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Speaker 1: Here's more of the Mark Zimont Show on Doubo. Well,

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Speaker 1: we bring you the smartest people on Earth. Steve Forbes,

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Speaker 1: of course, the chairman editor in chief Forbes Media. Also,

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Speaker 1: you know he's the best selling author. You should get

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Speaker 1: his latest book, Inflation. There is no better book on

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Speaker 1: the subject. Just go to Amazon. You can get it there. Inflation,

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Speaker 1: excellent book. Steve Forbes. How are you.

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Speaker 2: Doing fine? Thanks? How are you in this new year?

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Speaker 2: Lots happening. Seems like the year's half over already with

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Speaker 2: every hum it's going on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of Hey, we're talking about affordability. Democrats found

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Speaker 1: that word through focus groups. Affordability. But it has improved

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Speaker 1: a lot in my last year, hasn't it.

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Speaker 2: The real progress is being made. One of the things

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Speaker 2: I think the Trump president Trump and his team underestimated

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Speaker 2: was how big of a mess they were actually inherited

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Speaker 2: from the Biden administration. But when you go down the

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Speaker 2: list of what they've done and what I hope they're

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Speaker 2: going to be doing this year, it's impressive. One of

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Speaker 2: the most boring subjects in the world, of course, is regulation.

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Speaker 2: It's not the kind of thing that has people really aroused,

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Speaker 2: but it's been a huge drain, huge burden on American

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Speaker 2: manufacturing and what they've done and things like with evs.

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Speaker 2: You know, if they make these regulations permanent through legislation,

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Speaker 2: the auto industry is going to have a revival and

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Speaker 2: renaissance that we haven't seen since the nineteen fifties and

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Speaker 2: nineteen sixties in terms of new designs and new ways

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Speaker 2: of doing things instead of everything looking like a jelly

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Speaker 2: bean because of government regulations. So they're doing really really

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Speaker 2: important things. Hundreds of billions of dollars are going to

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Speaker 2: be saved through a deregulation. The tax cut is a

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Speaker 2: savior of preserving the twenty seventeen tax cuts, but also

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Speaker 2: the big write offs for investment in manufacturing and businesses

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Speaker 2: today is going to kick in. And one of the

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Speaker 2: things they're talking about, which I hope they'll do Mark,

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Speaker 2: is have a second reconciliation bill and cut personal income

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Speaker 2: tax rates, cut the corporate rate with President Trump wanted

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Speaker 2: to do from twenty one to fifteen percent, cut the

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Speaker 2: capital gains, which that should be a no brainer. It's

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Speaker 2: good for investment, but also instantly raises revenue. So some

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Speaker 2: things are moving in the right way. And a big

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Speaker 2: battle coming up again. Another boring subject monetary policy is

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Speaker 2: the Federal Reserve getting somebody in there who will fundamentally

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Speaker 2: re rechange change the way the Federal Reserve operates on.

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Speaker 2: The FED operates on the assumption the prosperity causes inflation.

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Speaker 2: They have an allergy to a vigorous, growing economy, and

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Speaker 2: that's got to be changed because that's been a dead

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Speaker 2: weight for decades.

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Speaker 1: Yea, But how crucial is the FED nowadays? You know

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Speaker 1: you can't rate cut your way to prosperity, can you.

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Speaker 2: No, But what you can do is have rates actually

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Speaker 2: set by the marketplace. What the Fed is doing now

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Speaker 2: is a form of rent control. We know what that's

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Speaker 2: done in New York, and we'll do even more. But

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Speaker 2: you know, they used to talk about renting the money,

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Speaker 2: So when you're borrowing the money, you're renting it, and

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Speaker 2: the Federal Reserve is setting the rental rates instead of

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Speaker 2: letting the market do it. So the key thing is

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Speaker 2: not to have the FED come up the financial markets,

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Speaker 2: which is done with their artificial coming around with interest

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Speaker 2: rates and go for a stable dollar. That's why I

