Glenn Beck's One Thing: Confused About the Economy? You're Not Alone

If you are getting your economic news from politicians or the news media, you are probably pretty confused right now.

Is the economy good — the Dow just crossed 10,000, you know — or is it bad — unemployment did just surge past 10 percent?

Let's look at some of what we have seen the key players say. How about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He's pretty smart, right? For months, he's been building up the economy with comments like these:

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BEN BERNANKE, CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE: Fears of financial collapse have receded substantially receded.

BERNANKE: Better conditions in financial markets have been accompanied by some improvement in economic prospects.

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But then he came out Monday and said this:

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BERNANKE: Constrained bank lending and a weak job market, likely will prevent the expansion from being as robust as we would hope.

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Well, which is it? Maybe the president knows. He told us back in January that things were so bad, we had to act now on the stimulus or:

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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

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They assured us that unemployment would never go over 8 percent if we did buy into the $787 billion stimulus idea. And so we did it. Yet, here we are, at 10.2 percent unemployment.

You warned us of bad times, promised you'd make it all better. And when we listened to you and it didn't get better, instead of the truth, we got this:

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OBAMA: Nobody understood what the depths of this recession were going to look like.

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So things are worse than — what did he call it? — a recession we wouldn't be able to recover from. Sounds bad, right? Well, not all is lost, because in spite of that negative news, Obama is bringing the joy:

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OBAMA: Because of the bold and coordinated action that we took, millions of jobs have been saved or created.

OBAMA: It's saved or created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the private sector.

OBAMA: Created and saved more than a million jobs

OBAMA: It's already saved or created over 100 — over 1 million jobs.

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Well, that's just fantastic. Jobs are just sprouting up like weeds. It's Job-topia in America! Jobs, jobs, jobs! It's Job-a-palooza!

I was feeling pretty good about all the jobs, until I read a report from ABC News — you might have seen this one — on recovery.gov. You remember, the site specifically created to track stimulus spending and create transparency and know what was going on. ABC revealed jobs were being created in districts... that don't exist. It's so transparent; the district is invisible.

The site is riddled with inaccuracies, so much so that even Democrat David Obey called them "outrageous." Remember, this is the Web site that we spent $18 million on just the redesign and its only goal is to track stimulus money.

What a bummer. I was really getting excited about all those created or saved jobs.

That's when I remembered what Tim Geithner recently said on "Meet the Press":

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TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER: I think it's actually delivering better results sooner than we would expect. I think we're seeing better outcomes in the financial sector.

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Oh and I can't forget about Vice President Joe Biden — remember him? He had good news about what the stimulus is doing too:

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VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The Recovery Act is doing more faster and more efficiently and more effectively than most people expected.

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Happy days are here again!

The government is running "more efficiently" than ever. How efficient? Well, I just read today on The Drudge Report that "improper" government payments for this year are $98 billion. Over half the mistakes were in Medicare and Medicaid programs — $55 billion for 2009. And they haven't even tallied up the fraud in the massive Medicare prescription drug plan yet.

The good news is that President Obama will sign a new executive order within a week to "improve transparency" and (try not to laugh) "encourage people to play straight." That ought to solve things! I wonder if he can get union workers to help with that.

Obama's actions show he's not too worried about the deficit; we showed you the reckless spending Tuesday night. But then the president came out and said this:

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OBAMA: If we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession.

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This guy is making John "for it before I was against it" Kerry look like a straight-shooter. Nothing they are doing or saying makes sense. They are either wildly incompetent or they are lying; it's one or the other. And you are going to have to decide. Remember, he's worried about the deficit. He wants to encourage small business and root out corruption:

— In New York, they have mandated small businesses give sick days to employees. Mandates that cost employers money? In a recession?

— California is trying to go green and ban big screen TVs. But NBC is going green by telling me to watch TV.

— Al Gore says the world will explode if we don't curb global warming. But he uses 12 times more energy than the average American and he's still eating meat! A leading producer of greenhouse gasses.

