Influential financial guru and publisher Steve Forbes is calling on the GOP field to stop pussyfooting around and unveil “radical” pro-growth measures to kill Obamacare, implement a flat tax, and kick the Federal Reserve out of monetary policy in order to retake the White House.
“If you are going to go for it, go for the cure,” he told Secrets as he begins a campaign to roll out his latest policy book, Reviving America, How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code, and Reforming the Fed will Restore Hope and Prosperity.
Talking positively about proposals from several GOP presidential candidates on some of the issues Reviving America touches on, he said, “You’ve got to go the whole nine yards…it’s called leadership.”
In an interview, he didn’t pick sides in the GOP primary race but said Donald Trump has nailed the best theme and said the rest should echo that with their own forward spin.
“Whatever you think of Donald Trump, he understood the need for a theme, ‘Making America Great Again.’ What these other candidates have to do is get similar themes,” he told Secrets.
Asked if he was ready to endorse, Forbes added, “If feel like I’m in the ‘Dating Game,'” still asking questions of the contestants.
His new book, published by McGraw-Hill Education, set for release next week, and co-written with Elizabeth Ames, is expected to influence the GOP debate as candidates race to declare the positions on Obamacare, taxes and monetary policy. He has already huddled with Sen. Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Sen. Rand Paul.
Forbes also hopes it eggs on voters to make demands from the candidates for bolder action.
Forbes ran for president in 1996 and 2000 and made the flat tax a national issue. He has also written extensively on it and influenced the proposals from Cruz, Paul and Mike Huckabee.
He is one of the top conservative leaders on issues like money and health. His previous book was Money in which he said the U.S. faces an economic catastrophe due to the Federal Reserve’s loose dollar policy, and returning to a strict “gold standard” is the only way to avoid disaster.
In his new book he reiterates that, and calls for a pure flat tax, with no Value Added Tax:
“Why have so many other nations embraced a reform that people in the United States consider radical? Because their leaders recognize that succeeding in the global marketplace requires a pro-growth tax system that encourages a vigorous, entrepreneurial economy—and that the best way to achieve this is through a Flat Tax.
“If only our leaders had such vision. The U.S. can’t remain the world’s foremost economic and political power unless something is done about today’s toxic tax behemoth. To appreciate the potential of the Flat Tax to revive America, one need only look to the experiences of a few Flat Tax economies.”
Forbes calls for replacing Obamacare with a market-based health care system where patients would be treated like regular consumers. For example, hospitals would post prices so patients could shop around. They would also be required to reveal their success rate and death rate due to in-hospital infections.
His goal, he told Secrets, is to push all GOP candidates to a pro-growth agenda.
He writes in Reviving America: “If we are to avoid a miserable future in an increasingly chaotic world, America must again experience the kind of resurgence that took place after World War II and again in the 1980s. We can achieve a comparable comeback—if we do the right things. To bring about a genuine revival in the 21st century, the U.S. must put in place a Reaganite program of reform that removes the shackles of government and unleashes the brainpower and resources of the American people.”
The bottom line, he concludes: “We don’t need another Ronald Reagan for a great American comeback. We need an administration that understands and will act on Reagan’s ideas, which are, after all, American principles with us since the founding of our Republic. This does not mean slavishly imitating Reagan’s specific policies. It means enacting reforms based on the Reaganite belief that a true American revival can only come from the ingenuity of people in free markets.”
His focus on Obamacare, the flat tax and gold standard are summarized this way by McGraw-Hill:
Patient-Driven Healthcare: The problem with healthcare, Forbes says, is that Big Government, health insurance companies, and employers are in control, not you, the patient. The key to getting high-quality, affordable healthcare is increasing competition and choice, and putting patients in charge.
Enact a Flat Tax: Today’s complex, corrupt tax code must be scrapped. The best answer is a simple Flat Tax. Forbes shows how this very bold reform would free America from the IRS and unleash an unprecedented wave of prosperity.
A Sound Dollar as Good as Gold: With its ever-fluctuating “fiat” dollar, the Federal Reserve has blocked a real recovery and is the prime cause of today’s stagnant, crisis-ridden economy. The answer? Take the dollar out of the hands of the Washington politicians by returning to a monetary system with the value of the dollar linked to gold.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
