An Afternoon with Steve Forbes

By Holly A. Bell

I had an opportunity to meet Steve Forbes Wednesday and hear him discuss the economy, the Presidential election, healthcare, and government’s role in the economy. I decided he and I would get along just fine. This was actually not my first encounter with Mr. Forbes. The first was when he and I literally ran into each other at what was then National Airport in Washington, D.C. in 2000. As an icebreaker I told him we had “run into each other” there. He smiled and said, “I’m sure I enjoyed that very much.” Well, that would certainly explain why he was so nice about it at the time.

A few highlights from Mr. Forbes discussion:

• He sees the primary source of our current economic crisis as quite simple: The government has printed too much money. They then distributed it through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other government programs.

• On the Republican Presidential Primary he is currently not endorsing any candidate. Why? Santorum is too focused on social issues, Paul doesn’t realize the rest of the world can be dangerous, Romney has no plan, and Gingrich acts like a man with ADHD who can’t stay on message.  While he didn’t come out and say it, it seemed to me that he’s rooting a bit for Gingrich to get a message and stick with it. I think he thinks he has some potential, but this is my interpretation, not his words.

• One simple solution to the high cost of healthcare is to allow nationwide competition between health insurance companies. I couldn’t agree more. Currently your state determines a few companies that are allowed to sell health insurance to you in your state. As a result, those companies are only competing with each other, not all health insurance companies. This low level of competition means there’s no incentive to keep premium prices low or offer many choices. If companies compete nationally, more players in the marketplace should drive down prices and allow them to compete in other areas like (gasp) customer service.

• While he believes in limited government intervention in the economy, he realizes the government does need to establish laws and regulations in an attempt to keep the playing field as level as possible. Why? Because none of us are angels.

I also overheard him talking to another faculty member who asked him what advice he would like her to pass along to young business students about being a successful business person. His response? He said they needed to know there is always a cost no matter what they decide to do in life and they should prepare themselves for that reality.

Thank you Mr. Forbes; we’re all bracing for reality.