Those "we like America" folks at FOX News sure have a funny way of showing their esteem sometimes. Take, for example, Glenn Beck's February 20, 2009 show in which he did his darnedest to scare viewers into thinking that the country is on the road to Apocalypse. In a paranoid fantasy spun out over several segments, Beck and a series of guests set forth a number of dire "worst-case scenarios" for the United States in 2014. During each segment, Beck gave viewers the disclaimer that the apocalyptic visions he and his guests presented were not predictions of what would happen but merely what could happen. And yet Beck and his guests spoke as though the doomsday scenarios, including civil war, were a likelihood, if not a fait accompli.
In "Worst-Case Scenario" No. 1, Beck and his experts imagined the impact of a complete financial meltdown. In this scenario, as Beck described it, all the banks were nationalized, the Dow was at 2800, unemployment at 12%, the commericial real estate market collapsed, the USA's credit rating was downgraded and government and unions control most businesses.It was a given to the host and both guests that the nationalized banks would be part of this picture instead of, say, helping to avert such a catastrophe. Ditto for unions "controlling" most business.
Guest Gerald Celente, a "trends forecaster," made it clear he thought the situation was less a "what if" and more a what will be. "New York City looks like Mexico City," he asserted in the present tense, where anyone who appears to have money is a target for kidnapping.
The other guest, Stephen Moore, of the Wall Street Journal, also segued from "then" to "now." "You don't have to think about these wild 'buts.' We've seen this happen to other countries... all consumed by government, all do-goodism that led to the decline of their civilizations," he said, naming Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina Zimbabwe and Russia as examples.
Moore also warned that even if the government pays out Social Security benefits, the dollars may be worthless due to hyper-inflation.
Scenario No. 2: Global civil unrest
The banner on the screen read: "Beck's War Room experts imagine what would happen if the U.S. no longer played world policeman."
In this scenario, Mexico has been taken over by narco-gangs; oil and gas pipelines have been "targeted and destroyed;" tourism "non-existant;" 50 million people are unemployed and there are "riots in the streets."
Again, the guests bumped up "maybe" to "likely." Former CIA officer Bob Baer described the "probability" scenarios as "prolonged depression," and warned of trouble with Iran. According to Baer, the Gulf countries would suffer and Iran therefore would "move into the Gulf and take it. We have a hostile regime in control of our resources. That is not that far away (my emphasis)."
With Netanyahu now in power in Israel, Baer said (speaking about the present) that the Pentagon estimates the chances of war in the Middle East are likely 55%.
Beck complained that "what's happening" in the Middle East is also tied in with Europe. "Europe, itself, is teetering with Muslim extremists, as well (Beck seemed to be referring to the present). How does the world stand without America standing there and being prepared to deal with it?"
Novelist and former member of the Department of Homeland Security Brad Thor (who once advocated installing jailed former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in Iraq as a solution to the war there) said that it would be just like when a teacher leaves the classroom. "A lot of these people go wild and I'm talking in particular in the Muslim world."
Worst-Case Scenario 3 was "anger and discontent at home." What they meant was gangs and civil war.
The tax rate would be "80, 90, perhaps even 95%... just to pay for what we've already spent money on," said Moore. Celente predicted violent tax revolts. "The cities are gonna look like Dodge City. They're gonna be uncontrollable. You're gonna have gangs in control, motorcycle maurauders... just like Mexico."
Note the lack of the word "may" or "might" or "possibly."
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