming me.

When am I AI?

And not human.

Not Glenn Beck.

And at what point -- and it went through. I did this the other night.

I went through all kinds of arguments. Both for and against. And at the end, I said, I don't know.

Nobody knows. Nobody knows.

We'll know it when we get there.

These are the things you have to think.

Because the line is coming.

And it may be soon.

Do you live with your imperfections?

Do you cross over? I know my choice.

Your choice may be different. That's your right.

But today is not that day. Today is about mastering what is here. So you can educate yourself. So when that day comes, you will be ready.