Saying that Steve Forbes is an expert on the economy....

[WCGreen]

Is like saying I am an expert Tool & Die Maker...

My dad had the touch. he was almost artistic in the way he crafted tools, the way he calculated with endless equations the exact angle of the cut so that the casting would fall effortlessly from the mold. He was good, real good and he did try to teach me his craft. I learned a bit, was able to muddle my way through some jobs but found out that even though I liked to work with my hands, I was not my father.

Steve Forbes steps out of the crib as privileged as privileged can be. He inherited his fathers success. But he has been so wrong for so long on the economy that he probably should have followed my lead and admit that he wasn't his father. then he could be left to graze on his inherited money and go about playing polo with all the other inbred richie riches.

I mentioned yesterday that the only time I turned off CNBC was when Kudlow was on. Well, I forgot about Mr. Forbes. See, he is that good on economic issues that I forgot all about him until he reared his mug on CNBC today.

[nradisic]

1. Me too!

I am a CNCB junkie but I turn it off when Kudlow, Steve Forbes or Chralie Gasparino comes on. I think all three are despicable human beings. I cannot even listen to them spew their garbage.

[jakefrep]

2. Steve Forbes and Larry Kudlow...

are the two most myopic ubercapitalists in the media. They seem utterly incapable of understanding issues beyond the business world.

[WCGreen]

3. And they could care less about what their approach to markets

will do to others. They are filthy rich and could care less if twenty thirty thousand people loose their jobs because of what they believe.

[KharmaTrain]

4. He's Skated For A Long Time...

Someone brought up the name Michael Milken the other day...and if you think about it, many of the games on Wall Street began and have been running almost non-stop since those high flying days of the 80's. This is when young Forbes inherited Daddy's company and somehow became the voice of the new guilded age. As long as people were making obscene amounts of money, Forbes chirped of the greatness of the "free market" and how less government made this market "freer". It was a shell game that he and many of his greedy buddies thought could always go on. They just ran from one boom to another...from one ponzi scheme to the next...all but assured that they'd always stay one step ahead. The bill has now come do...Forbes, Kudlow and their ilk look like total fools.

[boomerbust]

5. Ya, you have to love ol Steve

Just saw him on CNBC calling for massive corporate tax cuts for the answer to fixing the markets. He warned against voting for Obama. Sorry Steve, your taxes are about to go up and rightfully so.

[ret5hd]

6. OT: About your father:

There is a zen quality and beauty to crafting a well made tool. As a 30 yr machinist/toolmaker, I think I would have liked your father.

[WCGreen]

7. He was like a modern day John Henry....

Going against the huge shops that could afford the first of the computerized mills. He would come home at night exhausted and sit down with his coffee and calculate by hand, the angles and the depth he would have to cut the next days. He was making molds for aluminum casting for Picker X-Ray. That was what got to him and he finally threw in the towel. He just couldn't compete. Tried to work at ford repairing stuff in the foundry but couldn't handle all the Union sanctioned time down. Soon after he began drinking again and then he had a stroke.

Now, decades later, I still run into guys he knew and they tell me he was the best.