The growing federal budget deficit under President Joe Biden is "not just paper money, it's resources from the American people," Chair and Editor of Forbes Media Steve Forbes told Newsmax on Tuesday.
"It's resources from the American people, who can use those resources better, more productively, than bureaucrats in Washington, who already readying up crony projects that won't pass the light of day in any private sector," Forbes told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "Political cronyism is going to explode."
"The American people are not only going to have a debt, but a weaker economy, and that's not good for us or the world," Forbes said.
Regarding the current debt ceiling negotiations between the White House and the House GOP, Forbes predicted that, although there will probably be some concessions made, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will not cave to Biden.
Forbes said he hopes that McCarthy holds out on for however long the extension of the debt ceiling should continue, saying McCarthy should not let it go out too far, but hold out for next spring, in order to hold the Biden administration's feet to the fire.
"So, you get a couple trillion this year. Not a lot, given the math in Washington, but it's a start and also sets the stage for setting a base in the 2024 campaign," Forbes said.
Forbes added that he hopes the House GOP doesn't back down on defunding the 87,000 new IRS agents that came from last year's Inflation Reduction Act. Forbes said that he hears "some rumblings that I don't like on that, but they should make it clear, that money's gone out of the budget. No way are we going to harass the middle class and small businesses with IRS agents swooping down, all the sudden you have Tony Soprano. 'Hey, give us a couple of thousand dollars, we'll stay away from you.' It's legalized extortion."
In response to House Assistant Democrat Leader Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., saying that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution can allow Biden to unilaterally raise the debt limit, Forbes called the idea "preposterous."
It's "typical" though of the ideas that go around Washington, "if Congress won't do it, just do it by decree, like Louis XIV and other tyrants of the past used to do."
If the U.S. does default, there will be some uncertainty, however, "we still have money coming in," Forbes added. This money could be used to pay the interest, Medicare, Medicaid, and most of our military. So there is a lot of "scare talk," Forbes said.
"We have a lot more leeway to go, but they think they can get away with it. And amazingly, they're still floating around the idea of raising taxes," Forbes noted. "Destroy the economy, but that's somehow going to raise money."
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