mr. forbes? >> well, in terms of 2008, joe lieberman may have liked john mccain, but he did not endorse john mccain. and when he caucused, he caucused with the democrats, and the democrats welcomed him back into the fold. and he voted for president obama's health care bill. and so in terms of the health care bill, even though the american people poll showed it was very unpopular, he got it through. and he got through his massive spending increases. he got through dodd-frank. so on a lot of big things, he got his mandate through. and it was repudiated in the elections of 2010. and in terms of 2013, there is no way republicans are going to have a filibuster-proof majority in the united states senate. unless there is a huge blowout. and i don't foresee that. however, i think that because there is an emerging consensus, and you saw this with simpson/bowles commission and other signs of it, there are a lot of democrats who know that medicare and social security for younger people are headed for off th

mr. forbes, we have about 30 seconds. if you can take that third question on starting a business since we've discussed the other two. >> very quickly, if you have an idea for a product or a service, a lot of people have started a business just by producing that product and then going to friends or family and start raising money. you can even go, even though i'm not a big government guy, you can go to the sba, small business administration and see if you can persuade them or others and start bootstrapping capital. and a lot of people are able to do it just with an idea going out there. they don't have to have a lot of capital at the beginning. and the key thing is you come up with something, then you persuade others. and that's how you bootstrap it up. >> steve forbes has been our guest for the last 40 minutes here on "the washington journal." as always, we appreciate you taking calls from the viewers. >> thank you. >>> two things. one is this is such a complicated conflict that we have never, ever fought a war like this b

mr. forbes, it's great to have you here. i remind everybody, originally you supported rick perry. your man is not in this race anymore. there are some positions of governor romney's that you take umbrage with. but explain how he's going to be able to shore up the divide that there is within the gop conservative base and get the support, circle the wagons behind him, push him into november. >> well, one of the things about the political process, even though it looked very messy, is it made him a better candidate. he now came out with a tax proposal, pretty good one, 20% across the board cut in income tax rates while getting rid of some of these deductions, cleaning up the code. other issues, spending entitlements. he's much truonger today than he was a few months ago. so he's an improved candidate, and i think if he continues in that direction, particularly after the supreme court renders a decision on health care, comes out with a free market orientation health care plan, conservatives will i think enthusiastically close ran

mr. forbes asked mr. gates if the libyans fired missiles into new york city, would that be an act of war. and i'll have to say, because my friend from virginia is very articulate and very intelligent gentleman, that pe never got a straight answer. so i hope that you will prevail upon the administration not to take those kind of actions as they did in libya, whether it was justified or not, we won't get into that debate, but in my opinion, that was really kind of a snub of congress and the responsibility of congress based on the constitution. >> congressman, what i can assure you of is that as long as i am secretary we won't take any action without proper legal authority. >> mr. secretary, thank you very much. and with that, mr. chairman, i'll yield back my 39 seconds. >> thank you. mr. andrews. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary and chairman. your service is both an inspiration to us and a blessing to our country, both of you. we thank you very, very much for it. i want to congratulate t

mr. forbes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here and general dempsey thank you for your service. you've both served your country well. we know that you have a tremendous challenge and the risk to the country out there are huge today. when we talk about vital national interest, probably there's no greater vital national interest that we have than the rule of law. sometimes we have to ferret that out and see what that is. as i understand what you have indicated to this committee, mr. secretary, and correct me if i'm wrong, you believe that before we would take military action against syria that it would be a requirement to have a consensus of permission with the international community before that happened. is that a fair statement in if not, would you tell me what the proper -- >> i think that's a fair statement. >> if that's fair, then i'd like to come back to the question mr. jones asked joust so we know. i know you would never do anything that you didn't think was legally proper. and you said that the admi

mr. forbes, where do you disagree with president obama on economic matters? >> well, let's go down the list. first is weak dollar policy, which is devastated this economy, hurt the recovery. the binge spending. you have to ask yourself where does the money come from. it does not come from manna from heaven. it comes from the american people, either through borrowing, taxing, or printing money, which is another form of taxation. his desire to raise taxes, especially on capital, what he has done to health care, i hope the supreme court throws it out. but it would just have a devastating impact on health care in america. so it's a pretty long list. >> what about the congress? what do you think about the republican house particularly? >> well, i think they've made some good attempts to do some positive things, but one thing about government in this country and some of the republicans have been a little frustrated by it is that our founders specifically designed the system so you don't get great lurches in one direction or another. and so they got control of one h

mr. forbes. mr. turner. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, general dempsey, i want to thank you this week for your strong statements on the issues of addressing sexual assault in the military. i think your leadership is well needed, and i appreciate your strong statements and your strong action. we had a meeting yesterday with general amos. we understand that, general dempsey, he is echoing your strong commitment. we appreciate the efforts of both of you. it makes a big difference for our men and women who are serving. general, you just said that the world is becoming increasingly unstable, and mr. secretary, you have recently said, you know, every day we're within an inch of war. i think as we look to the issue of syria, we know that russia and china have blocked two united nations security council resolutions with respect to syria. and certainly i think that takes us to an issue when we look to the world and instability of a question with regard to russia and china. with regard to russia, we've seen public reports that they conti

