Steve Forbes: ‘America wants a can-do guy’

MANILA, Philippines – “What America wants is a leader who shake things up and make things happen,” said former presidential candidate and Forbes Media Chairman Steve Forbes. (READ: LIVE BLOG: Forbes Global CEO Conference 2015)

“Americans are not concerned much on the specific policies as much as this [presidential candidate] is a can-do guy,” Forbes said in an interview with Rappler’s CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa on the sidelines of the Forbes Global CEO Conference 2015, which concluded on Wednesday, October 14.

Forbes added that billionaire real-estate developer Donald Trump is a popular presidential candidate as people are motivated by the spectacle of his success in entrepreneurship.

“Trump is so popular because people know him from the television show The Apprentice, and they figure, this is a guy who shake things and make things happen. Then they say: “That’s what we want,” Forbes told Rappler.

The media mogul said that Trump’s efficiency in using social media as a tool to get the message around has helped him to be a crowd favorite among the presidential candidates.

“Donald Trump is very efficient in Twitter. He has learned very early that in Twitter, people read because it’s short and [it’s] not like a traditional press release,” Forbes said.

Other 2016 candidates include Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Senator Bernie Sanders, a former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, US Senator Marco Rubio, and Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. (READ: Clinton fends off rivals in first Democratic debate)

Economic reforms

According to the chief of the nearly 100-year-old Forbes Media, what the next US president should do is craft a proposal on reforms that will let the country’s economy grow.

“For example, what happens in the Republican Party is that almost every presidential candidate has felt the need to put on the table a major proposal for reform in tax codes regarding flat tax, which is what I like,” Forbes said. (READ: Steve Forbes: PH needs tax reform to sustain economic stability)

Asked about his outlook on the global economy, the Forbes Media chairman said he thinks the world “will go through a period like the 1980s.”

Throughout 1970-1982, the US suffered a deep recession. 

According to the US Department of State, business bankruptcies went up by a half, agricultural exports slid, crop prices declined, and interest rates surged.

But by 1983, the global economy had rebounded, US economy began to grow as inflation eased.

“1970s was a dreadful decade for the US economy, and then we got reforms and changes we needed that gave us a 25-year boom. I think you’re going to see the same thing to happen next year. Mandates will happen – reforming health care, reconstituting foreign policy, increasing military. The world will once again be in the growth path,” Forbes said. – Rappler.com