Speaking at Penn on Tuesday, American publishing executive Steve Forbes said there is no need to worry about a "bleak future" for the United States.
“What we’re going through right now is result of mistakes and policy errors," he said. "The good news is that errs can be overcome and mistakes can be corrected and we can move forward.”
The editor-in-chief of Forbes, who campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination twice, in 1996 and 2000, was invited by College Republicans to talk about the economy. Forbes raised three areas he believed would be important in coming years: monetary policy, health care and taxation.
Speaking on health care, Forbes shared his reactions to the Republican Party's efforts in repealing the Affordable Care Act.
“Problem is that they don’t understand what the real problem is,” Forbes said, referring to House Republicans. “The demand for healthcare seems like a disaster, because there is no free market for healthcare. The revenues of hospitals does not depend on satisfying you, the patient.”
He shared some of his own suggestions.
“You want to get patient control, by nationwide shopping for healthcare insurance," he said. "And this should be required, that hospitals each month post how many patients have died from the infections received after they’re admitted to the hospitals.”
Shifting to a discussion of tax reform, Forbes discussed his favored plan: the simple flat tax.
“When you hear about raising tax to help the status of other things, it’s actually counter-productive," he said. "You want an economy that creates more things. And when that happens, you would have more revenue.”
He criticized Republican proposals in the House of Representatives for a border adjustment tax — a tax that levies a charge on imports but not exports.
“The Republicans said we need money to cut other taxes," he said. "Just step back for a moment, you’re gonna raise taxes to cut taxes? Just cut it straight.”
College freshman and College Republicans Freshman Representative Jake Fallek said he found that Forbes presented "a lot of interesting ideas, specifically about economics."
"As the College Republicans, we think these are important to the economic community as a whole," Fallek said.
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