In These New Times

Steve Forbes: Economy In ‘Cardiac Arrest’ Washington Post
Former Republican presidential candidate and noted flat-taxer Steve Forbes appeared on CNBC moments ago with a grave diagnosis for the U.S. economy, likening it to a flatlining coronary patient.

“Right now there is fear in the marketplace,” said Forbes, also editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine. “Not since 1933 have we been as close to the abyss as we are now.”

Forbes said taxpayers who oppose the $700 billion Wall Street rescue bill rejected by the House today “don’t understand” that if some form of relief is not approved, “millions of jobs will be lost.”

CNBC reporter Maria Bartiromo, possibly speaking as a taxpayer and not a journalist, asked Forbes: “How do we communicate to members of Congress that this is not a bailout?”

Forbes suggested that President Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson take to television to explain the crisis to the American people, using “charts.”

Forbes noted that the stock market lost $1 trillion in value today, well more than the proposed $700 billion rescue plan.

— Frank Ahrens