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Speaker 2: hope Treasury Secretary Besson and President Trump say they want

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Speaker 2: a strong, stable dollar. They want the dollar to remain

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Speaker 2: a reserve currency. Well, you have to have a stable

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Speaker 2: and trustworthy So I hope they get the FED in

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Speaker 2: the right direction. And I'll make a prediction even though

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Speaker 2: I'm probably wrong, but you never make money going with

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Speaker 2: the crowd. In terms of the head of the FED,

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Speaker 2: I think a good thing would be to send Scott

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Speaker 2: Besson over to the FED. He's got the strength and

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Speaker 2: knows what needs to be done, and have Kevin Hassett

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Speaker 2: go to the Treasury Department.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, listen, you know more about this than I do.

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Speaker 1: But Scott Besson's a great Treasury secretary.

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Speaker 2: And there's oh yes he is.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, other people could be great FED chairman, but look

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Speaker 1: who I'm talking to, Steve Forbes, you'd be perfect for it.

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Speaker 1: But you got that to Kevin.

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Speaker 2: I'm an agitator now.

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Speaker 1: But is it your top guy? If it's Scott Bessonton,

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Speaker 1: wouldn't need be more valuable as a Treasury secretary than

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Speaker 1: a FED chairman.

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Speaker 2: I think he would be. Actually, Well, the reason I

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Speaker 2: would like him at the FED is that one he's

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Speaker 2: got a fixed term, and he would not. I think

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Speaker 2: he's because of his background in finance and the success

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Speaker 2: in finance. There's no way they can capture him, no

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Speaker 2: way they can buffalo him the way they did Jerome Powell.

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Speaker 2: And I think he would also know how to ask

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Speaker 2: the right questions, that's key, and have the and not

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Speaker 2: be intimidated by PhDs. They're over three hundred there now

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Speaker 2: they should be uber drivers, but they're they're at the

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Speaker 2: FED right now mucking things up, and so I think

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Speaker 2: Besson would have the strength to really turn things over.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we've already seen what lee z Elden's done

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Speaker 2: at the EP in terms of deregulation and the tread

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Speaker 2: of the Energy team with this administration's phenomenal, right, and

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Speaker 2: Bergham's that that's going to pay real dividends and already

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Speaker 2: is at the hump. And by the way, by the way,

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Speaker 2: the lower price of gas lead somehow doesn't make the

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Speaker 2: headlines the way it does when the Democrats are in

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Speaker 2: and prices are going up and gets ignored. Prices are

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Speaker 2: going down and the media ignores it. But with winner

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Speaker 2: right with us, boy, people want those low rates, you know.

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Speaker 1: Part of the problem though I don't know how they

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Speaker 1: managed to do it. But as the price has dropped

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Speaker 1: a lot on gas here in New York and in

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Speaker 1: California they kept the price way up there at four

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Speaker 1: dollars a gallon, which is where most of the reporters

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Speaker 1: in the media live, so they haven't felt the effect yet.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. And but you know, since

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Speaker 2: they pride themselves and being a great journalist, ask the

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Speaker 2: question why and the answer is thing called tax.

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Speaker 1: Steve Forth, let me ask you about Venezuela. It was

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Speaker 1: a booming economy for many years and then Chavez and

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Speaker 1: Maduro come in with their socialism and screw it up.

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Speaker 1: What's the potential for the economy in Venezuela with the

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Speaker 1: right leader.

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Speaker 2: The potential is phenomenal. We all know about their oil

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Speaker 2: reserves and it will take time to get the fields

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Speaker 2: back up. They've been erecked and that takes time. But

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Speaker 2: one of the things I hope we do before we

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Speaker 2: have a new democratic elected government. There is a couple

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Speaker 2: of things. One is keep out the International Monetary Fund

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Speaker 2: the IMF. They always recommend higher taxes and currency devaluations

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Speaker 2: with triggers inflation, So keep out the IMF and know

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Speaker 2: what they should do do in Venezuela. Is, since nobody

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Speaker 2: pays attention to their Bolovar currency anymore, even toilet paper.

