Part I, entitled "Steve Forbes for President? Not if You Want to Make Money in the Stock Market," begins with a highly negative critique of Forbes's flat tax proposal featured in his campaign for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, and then recounts my black humor experience using the stock tips provided by the Forbes Special Situation Survey, an element of Forbes's publishing empire, to try to make money in the stock market, with devastatingly negative results.
Part II, entitled "Warren Buffett for President: What we Need in the White House is a Real Eccentric," recounts the very positive results achieved by investing in Berkshire Hathaway, the investment vehicle of Warren Buffett of Omaha, Nebraska, the greatest American investor of modern times and a recognized genius in the field.
An Appendix recounts in grimly humorous detail the actual results, mostly terrible, of using the Forbes Survey's stock tips to invest in 36 common stocks they recommended.
There are at least four good reasons--based on our
current knowledge of Steve Forbes--to be wary of his candidacy
for the Republican presidential nomination and the presidency
itself. One is that he is so immensely wealthy (a net worth
estimated at between $400 million and $500 million). Because
his wealth was practically all inherited, there is no way he can
have a reasonable understanding or appreciation of the
concerns of most Americans as they go about their daily lives.
What's more, Forbes's refusal to release his tax returns makes
people think he has something to hide, though what he wants
to keep in the shade is probably nothing more interesting than
that he doesn't want to have emphasized just how rich he is,
and how little of his fortune gets eaten up by taxes.
A second reason for caution about Forbes is that he is
financing his own campaign, which leaves him unconcerned
about the crying need to clean up domestic politics through
radical campaign finance reform by, for example, eliminating
the overpowering influence of special-interest money and
requiring the TV networks to provide free airtime (for which
the networks themselves pay nothing) for all legitimate
candidates to present their views, thus reducing the demeaning
and destructive need for candidates to raise huge sums of
money from very interested parties. This argument leaves aside
the question of the propriety of a candidate like Forbes (or
Ross Perot or Michael Huffington) being allowed to purchase ...
{ INTRODUCTION }
{ PUBLICATIONS OF THE FIVE AND TEN PRESS 1995-2005 }
{ ORDER FORM }
{ROBERT KEELEY'S BIOGRAPHICAL DATA}
{D.C. GOVERNANCE: IT'S ALWAYS BEEN A MATTER OF RACE AND MONEY}
{ANNALS OF INVESTING
STEVE FORBES VS. WARREN BUFFETT }
{ THE FILE: A PRINCETON MEMOIR }
{ESSAYS FAST AND LOOSE: A CHRISTMAS MISCELLANY }
{LETTERS MOSTLY UNPUBLISHED}
{ INNOCENTS OF THE LATTER DAY: MODERN AMERICANS ABROAD }
{ ESSAYS COLD AND HOT: A NEW YEAR"S POTPOURRI}
{ MSS REVISTED }
{ THREE SEA STORIES }
{CREATURES OF THE EARTH AND THE MIND}
{MY COMMUTE}
{SIC TRANSIT}
{THE GREAT PHELSUMA CAPER - A DIPLOMATIC MEMOIR}
{THE PORT OF MISSING MEN - A NOVEL}
{ POETRY MOSTLY OFF THE BEATEN TRACK }
{ PARTING THE CURTAIN }
{ ESSAYS NEAR AND FAR: AS A NEW CENTURY DAWNS }
{ RANDOM THOUGHTS, ANECDOTES, AND MEMORIES OF A BOYS' LATIN SCHOOL OF BALTIMORE THAT IS NO MORE }
{ FROM THE HEARTLAND }
{ ONE OF THE VERY BEST MEN }
{ A STORY GOES WITH IT }
{ LOW CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS IN HIGH PLACES: John Mitchell and Watergate. }
{ THE WORLD ACCORDING TO WHITBECK. }
{ AN AMERICAN SOLDIER IN WORLD WAR I. }
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