Joining us for a new season of McCuistion TV, host Dennis McCuistion is joined by:

• Steve Forbes – President and CEO of Forbes Magazine and author of Power, Ambition, Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn
• Thomas E. Woods, JR., PhD – Senior Fellow at Ludwig von Mises Institute and author of Meltdown

During this conversation centering around the financial crisis, Thomas Woods asserts that people are tired of conventional wisdom.  Guest, Steve Forbes believes most of the present problem in the breakdown of the free market economic system was caused by huge government errors. Forbes contends that the Federal Reserve printed too much money and made it artificially cheap. In addition lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwrote too many junk mortgages.

“If private business makes a mistake they pay for it, if government does, we all do. Wall Street underwrote and securitized, but government distorts the free market.”

Thomas Woods touches on his new book, Meltdown,  and the reason he pushed hard to have the book released early. He believes having a free market perspective on the credit crunch is essential for people to understand what has truly happened. He says, “the government and the Federal Reserve’s fingerprints are all over this situation.”

Dennis addresses the Fred Foldvary prediction of a real estate depression in 2008.

They conclude with comments on the speculation in real estate, the magnificent money creation machine government made and how this was an artificial stimulus to speculation.

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1801 – 09.27.09

Steve Forbes joins Dennis McCuistion to discuss his support of the flat tax, issues surrounding the global economy, his views on Washington policy and his perspective on where the government should be focusing. Steve Forbes is the Editor-in-Chief for Forbes Magazine and the author of Flat Tax Revolution.

As a forerunner in the proposal of the flat tax, Forbes is adamant that the flat tax issue should be on the forefront of the Presidential agenda. He states that it not only needs reformed, but health care and social security for young Americans must also be addressed.  He goes on to discuss public opinion and his belief that although the flat tax will make the most sense long term, public opinion will be something that will need to be monitored and addressed as well and his suggestions on how to do that.

It’s the complexity of the current code that creates the  problem. He sited a study where one average family’s tax information was given to 45 of the best preparers in the country and they came out with 45 different results on the amount of money the family owed.

Forbes continues the discussion by candidly addressing what he would have done differently if had been elected and the different place that would have put the country.  He offered suggestions and support of off-shore drilling and nuclear power plants, saying it would offer 1 million new jobs, manufacturing and construction jobs, highly skilled and highly paid jobs, thus increasing jobs, energy and national security.

He finishes off the discussion by referencing some fundamental moral problems that have left America in the spot it is in today, demographics, social security, medicare and medicaid and his suggestions as how to fix the issues.

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09.21.08 – 1718