The Real Estate Guys™ sit down and talk with Steve Forbes about jobs, the economy and real estate.
We don’t know about you, but any time a billionaire, a CEO of a major company, a best selling author or a legit presidential candidate is willing to sit down and chat, our response is always, “Yes!”. In this case, our special guest for this episode, Steve Forbes, is ALL of those things wrapped into one. So we’re super jazzed to bring this exclusive interview to you.
In the broadcast booth at the Freedom Fest conference in Las Vegas:
- Your Host and interviewer extraordinaire, Robert Helms
- The just-happy-to-be-here Co-host, Russell Gray
- Special guest, Forbes Magazine CEO, Steve Forbes
Mr. Forbes was the keynote speaker at the Freedom Fest conference and remained in attendance for the entire event. In spite of a recent neck surgery, he was very accommodating and so Robert was able to sit down with Mr. Forbes for an impromptu interview.
We decided to ask him about his latest book, Why Capitalism Will Save Us – Why Free People and Free Markets are the Best Answer in Today’s Economy. Mr. Forbes’ thesis is that too much government is bad for business because it increases costs, diminishes productivity and takes too many resources away from creating jobs for an ever-growing population. He calls for “sensible rules of the road” to provide a basic framework in which free people can conduct business. Of course, the great debate is over what’s “sensible”. His position is that less is more.
What we’re really interested in is jobs. Jobs are where our tenants get their rent money. It’s where home buyers get the income stream to make the mortgage payments that prop up the property values that create passive equity. Jobs are near the top of our due diligence check list when evaluating a market to invest in. It’s one of the reasons we like Dallas right now. Among U.S. markets, it’s doing pretty well. Ironically, another great job market is Washington DC, but if there’s a changing of the guard over the next couple of elections, that could change. But we digress…
So Mr. Forbes shares his thoughts on the economy, job creation and the role of government in real estate, specifically Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In his position as the CEO and editor-in-chief of Forbes Magazine, he gets to talk with many of people who shape, interpret and respond to public policy. We really enjoyed our time with him and hope you will too!
On a side note, Steve Forbes is the nicest billionaire we’ve ever interviewed. Actually, he’s the only billionaire we’ve ever interviewed. But he’s still a very nice guy. So, if you’re a billionaire and want to come on the show and be nice to us, just give us a call. Our door is always open. 🙂
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