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The housing craze was fueled by government policies
Q: In the early 2000s, we were talking about this idea of how free markets had been ascendant for two decades, and there was a PBS special called The Commanding Heights that talked about this revolution in politics and popular culture. And I asked you back then – I said, “Steve, do you think we’re losing” – and when I say “we,” I mean free-market capitalists, folks like us. “Do you think we’re losing the commanding heights, the moral high ground because of Enron and because of the corruption of the financial markets?” Do you have any thoughts about that lately? Have we lost the American people with the idea that free markets are the best way to lead the country? STEVE FORBES: I think what has undermined faith in free-market capitalism, free enterprise, free people, is the stagnation we’ve experienced for a decade. But the crisis that we had in 2008/2009 was basically caused by the government undermining the dollar. And whenever you have a weak dollar, you get false commodity booms, housing booms. The housing craze was fueled by government policies urging people who couldn’t afford to do these things to do them anyway. But free markets get the blame for it. And then we had eight years of an administration that saw business as evil, that saw commerce as something you put up with but nothing more, and saw businesspeople as just criminals in waiting.
So the key thing, as happened in the 1980s when markets seemed to be discredited by the terrible inflation of the ‘70s, Ronald Reagan comes along as president and makes some major reforms, slashing taxes and the like, and the U.S. economy boomed. It became the cutting-edge innovator in the world, and suddenly the world became a better place. I’m hoping the same thing will unfold now. After one year under President Trump, we’ve had some real moves on deregulation – whether it’s at the Food and Drug Administration, the EPA, education, and elsewhere like energy. And we got a tax bill. Not perfect, but a very good step in the right direction when you weigh the pros and cons. And good judges being appointed. So we have to move on these reforms. And that, by the way, is why these upcoming elections in November are going to be so critical. Can we keep up this momentum and get this economy revved up to growing at 4% to 5% a year? urging people who couldn’t afford to do these things to do them anyway. But free markets get the blame for it. Q: Steve, the very first magazine that you launched was called Business Today , at Princeton. Are you still involved in publishing or speech at
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