Many Americans are experiencing the 5 stages of grief — but grief in regards to the economy. Carol Roth, a ‘recovering’ investment banker and author of ‘The War On Small Business,’ tells Glenn she’s currently experiencing stage two: ANGER. Why? Because this kind of economic downtown America is experiencing today could have been AVOIDED if our leaders in power had a better grasp on reality, she explains. But, Glenn warns, the next stage may be the most dangerous one: Bargaining with the elite who hold the keys to our economic kingdom just so we don’t lose it ALL…
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: So this evening, I am going to be your congenial guest speaker, at the -- the cash county Flag Day ceremony. And I don't have a lot to say about the flag. But I've got a lot to say. So I'll be there. I don't even know if tickets cost anything. But I'll be there. And you can just throw money at the stage. You can just -- anyway, hope to see you there, if you're in the area. Carol Roth is joining us. She's the author of the war on small business. A recovering investment banker. And a friend. She is really great. I've been looking for Carol for probably 20 years, trying to find somebody, that can actually understand the bullcrap in New York on the -- on Wall Street. But also, can relate to the average person that has very little money. Hello, Carol. How are you?
CAROL: I'm doing well, Glenn. And I know you're wondering what my preferred title is. And these days I am identifying as Baroness Roth. So baroness.
GLENN: Baroness. Baroness Roth. Is -- is -- good. Good. So there's a couple of things going on. First of all -- (talking over) -- yeah. I think so.
There's something that I think is quite amazing. The stock market was down another 600 points yesterday. We're now officially in a bear market. Which, hey, I love bears. You know, who likes bulls? Nobody. Bulls are mean. And we have a bear on the flag in one of our states. But we're in a bear market. Wholesale prices rose 10.8. That may be a record high. And the fed is going to boost interest rates. Another great thing. Gas is up to all-time highs. And getting higher. I mean, it's really pretty good, right? It's good. It's good.
CAROL: Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah, I'm from Chicago. So we have the bears and the bulls, and I firmly bounce between them. But I am a Chicago bear right now. And I have to say, I'm super angry about all of this. You know, there were sort of these five stages of grief. Now there are the five stages of economic grief. The first one doesn't start with denial. It starts with I told you so. Because we could all see this coming. But the second one is still anger. And I'm so angry, because it's entirely avoidable. We gave over everything that we have. Our government. The decisions about our economy. To the people who believe in unicorns and rainbows. And everything that we know to be true, principles of economics. You know, they said, oh, no, no, no. We have this magical way of doing things. That's different. So we'll print money. But it's different. Because we're magic. We're going to give up our energy independence. And we're going to switch to this magic green stuff! And none of this is reality, and we are all paying the price figuratively and literally, after people would start to get their economic opportunities back on track. And it's super frustrating.
GLENN: I am -- I have to tell you -- I haven't been in denial for a long time. But I think you're looking at the five stages of grief. Denial is the first one. I think some people are in denial. But they're starting to come out. They're going to get angry. Then the next step is bargaining. Look, I just don't want to lose everything. And that's coming. It's coming. It is -- and it is -- it's one thing when people is hit by a bus. It's another, when somebody -- you know, your loved one, that you're grieving over, was -- was out in the open. Telling everyone, hey. I'm going to kill them. Nobody does anything. You're screaming bloody murder. And then they shoot them right in the head, in front of you. And that's what's happened in our economy.
CAROL: It is true. Think of somebody like Janet Yellen. Who is the second of the Treasury. One of the highest ranking officials in the United States. Has incredible control over what happens, vis-à-vis, money and finance in the United States. He was the former head of the Federal Reserve, making multi-trillion-dollar decisions about the economy. In between that time, she made $7.2 million, giving economic speeches. And then comes out and says, oh, I didn't realize that inflation was going to happen. Oh, I didn't realize that turning off the economy, and trying to turn it back on like you're power cycling was going to have effect on, you know, supply chains and labor markets and things like that.
Why are we giving people like this, the keys to the kingdom? Why is she getting paid millions of dollars, for something economically, that anybody off the street could have told you that? I literally want to pull my very large hair out right now.
GLENN: I will tell you, Carol, that I think what's scary. The scary thing, once people get past the anger. And they're into the bargaining. They're going to be bargaining with people like her. I just want to keep -- it's an absolute nightmare. I want to get to guess hear, for just a second. Before I get -- I do have to say. If you think Carol is a little angry, listen to her tweet. We are 100 percent in the position we are now. Because too many people believed you could suck the rainbow farts out of a unicorn's ass, instead of reality.
So, I mean, at least you're frank. So tell me now, we are looked at gas prices, that are out of control. They are completely denying that this has anything to do with ESG. And apparently, a story I read today, the administration was shocked, that we couldn't just turn shale on overnight.