— I don't care what anybody tells you on TV, government health care is coming unless you send a clear message. But I don't know how else you do that. Polls show only 35 percent of people want Obama-care now. Politicians were fleeing from Hillary-care in the early '90s; it was polling at 36 percent. It was actually more popular! But politicians continue to push it.

We know they are incompetent. But are they really this incompetent or do they have a different agenda?

See that picture of Professor Obama (above), writing on the chalkboard and teaching students? I've seen that photo over and over again and I never thought to look at what was on the blackboard. What is he teaching the students about? What did the professor, who in his days at the university, chose his friends carefully:

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OBAMA: To avoid being mistaken as a sellout, I chose my friends carefully: The more politically active black students; the foreign students; the Chicanos; the Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.

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What did Professor Obama decide to teach the kids? The blackboard reads: "Relationships built on self-interest." What is also on the blackboard are the words "CORPS," "BANKS," "UTILITIES" and the last one is hard to make out.

I talked to David Horowitz about the "relationships built on self-interest." Where does it come from? What is it?

This is a key — wait for it — Saul Alinsky idea. Alinsky, you may recall if you watch this program, wrote the organizing manifesto "Rules for Radicals." Now, I don't know, maybe he's not teaching about the wonders of redistributive change. Maybe he's not bashing capitalism. Maybe he's teaching about Saul Alinsky like I would: That his teachings are an abomination.

But then again, the NEA, under this president, did put "Rules for Radicals" on its "recommended reading" Web page. And his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, did her thesis on Saul Alinsky.

"Rules for Radicals" is all about the state of war we live in; a war between the haves and the have-nots. The chalkboard shows the haves (corporations, banks, utilities) and the stranglehold the have on power (the money symbol on the line between "mayor" and "corporations.")

And the goal of the Alinsky radical is to fundamentally change that power structure. So that it is transferred to the have-nots.

Take from the haves and give to the have-nots. Hmm, where have we heard that one before?

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SCIENCE 'CZAR' JOHN HOLDREN: And there's going to have to be a degree of redistribution.

ANDY STERN, SEIU PRESIDENT: So the question is: How is everyone gonna share in the wealth?

FORMER GREEN JOBS 'CZAR' VAN JONES: Give them the wealth! Give them the wealth!

THEN-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BARACK OBAMA: And I think that when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

OBAMA: Through which you bring about redistributive change.

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Alinsky advocated using every means available — legal or illegal, moral or immoral — to take power away from the haves and give it to the have-nots. In other words, the ends justify the means and the end is '"social justice."

Alinsky said: 'He asks of ends only whether they are achievable and worth the cost; of means, only whether they will work." Sound familiar? John Holdren — sterilizing the drinking water to stop overpopulation; forced abortions — he doesn't really believe in those things, he's just throwing all the ideas out there. Remember that?

Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe Obama was teaching about how horrible Saul Alinsky is. That's for you to decide. If you believe he was just teaching about Saul Alinsky because it was academia and he doesn't really agree with any of it — if you believe that, then great. You are good. All the unexplainable things we showed you earlier make perfect sense apparently to you.

But if you do a little more homework, you'll see that Michelle Obama said: "Barack is not a politician first and foremost. He's a community activist exploring the viability of politics to make change."

When asked about that quote, the president replied: "I take that observation as a compliment."

Saul Alinsky's son said this: "The method of my late father always works to get the message out and get the supporters on board. When executed meticulously and thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen. Obama learned his lesson well."

Which then leaves you where I'm at: They are fundamentally transforming us. What if this is right? What's left? How do you stop it? What do you do? First step: Stop feeling powerless. You are not.

On Saturday, I'll be at The Villages laying out our plan for 2010. Buckle up — rest up. You'll need your strength. Because come January, we're meeting here everyday at 5 o'clock — roll up your sleeves, because we are going to work.

— Watch "Glenn Beck" weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel