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ARTICLE EXCERPT: The world is flush with cash. It's frozen because of fear, but the cash is there. Productivity gains are burgeoning. So, will this global boom resume next year, slowly at first and then with increasing momentum? It should. Whether that happens, however, depends on the next, highly dangerous phase: the political aftermath. Will we and other countries pursue policies that hinder growth and retard or abort a full-blown recovery, e.g., regulations that stifle innovation and taxes that harm the creation and deployment of capital? Washington politicians are asking: If the federal government can bail out banks, why not...

Dear Forbes.com readers: This will turn out to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the worst U.S. recession in decades. I first said so in August and, since I wrote those words, financial and economic conditions have deteriorated further--and severely. Stock prices are sharply down and there is a risk of a market crack. Interbank and credit spreads are wider than ever since the beginning of this crisis, Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ) and Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ) are gone, and soon enough Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS...

Former presidential candidate Steve Forbes declared Monday the U.S. economy is in “cardiac arrest” and will plunge into “something we haven’t seen since the early 1930s” if Congress doesn’t come to the urgent rescue of American financial institutions. “You have to have faith that at some point these people will come to their senses, and do things that have to be done to stabilize the patient, and then we can take positive measures, like a strong dollar, like tax cuts, to get our economy in shape so that it can start to recover next year,” Forbes told Newsmax in an...

Quote from article: "The Bush Administration should vigorously push to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recapitalized and broken up into 10 to 12 new companies, with their ties to the government completely severed. Yes, this would mean Uncle Sam pumping in some $300 billion in equity capital, and perhaps taking on some $100 billion in those questionable mortgages. But such an investment would enable these companies to have a sound debt-to-equity ratio in the vicinity of 4-to-1."

Steve Forbes is on FOX, is being critical of Paulson and also of Ben Bernanke. Like Newt, he recommends getting rid of Mark-to-Market accounting procedures. Other good stuff . . . TUNE IN

The Treasury Department has told members of Congress that the U.S. faces an economic tsunami if a bill allowing the government to purchase up to $700 billion of toxic securities from financial firms is not passed this week. Unfortunately, this solution of giving the U.S. Treasury almost unlimited power to buy distressed securities could be avoided if the government made some simple (and temporary) changes to mark-to-market accounting rules. So far, and for many unknown reasons, these changes have been considered off limits. Why drawing such a hard line in the sand is so important is a real mystery. Certainly,...

Forbes Magazine recently released the top 50 states for business again.which ranks state economies especially with regards to small businesses which are the backbone of our economy. To no surprise, red right wing republican free states beat the Democrat liberal left wing socialist paradise states by an overwhelming number. 8 out of 10 states on the top ten were traditionally Republican with Nebraska beating Minnesota for number ten, while 7 out of 10 were traditionally Democratic. West Virginia was once again at rock bottom followed by Louisiana, Alaska and Maine. Mississippi, considered the worst state in the country was 42nd....

The Treasury/Fed/Congressional rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is only a stopgap. Unless fundamentally restructured, these two debt-bloated giants will sooner or later blow up. The once implicit, now explicit, government guarantee for these two quasi-government entities was the reason that they could be leveraged to the hilt, with a debt-to-equity ratio of almost 25-to-1. Instead of just packaging mortgages and selling them off, the companies kept hundreds of billions in these instruments in their own portfolios to fatten profits--and enrich their politically connected managers and political allies. They also went into the junk-mortgage business, buying more than $170...

Hand it to John McCain for being the perpetual Lazarus, from his virtual political demise a year ago to what he wrought in Minneapolis/St. Paul with his pick of Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President. Although the GOP is in disrepute, the Arizona senator has a good shot at winning in November--and a good thing, too. Whatever Senator Barack Obama's dazzling abilities as an orator and campaigner are, he has demonstrated no understanding of the elemental importance of free enterprise or of the fundamental role of risk-taking in bringing about economic progress. To him businesses are necessary evils and must...

Ithaca, N.Y. — The Best Of Everything? By REBECCA JAMES   The Commons is a popular gathering place in downtown Ithaca, N.Y. (Photo by Gloria Wright)     ITHACA, N.Y. — When your town has made more than 25 lists that call it one of the best cities in America, you might be surprised that one magazine would call it one of the "Twelve Great Places You've Never Heard Of."But along with that 2006 designation from Mother Earth News, Ithaca seems to make the grade no matter what's being ranked. It's one of the "lesbian friendliest cities," has the "best...