CAROL: Shocked. Shocked that that there's gambling going on in this administration. Casablanca quote. This, again, super, super angry. So let's be realistic about this. We had record inflation, including rising gas prices in January. The 40-year high in January. That was before Putin and the Ukraine was coming on to the map. The other thing about Putin is, yes, that has exacerbated the situation. But if we had not passed ESG, if we had not had a push from the green lobby to move capital away from investment and fossil fuels, we were on a trajectory where we could have helped filled this gap for the world. We would have had economic security here. We would have national security here. We could have helped our friends out in Europe, instead of made them beholden to Russia. And the entire farce of this, is now we have this president who is going around -- and they're begging countries like Venezuela, both in the Middle East, who do not get fossil fuels out of the ground and process them in the same clean way that we have the ability to. So they have shifted the dirty fossil fuels to the other side of the globe. Which I'm pretty sure shares the same atmosphere as us. And saying, oh, look us, we're so green. Bring creating all these problems. They can pursue these green initiatives at the same time that they are pursuing, you know, our economic independence. We know more energy of all types. But instead, they said, no, no, no. We're just going to stop doing this. And, you know, vote on a wing and a prayer. And, again, that unicorn's behind. We're going to bring the rainbows out, and this is all going to be fantastic. It is not reality. We have to stop indulging these lunatics. And just say, sit down, child. This is not the way the world works. And we're just not going to indulge this anymore.
GLENN: I will tell you, the problem is: They believe in global equity. This is part of it. Bring America down to her knees. Bring her down to size, so we're all equitable. Which, we won't be all equitable. Because at some point, the American people will have enough and say, you know what, get the hell out of our way. We'll fix this. And the American people will fix it. It will be ugly, but they'll fix it. And then what happens? The rest of the world is starving to death.
CAROL: Yeah. These are. I've identified these sort of free global gray swans. The things where stuff could really go south, pretty quickly here. One of them is energy rationing, based on these decisions. We know we'll have rolling blackouts. And energy issues in the US. This summer. We know that Europe will have it. We just don't know how bad that's going to be. We know there's going to be some level of starvation. But it could be tens of hundreds of millions of people. Again, partially on the backs of these decisions. And the social unrest that comes out of those first two. Could lead to some sort of a mass scale war. And, again, this is entirely avoidable, if we did not let the lunatics run the asylum.
GLENN: Well, I don't think it's -- it was not just avoidable, it was clearly predictable. And I personally think the lunatics -- and I mean the lunatics that have power. I believe this was part of their goal. Let me read this to you. And I would like to have your opinion on when did all of this change? This is from Bloomberg today.
The U.S. government is quietly encouraging agricultural and shipping companies to buy and carry more Russian fertilizer according to people familiar with the efforts. As sanctioned fears have led to sharp drops in supply, fueling spiraling, business food costs. The EU, and the US has built exemptions into their restrictions on doing business with Russia, to allow trade in fertilizer of which Moscow is a key global supplier.
But many shippers, banks, and ensurers have been staying away from the trade. Out of fear that they could inadvertently, fall afoul of the rules from the U.S. government. Russian fertilizer exports are down 24 percent this year. U.S. officials were surprised by the extent of the caution against the seemingly paradoxal position of looking for ways to boost them.
So now we're going around our own things, to buy fertilizer. Meanwhile, Russia has been selling more oil. Making more money than ever before. The ruble is up. What happened when everybody was saying, we're crushing them. We're crushing them. We're crushing them. Seems like the only ones getting crushed is us.
CAROL: Yeah. This is the stunt queen administration. Everything is a PR stunt. And it's surface level, so it looks fantastic. And none of it means anything. You know, all these economic sanctions. Which, by the way, Putin is weaponizing the U.S. dollar. It's going to have major ramifications for us, you know, remaining the business reserve currency. That had an exemption for gas. Because we know that Europe is dependent because they and us decided that they were just going to move away, and not realize the repercussions. And what you said, Glenn, is not an exaggeration. There is documented reporting that Russia is on track to make more money from oil and gas this year, than ever before. So fantastic sanctions there. Now the same thing. They're doing it, like you said, quietly. They don't want anyone to know, that everything they're saying upfront. They're being tough against Russia. They're not being tough against anything. And Russia is playing a massively long game here. They knew it on the gas side. They're able to reap the rewards here. Now they're going to do it on the food side, you know, fertilizer side. Every side, to extract everything they can, while they get everything that they want. And we look like giant idiots. I mean, I could not look for a worse set of people to be in charge in terms of a crisis. Because they are making everything worse. And as you said, it's very possibly by design.
GLENN: Carol Roth. She is the author of a book that everybody should read. The war on small business. She has the latest piece out for TheBlaze.com. Debunked and explained. No greedy oil companies are not to blame for the gas prices. Something that you really have to send to all of your friends. It is time your friends wake up. Wake up. Because this is only going to get worse, unless you wake up. Carol, thank you so much. By the way, if you have any economic related question for Carol. Make sure you go to GlennBeck.com/contact. And submit any of the questions you might have for Carol. Carol, can you hold on? I have another question I want to ask you about bitcoin, if you can explain that, coming up in just a couple of seconds. Stand by.