Publisher Steve Forbes said Tuesday the economic policies of former President Ronald Reagan, not those of President Clinton, were the reason for the vibrant U.S. economy.
"I think most of the credit goes to what Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s with deregulation, tax cuts, winning the Cold War," he told CNN when asked whom he would give credit to for the economy, which grew a healthy 4.9 percent in the first quarter and 3.6 percent pace in the second."Mr. Clinton, after 1994, when the Republicans took control of Congress, was not in a position to muck up the economy. He left the Federal Reserve alone. So in a passive sense he gets some credit. The real credit goes to the original architect, which was Ronald Reagan."
Forbes, a multimillionaire magazine publisher, also said the decision by former President George Bush and Clinton to raise taxes in order to balance the federal budget deficit worsened the economy instead of helping it.
"It slowed the recovery," he said of the tax hikes. It helped to give us a recession in '90-'91, made the recovery of '93 one of the slowest in American history. If they'd not put those burdens on, we'd see a much more prosperous economy today."
Forbes ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996. He spent at least $30 million, almost all of it out of his estimated $450 million personal fortune.
While speaking on various economic issues with CNN, he clearly appeared to relish talking politics.
"I've always followed politics but I never intended to get into elective politics until there was a vacuum in 1995. It is a high casualty business; only one person wins."
When asked if he planned to run for president in 2000, he said: "I'm going to make a decision after the congressional elections next year, but in the meantime I am pushing issues like the flat tax, a new Social Security system for younger people and reforms like that."