I.O.U.S.A - Addison Wiggin [129]
Steve Forbes: What most concerns me is not the specifi c problems like out - of - control spending and the war on Islamic fanaticism.
What concerns me is that if we as a free people have the spirit, the stamina, the orientation to do something about them. Human nature being what it is in the world is always going to face challenges, especially preserving freedom. Jefferson said it requires eternal, constant vigilance. I sometimes wonder if we ’ ve lost that vigilance. I don ’ t think we have, so I ’ m an optimist. So when specifi c things come along and we have an out - of - control political culture, we as a free people have to do something about it. If we haven ’ t lost the spirit which founded this nation and if we can keep that spirit going, we ’ ll be able to deal with these problems and pursue opportunities. So it ’ s not specifi c things per se; it ’ s whether we as a free people can summon the will to deal with them.
Q: Many doom - and - gloom experts say that things aren ’ t going to change, that people are going to continue to spend what they don ’ t have and make bad decisions based on the leadership we have. Is that a fair assessment of the way the United States seems to be going?
Steve Forbes: Well, as a free people, we in the United States will make mistakes. The key is do we have the fl exibility, the adaptability, and the willingness to do things to deal with things c18.indd 257
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when they go wrong? In the ‘ 60s and ‘ 70s, for example, we took a real hit from Japan. We had the fl exibility to say, “ What are they doing right that we ’ re not doing? ” As a result, Japan ’ s the country that went into a 10 - year recession as we moved ahead in areas of high technology and biotechnology. Japan ’ s now just starting to come to life again.
So yes, things are going to go wrong. We will make mistakes, but the key is that we must have the fl exibility, the adaptability, the can - do attitude that says, “ We ’ ve got a problem here; we ’ d better do something about it. ” So rather than get doom - and - gloom message out to people, there are various other ways you can get information out there. But if you don ’ t make the effort to get the information out and say, “ Hey, [we] may have a problem here that if left untended is going to have real repercussions, unpleasant ones, ” guess what? The repercussion, the bad things will happen. So I ’ m delighted people are saying, “ We have problems out there, ” or “ Well, if this is a problem, we ’ ll deal with it. ”
Q: What do you think the United States government has done best in the past 25 years?
Steve Forbes: I look to Ronald Reagan coming into offi ce in 1981, faced with a malaise in the United States, a Cold War that was going against us, revolutions in Iran, Nicaragua, and anti - U.S. sentiments everywhere. And he said, “ If we go back to our principles and have that kind of forward - looking optimism, we can do it. ” And in eight years, the United States economy ’ s growth exceeded the entire German economy; just as in the last three years the expansion of the U.S. economy exceeds the entire size of the Chinese economy. Nobody knows that. We won the Cold War; people thought that was going to go forever, but we won it. Now, did we have problems in that era? Yes, but on big things, we did it right, so why can ’ t we have that kind of Reaganist approach again? Sure, nothing ’ s ever going to be perfect, that ’ s not for this world, that ’ s for another world; but by golly, we can get a lot of glorious things done with that kind of can - do American Reaganist spirit.
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Q: Should we be back on the gold standard?
Steve Forbes: Should we be back on the gold standard in terms of having a pile of gold? No. All you need to do is look at the price of gold