I.O.U.S.A - Addison Wiggin [125]
8/26/08 7:21:02 PM
250 The
Interviews
debt become accepted? Also, do you believe this culture change is positive or negative?
Steve Forbes: Well, the key is that people must learn how to handle fi nances in a responsible way. Too often, the kind of consumer culture we have only focuses on the here and now, not on the future. What we should learn to build on in terms of recasting our culture is home ownership. There you ’ re taking on debt, but you have an asset behind it, you ’ re paying it off, it ’ s your property.
In terms of indebtedness, people have to look at the balance sheet and make sure they have assets there. This is where having your own personal accounts for Social Security would be such a benefi t because from a young age, your money ’ s going into that account.
You want to know, “ How am I going to grow that account? How am I going to protect that account? How do I make sure the politicians don ’ t wreck it for me? ” Suddenly, people are going to develop a Ben Franklin – like mentality because they are talking about their own money. And don ’ t you think that ’ s going to start to spill over into other areas? People are going to want to talk about assets and actions that will help or jeopardize their earnings. At an early age, people will develop, build a mentality that they can accumulate and grow their assets. They will become excited to see that they worked and have something to show for it, other than just a paycheck or a trip to the movies. After a person earns their money at McDonald ’ s, they will have something that lasts longer. Now, the words “ A penny saved is a penny earned is a penny saved ” will have meaning. Kids especially will be able to build this mentality at an early age.
Q: Recently, the United States has been compared to a giant ship.
It has been said that sometimes it feels like the amount of debt taken on is a Titanic - like iceberg and the ship is heading toward it. Is that a reasonable analogy? Is the enormous debt that the government has created a threat to our future?
Steve Forbes: Whether it ’ s a ship headed for an iceberg or a car headed for a cliff, when you get near the cliff, you ’ re going to have c18.indd 250
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to stop. The United States with its liabilities on Social Security and health care is unsustainable. You see huge liabilities in Europe and Japan. The question is, what do you do about it? And that is where you need a new crew or a new captain. If the people who are manning the ship can ’ t do a good job in avoiding icebergs, you must get a new crew that doesn ’ t keep sinking the ships. This is where we have to say, “ Enough ’ s enough. You ’ re not doing the job.
We are going to replace you and here ’ s how we ’ re going to change things. ” As free people, we have to do that. There ’ s no point in complaining. Instead of saying, “ The ship isn ’ t doing a good job ” or
“ The captain is about to run us into the iceberg again and sink the whole thing, ” we must effectively change the captain. That ’ s what elections are about. If the captain doesn ’ t change, it ’ s our fault as a free people.
Q: One of the things that we ’ re taught is in times of war was that people have to make sacrifi ces. For example, during World War II kids collected newspapers and tin for the war effort, or a war tax was imposed. It doesn ’ t seem that during this “ War on Terror ” that the American people have been called upon to make sacrifi ces. At the same time, the government doesn ’ t seem to be making any sacrifi ces as the spending in nondefense areas has grown. Are we in jeopardy of essentially bankrupting America if the policies that are in place now continue?
Steve Forbes: Well, this is where I think we need to answer the question, how do we fi nance this war against Islamic fanaticism, but stop crazy spending? Comparing the spending to drunken sailors is an insult to sailors.