University of Dallas News

Issue date: 10/28/08 Section: News

On Thursday, Oct. 23, Steve Forbes spoke at the Hatton W. Sumner's Distinguished Lecture Series, co-presented by the National Center for Policy Analysis and the Graduate School of Management at the University of Dallas. The lecture was held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas.

Steve Forbes is the chairman and CEO of Forbes, Inc. and the Editor-In-Chief of Forbes Magazine. Forbes also ran for president of the United States in 1996 and 2000.
In addition to the several notable attendees present, including the president of the National Center for Policy Analysis and Dr. Frank Lazarus, president of the University of Dallas, several University of Dallas students attended. Some came to volunteer to assist NCAP with registration and others attended as Sumner Scholars, a scholarship program in which UD participates.

Forbes' lecture was titled "Why This Election Matters," and after joking that one of the benefits of lecturing is the delicious free lunch, he spent 45 minutes discussing the origins of the mortgage, housing and financial crisis happening in the United States and offered solutions. He stressed that a new approach is needed to deal with these issues because they are emergency situations and should be treated as such instead of using conventional methods. Only once the economy has stabilized and improved can conventional measures be put into effect again. Forbes gave his own suggestions for maintaining a strong economy in the future: develop a dollar that will remain strong for an extended period of time, increase trade and decrease trade barriers, lower taxes and the implement a flat tax rate.

Forbes expressed hope and optimism for the future of America and reminded the audience that America has been through difficult economic times before and has always managed to recover again. He predicted that the economy would continue to suffer for a few months but predicts a positive turn in the spring of 2009.

After the luncheon, the Sumner Scholars were invited to a private question and answer session with Forbes. After asking the group if they had all registered to vote and after asking for their predictions regarding the upcoming election, Forbes fielded questions regarding the possibility of a deep recession, economy textbooks and the future of Social Security. Forbes suggested that the younger generation begin to invest on their own and to take some risks in investing since they have time to build their portfolios

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