Glenn Beck, survival kits, and vertical integration

Remember on last week's 30 Rock how Jack was defending a controversial method of vertical integration?  Example: a company that manufactures both snack chips and Pepto might be inclined to make their snack chips cause diarrhea. It's genius, really... and not at all fictional:

Glenn Beck Hawking Survivalist Disaster Kits

Here's how it works: first, Beck plants the seeds of sensationalist fear and paranoia into the minds of his many viewers/listeners.  Then he promotes (and makes money off of) a product that only the fearful and the paranoid will purchase.  Genius!

Beck used to suggest his viewers buy gold, and lots of it, in preparation for the coming economic apocalypse where the government will apparently confiscate our valuables.  But not just any gold: Beck, along with Mike Huckabee, played spokesperson in commercials for a company called Goldline International, a company that has recently come under investigation for allegedly ripping off consumers.

Now that we're apparently looking at the apocalypse apocalypse, where only the owners of freeze-dried foodstuffs will survive, Beck is all about this "food insurance" thing.  And in true paternalistic form, he grasps his target market by co-opting some tired old patriarch-as-provider jargon:

"I finished my food storage, and I couldn't believe how relieved I was.  I remember sitting down on the stairs of the basement and looking at it, and thinking 'I could lose my job, and my family will eat.' Sometimes guys don't realize how much pressure is on them."

{vomit sounds}

TPM reports that the "survival kits" range from $199.99 for a single "essentials" kit to a whopping $9,599.99 for one that can feed a five person family for up to 12 months.  Is it any wonder Beck made $32million last year?

Your fear and paranoia are commodities to Beck, and he's cashing in like mad.  It's genius.  Evil genius, but genius nonetheless.