Steve "Capitalist Tool" Forbes Begs for Government Rescue

(MoneyWatch)  Forbes magazine president Steve Forbes gave a rousing speech at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York last night in which the publisher of the self-proclaimed "Capitalist Tool" proposed a three-pronged plan for economic recovery -- all of them requiring the intervention of the nanny state.

At the 33rd annual Knight-Bagehot foundation dinner, he said:

• The "uptick" rule against short selling should be reinstated, requiring a rise in prices before investors are allowed to sell a stock short.
• Companies should not have to mark-to-market the price of assets on their balance sheets, thus shielding them from precipitous price drops during panic selling.
• The government should adopt a "strong dollar" policy against inflation.

It was an amusing and fact-filled speech, but its conclusions revolved around the same thing: a plea for the government to get more involved in the free market, to take the sharp edges off capitalism. It was a stark contrast to his recent posturing.

Forbes' solutions, taken in order, would shield feeble companies against brutal investors who want to punish weak companies; would shield from scrutiny the books of managers who don't want to reveal how much their assets are worth in the current market; and would shield the dollar from foreigners who want to sell the currency because, well, the U.S. economy sucks.

So why is one of the most outspokenly conservative publishers in America sounding so timid in the face of the market forces he's spent decades talking up? The answer was also contained in his speech: Forbes Magazine's ad revenues are suffering, just like everybody else's. All together now: "Raise the scarlet standard high / beneath it's folds we'll live and die ..."