Steve Forbes begins speaking on the economy around the 18 minute mark, and continues until just past the 43 minute mark. (He is done chatting with the audience around the 20 minute mark, if you want to skip those remarks.)

Political Players: Former GOP Presidential Candidate, McCain Economic Adviser On Taxes, Energy And The Budget, Steve Forbes. Steve Forbes: I think his (McCain's) plan is the most realistic plan to achieve a balance - or a far better balance - that is out there, by recognizing the importance of reducing the burden of taxation, among other things. That is the key to getting the economy back on track again. ... So the way you get a balanced budget is one, greater revenue growth. And he's got the best plan for it. And two, restraint of spending. ... Steve Forbes: The...

Ohio has two counties in the list: Delaware County #5; and Geauga County (the red county where I live) was #4. Forbes' rankings are skewed toward counties with good school districts. Using research provided by the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., we started with a list of the nation's counties with populations over 65,000. To eliminate under-funded school districts, we isolated 97 counties where more than half of per-pupil spending comes from property taxes. They've also discovered something most Americans are still searching for: the ideal place to raise a family. Their sons, Pete...

Has the Federal Reserve run out of bullets? that implication could be drawn from the recently released minutes of the Fed's last Open Market Committee meeting, during which the federal funds rate was cut from 2.25% to 2%. The Fed hinted that no more rate cuts are in store and that the economic horizon is becoming cloudier. (The reason our central bank can't reduce interest rates further is that the inflation picture is getting uglier.) Stocks tanked on this news. However, the Fed has yet to use its most effective artillery: strengthening the value of the U.S. dollar.

Detroit has earned another dubious honor, the second place on Forbes magazine's list for the worst cities in the United States for jobs.

Jimmy Carter Bush Steve Forbes 03.24.08, 12:00 AM ET More From Steve Forbes Can it be true? A Republican president repudiating the anti-inflationary legacy of Ronald Reagan? That is precisely what George Bush is doing.

Trailwatch reached out to each of the remaining presidential campaigns and offered them an unedited forum in which they could address voters. As he was when we requested information for our Candidate Screener, Ron Paul was the first candidate to respond to our offer. We asked each campaign to submit 500 to 1,000 words on the issues they believe are the most important ones facing the nation at this moment in time. Here is what Ron Paul had to say. --Paul M. Murdock America became the greatest, most prosperous nation in history through low taxes, constitutionally limited government, personal freedom...

Debunking Reagan's Debunker Rich Karlgaard 02.25.08, 12:00 AM ET Last month during Bill Bennett's radio show, Morning in America, Bill asked me about a Paul Krugman column in the New York Times entitled, "Debunking the Reagan Myth." The title speaks for itself. Here are key Krugman passages: "[Reaganomics] did fail. The Reagan economy was a one-hit wonder. Yes, there was a boom in the mid-1980s, as the economy recovered from a severe recession. But while the rich got much richer, there was little sustained economic improvement for most Americans." "When the inevitable recession arrived, people felt betrayed--a sense of betrayal...

... The path back requires re-establishing the GOP as a party of limited government and economic freedom. This is essential to Mr. McCain's political future, the fortune of his party, and the economic well-being of the nation. And the first big indication that he intends to bring back the party of Reagan will be who Mr. McCain taps as his running mate. ... Fortunately, there is no shortage of true-blue fiscal conservatives in the GOP. Here are few who would help Mr. McCain unify his party and restore its winning brand: ... South Carolina's Governor Mark Sanford... South Carolina Senator...

Steve Forbes, the editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine and himself a former presidential candidate, announced his endorsement Saturday of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president. Forbes had campaigned hard in Florida for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who dropped out after Tuesday’s primary. Two other high-profile Giuliani backers — Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Solicitor General Theodore Olson — also have switched to McCain. The backing by Forbes is the latest in a cascade of signs that a once-reluctant Republican establishment is embracing McCain, who could wrap up the party’s presidential nomination in three days on Super Tuesday.