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Speaker 2: Is it dollarize it? Malay should have done that in Argentina,

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Speaker 2: the president of Argentina. But dollarize the Venezuelan economy. They're

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Speaker 2: always already using dollars informally anyway, so make it formal

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Speaker 2: and then put in a low rate tax system. And

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Speaker 2: by golly, you'd see you've got millions of people who

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Speaker 2: left Venezuela. They would bring capital back. You'd see domestic

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Speaker 2: capital being created again. And there you said, they have

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Speaker 2: an entrepreneurial spirit, and you could see that economy not

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Speaker 2: revived just because of oil, but doing other things. And

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Speaker 2: you have a success in Venezuela. You've got a new

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Speaker 2: president of Chile to get that country back on track.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully Malay gets it right with the currency in Argentina.

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Speaker 2: You have those three countries booming. By golly, that changes everything,

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Speaker 2: not just in Latin America, but as a model for

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Speaker 2: other countries around the world.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Steve Forbes, what's your outlook forecast for New Jersey

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Speaker 1: with another crazy Democrat governor coming in?

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Speaker 2: Man, You know, whenever you talk, whenever you talk to

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Speaker 2: a financial advisor. The first thing they say to me,

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Speaker 2: they they're more polite than I'm about to be to myself,

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Speaker 2: You idiot. Why he's staying in the state of New Jersey.

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Speaker 2: That's one of the most misgoverned states in the Union.

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Speaker 2: And the sad thing is years ago, Larry Cudler and

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Speaker 2: I did a tax program for Christy Whitman when she

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Speaker 2: became governor, and we helped get through big cuts in

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Speaker 2: the state income tax rate. And one of the things

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Speaker 2: we learned back then was New Jersey was once the

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Speaker 2: most prosperous state in the country, grew faster than the

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Speaker 2: rest of the country, recovered faster than the rest of

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Speaker 2: the country, and high taxes and regulation killed what had

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Speaker 2: been a booming economy, always doing better than the national average.

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Speaker 2: And that can be brought back again. That's why the

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Speaker 2: pharmaceutical industry is based in New Jersey and other industries,

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Speaker 2: and the policy wrecked it. And that's what is so

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Speaker 2: frustrating as we see real life examples of before and after,

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Speaker 2: and yet and yet people continue to talk about the

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Speaker 2: need for re education centers, maybe for economics, I don't know,

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Speaker 2: but well, it's sad because the potential is enormous, but

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Speaker 2: people and capital are moving elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: Well I would laugh at you, but we just elected

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Speaker 1: Kathy Hockle and Mamdani, So who am I to But yes,

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Speaker 1: Steve Forbes, great to talk to you. Everybody should get

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Speaker 1: his book. His latest book is Inflation. No better book

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Speaker 1: on the subject inflation. Just go to Amazon and get

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Speaker 1: Steve Forbes' book, read his columns, watch them on television.

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Speaker 1: Of course, Forbes one of the great media companies in America,

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Speaker 1: in the world. Steve Forbes, thanks for being with us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, and keep up your a great fight, especially

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Speaker 2: now that we've got a communist running the great city

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Speaker 2: of New York. Venezuela throw gets loss of communist and

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Speaker 2: we gave one.

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Speaker 1: Well, thanks for reminding us, Steve Forbes. Have a great

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Speaker 1: new year. Thanks for being with us. You too, Thank you, Mark,

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Speaker 1: take care. Hey, don't forget Buck and Clay coming up

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Speaker 1: at noon today. They do an excellent show every day

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Speaker 1: twelve noon. Then you got the most listened to radio

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Speaker 1: show in America, Sean Hannity three o'clock. You got Jesse

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Speaker 1: Kelly at six, and if you heard the new Jimmy

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Speaker 1: Fayla show every night at nine, it is excellent on

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Speaker 1: seven to ten. Woor