mr. forbes? >> thank you. mr. chairman, i want to thank you and the ranking member for having this hearing and for your questions on this and one of the things we know in early 2011 secretary of defense then robert gates said that north korean ballistic missiles could pose a threat to the united states within five years. what, if anything, does north korea's upcoming launch of the new rocket tell us about the ballistic missile technology advances, and to your knowledge, are we within four years of north korea fielding a functional intercontinental ballistic missile? >> congressman forbes, first off, the continued development and willingness of the north korean regime there to test ballistic missiles, and we've seen that continue for a period of time, is of major concern of ours. it has the potential to destabilize the region and as you point out, left unchecked, if their development continues, poses a serious threat to us, and it's something that i think we've got to maintain close vigilance on, and obviously, wor

mr. forbes or whoever wrote that. >> are you-- >> that kind of captures the essence of it, yeah. >> i like that term, going back to the "basic blocking and tackling of the financial services business." that's what you've been calling it. >> that's what i'm saying. and you shouldn't run a financial system on the expectation of dependence of government support. we're supposed to be a free enterprise system we're running. and the problem of course is once they get rescued, does that lead to the conclusion they'll get rescued in the future? it's a tremendous worry about that. called moral hazard. they will act in a risky way because they're going to be protected. and, put it very simply, the great cry, "too-big-to-fail," the government had to rescue them. so let's get rid of too-big-to-fail. very popular cry and call for reform, which the volker rule is one little part of that. >> so are you sleeping better at night? >> no, but i mean by that-- get-- here you've got this-- >> well-- >> --onslaught of banking lobbying and money pouring into congress to stop the volcker rule. and the predictions

mr. forbes, over a month ago we talked and you talked about the canada with the best plan was ron paul. -you talk about the candidate with the best plan was ron paul. he had 8500 people at ucla -- [unintelligible] we have things like a comprehensive annual financial reform which is like a double set of votes. on less than a look at the assets of the municipalities -- host: we got the point about ron paul. guest: in terms of the race of the 33 contests in the primaries and caucuses, while he had a lot of enthusiasm and supporters, he did not win one of those contests. he is nowhere near to getting the nomination. what i like about ron paul is his views on the dollar. he is the one candidate who has some comprehension of this board subject which is critical about the dollar and monetary policy. rather than run for president, i think he should run for chairman of the fed. i would gladly support him for that. he is one candidate who understands when you trash your money, we pay a huge price in breaking down the social order, reducing the standard of living, reducing real wages in this country

mr. forbes. >> thank you for being here, and general dempsey, we thank you for your service. you are both good men and you have served your country well. we are honored you would be here and share your thoughts, because today you have -- the risks to the country are huge today. when we talk a bottle national interest, probably there is no greater interest that we have than the rule of law. sometimes we have to ferret that out and see what it is. as i understand, you believe that before we would take military action against syria, it would be a requirement to have a consensus of permission with the international committee before that would happen. is that a fair statement? if not, would you tell me what the proper -- i would like to come back to the question that was asked. i know you would never do anything that you did not think was legally proper, and you said that the administration would have proper legal authority before they would take any military action. i question is, what is proper legal authority? as mr. jones pointed out in the war powers act, it is unlikely we wo

mr. sullivan who is the director of the secret service, there have been some calls, specifically from randy forbes of virginia, a republican, that perhaps he should step down. that he is not the man for the job anymore because of the salahis and because of this. peter king reinforced it saying one man can't be held accountable for the actions of a small group of folks in this 6,000 person agency. that they believe he can continue to do the job. however, the homeland security committee will have four investigators who are investigating the case right now who are over the shoulder of the secret service and might possibly go down to colombia if they don't believe the secret service investigation is going on. it is ongoing in colombia. so far the secret service knows who these 11 women are. but i was told they have not been able to make contact with all 11. i was not given the specific number but there are still prostitutes involved in this who have been avoiding the secret service. the most important thing is mr. king said to me at this point, they do not feel that security was compromised in any way

forbes" article that was published today regarding the e.p.a. official that i just mentioned. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: i'm going to continue my comments about america's energy by talking a little bit about gasoline. and gasoline prices. i asked members, people back in texas, in southeast texas, where i live, how rising gasoline prices have affected them personally. and i want to give the house the benefit of some of those statements made by american people about the high cost of gasoline. and maybe some things that we can do about high costs of gasoline. here's what they have said. and i'll take them one at a time. one individual from southeast texas said, i spend more money on gasoline than i do on groceries. another, living in texas requires driving greater distances to get anything. we have no choice but to purchase gas and it definitely cuts into our food budget. you see, madam speaker, west of the mississippi there are vast places as the speaker knows where people roam and live in rural areas and it takes them a long time to get from point a to point b. especially when they're going to work

all the way through the end and senator kerry and steve forbes have their own money, then others ought to be able to contribute their money. so mrairman as long as we have a first amendment to the constitution, individuals and groups have a right to express themselves in the best way to combine free speech with full disclosure in a way that does not chill free speech is to take off all the limits which would cause most contributors to give to campaigns. it would drive the super pacs and it would make this legislation of which chill free speech completely unnecessary. thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you senator alexander. senator weinstein. >> mr. chairman, i thank you very much. year, i really believe we must try to pass the d.i.s.c.l.o.s.e. act. additional vote to move the bill forward now. this new act, is a critical step really to ensure that corporate the dark from one candidate to another but instead our election process will regain the transparency it has lost after citizens united. i find this whole hidden, suspect we are going to have a very discouraging impact on candidates that have not yet run for office, but might b