'Glenn Beck': Should Americans Pay a Global Tax?

This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," April 21, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GLENN BECK, HOST: A few years ago, you'd be labeled a kook for suggesting that global taxes could be levied against Americans. No way.

Today, the International Monetary Fund, an organization that offers policy advice to 186-member countries, says we need a global financial activities tax. F-A-T. A FAT tax on all banking and financial institutions.

Oh, well, that doesn't affect you. This is what I talked about — I know I specifically lined this out at least a year ago, maybe two years ago. Here is what is going to happen, I said back then.

The cities are going to have so much financial debt they're going to push it up to the states. The states won't be able to hand it. They'll push it up to the government. The federal government — it will be such an out-of-control situation it will be pushed up to the globe.

Now, we're considering the IMF's recommendation on the global taxation level. It is the opposite that needs to happen. Here we are, staring directly into the face of economic collapse.

And rather than returning to the principles, faith, hope, charity, self-reliance, accountability — instead of relying on those things that made us the most prosperous country on earth in the history of mankind, we're headed the opposite direction with giant government structure, right into socialism. The opposite direction — taxes and government intervention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: A culture of irresponsibility took root from Wall Street to Washington, to Main Street. And regulatory regime basically crafted in the wake of a 20th century economic crisis, the Great Depression, was overwhelmed by the speed, scope and sophistication of a 21st century global economy.

So today, my administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system, a transformation on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Reforms, believe me, that will lead to reforms that have never been seen at this scale ever in the history of mankind. Taxes and regulation will not lead us out of this crisis.

The administration won't even discuss the real causes of the crisis. Why hasn't anybody gone to jail? You know what? We're now — after all these months, we're now making Goldman Sachs the scapegoat.

Look, I don't have any admiration — I don't have any love for Goldman Sachs. I don't really care. I think some of them are probably dirt bags. Some of them are probably good guys.

But let's stop with the window dressing. Goldman Sachs is all of a sudden this evil entity? Who? Specifically, what did they do? Let's get the bad guys. Let's smoke them out.

Everybody is focused on the nearly $1 million Obama received from Goldman Sachs during the campaign, whether he was going to give it back or — first of all, of course he's not going to give it back.

More importantly, who cares? Trillions of dollars are at stake. Trillions. Trillions. Why is it that Goldman Sachs is the only target here? Why? Aren't there bigger culprits? Oh, I don't know. Maybe Fannie and Freddie? Huh? Even the all-knowing, all-seeing financial guru Alan Greenspan said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE: The failure of Fannie and Freddie was a major factor in the crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Why isn't that entity in trouble? If Congress and the administration were concerned about the rule of law, there would have been arrests made at these institutions, not just some civil action against Goldman Sachs.

And if Goldman Sachs is the main focus of the Democrats' ire, why did it take so long to do anything? Since the Bush years, our government has been inundated with Goldman Sachs executives. Goldman Sachs.

Look at this. I mean, do you remember that — do you remember that cartoon on Saturday mornings? At least when I was growing up in the '70s, "Hong Kong Phooey." Hong Kong Phooey could have cracked this case.

This whole thing is about timing and something is very, very wrong. Something else I've said repeatedly — watch the other hand. Goldman Sachs — what is this hand doing?

We all hate the banks, right? Always hate them. May I show you how the banks are making their money? This is from The New York Times. They're borrowing the money that they need from the Fed at less than one percent interest.

Got it? Sounds like a good deal. They borrow it from the Fed. Then who do they loan it to you? The Treasury. You, the taxpayer. And they're charging the taxpayer three percent. Less than one percent, charging you three percent — that is a sweet racket, isn't it?

All they're doing is taking money from one pocket for free, charging you to move it to the other pocket. This is the biggest scam in financial history. Well, maybe, actually, the second biggest scam, because the biggest scam might be this new FAT proposal, this new financial tax.

We all know that if this tax is imposed, banks are not only going to simply absorb the financial losses that come with the new tax. No, they're not going to do that. They're going to pass it on to you, the consumer. Global consumer.

So if we succumb to this, and you know it will be the only — the first of many taxes globally, once this door is open, this planet is going to pour money into what? Into whom? Who has this money? What is this money for? Where do all the global taxes go?

Let me tell you something, this planet will be enslaved unlike anything else before. This global financial structure that has been put in place can't and will not work.

And I'll show you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: The answer must be smaller, not global government. Smaller government, closer to you. And here is why. The global financial structure that we already have put in place can't and will not work because of mutually assured economic destruction. Please look this up.

It wasn't done for these times. It was done for a good reason. It was a system put into place to assure that with the world's economies linked, no one would ever risk a world war again because it would destroy all of the economies.

But now, with this system on the brink of collapse, not due to war, and they didn't even think of this. What about if the economy is starting to collapse because of global mismanagement, corruption, incompetence, greed? The countries are all tied together — mutually assured economic destruction.

Now, our governments are having to rape the resources, rape their own people with taxes. They've got to hold this global structure together any way they can, so they're raiding the global treasury in every country. It's happening here.

This is the last step before a collapse of an empire, except this time, we are watching the whole globe. To be left with nothing. The elite few will have it. They laid the tracks for a while. We've got to spit ourselves out of this system. It's going to take direct and dramatic action.

But we also face vicious opposition from progressives who have worked hard to lay this foundation for more than a century. We must learn from history. And I'll give it to you every single night to my last breath.

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