With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1181452
( the informer ) 1 In your view, how healthy is the Canada-U.S. relationship? What should Canada be doing to keep ties between our two countries strong? One is to urge our Congress to pass the U.S.MexicoCanada trade agreement. And also set a good example by instead of your prime minister raising taxes, you should be cutting taxes. In other words, doing what [Canada] did a number of years ago: when the Conserva tives took over, they went in for big tax cuts and big deregula tion, and got some good results. When a country does well, other countries will imitate it, and a strong Canada means a stronger U.S., so it's a winwin. 2 To thrive in the global economy, where should a region like Metro Vancouver focus its energy? You've already had an influx of people from Hong Kong and elsewhere, and that's only going to intensify as Beijing puts its claws deeper into Hong Kong. And again, don't overdo it on taxes and regulation, and you will boom like Dallas and Houston. 4 What are a few things you've learned about the wealthy over the years? Besides having more money, how are they different from average people? It's not background. They come from all kinds of different backgrounds. For example, the 400 richest in the U.S.—our Forbes 400, which comes out in the fall—over twothirds are selfmade, and most of the rest are ones who inherited but increased their inheritance through successful business activities. How they're different is they're striving to create things, do things, willing to experi ment. And also recognizing that in entrepreneurship, you have your failures. Peter Thiel, who was involved in PayPal and Facebook, likes to point out that nine out of 10 of the projects he gets involved in fail. So it's the willingness to do the 100 hour workweek, try the unknown and recognize that they can eat well or sleep well but not both. 5 Income inequality is on the rise everywhere. How concerned should we be about the grow- ing divide between the haves and have-nots? The key is rising incomes, and incomes rise when you have a benign environment. Here in the U.S., you'd never know it from the public rheto ric, but most people don't care if Bill Gates has $10 billion or $100 billion, or whether Jeff Bezos has $120 billion after his divorce or $110 billion. What they want to know is, what are their prospects? What are their chances of moving ahead, mov ing up the economic ladder? And in a lot of countries, there's slow growth that's selfimposed from bad policy. Whether it's high taxation or crazy regulations, those things inhibit growth. By contrast, you look at a country like Singa pore, which has always had a benign economic environ ment, low tax rates. They have an excellent healthcare system even though their tax rates are extremely low. They've also got a good housing system. So hav ing economic growth does not mean not having robust social programs or a safety net. But what you want, again, is that environment where people can get ahead. And it starts with sound currency. Canada should strive to have the Canadian dollar become much more stable. Instead of letting it float, it should strive to make the Canadian dollar as good as the Swiss franc. And then Canada will become, among its other attributes, a centre of capital and hightech even more than it is now. 6 What advice do you have for a young entrepreneur starting out today? Recognize that it's a life that's not right for everyone. People may have the knack for it, but don't force yourself. You can give it a try, especially if you're young, but don't feel bad if it turns out it's not for you. We're all different. But if somebody has the knack for it, recognize you are going to lead an abnormal life in terms of the hours you put in, the dedication you have and also the failure you're going to have. 7 What are your thoughts on the future of publishing as a business? On Forbes.com, where we have over 70 million unique visi tors a month, we don't have a paywall. We charge for certain newsletters and the like, spe cialized content, but overall, we welcome eyeballs. So we're advertisingsupported, and STEVE FORBES The chair of Forbes Media, ranker of the world's wealthiest people, shares his thoughts on taxes, China and the U.S. presidential race by Nick Rockel N I N E Q U E ST ION S 3. HOW DO YOU THINK CHINA WILL IMPACT THE WORLD OVER THE NEXT DECADE? That depends on China recognizing that it cannot recreate the old Middle Kingdom. The rest of the world is not going to kowtow to Beijing, and it should focus instead on creating an environment for economic growth. In recent years, state-owned companies have re- emerged as a growing factor in the Chinese economy, which is not a good thing. If China goes for trying to flex overtly more and more military muscle, it's going to get more and more of a reaction–other countries wanting to tie closer to the U.S. as a counterweight. So hopefully China will not follow the example of Japan and Germany 120 years ago, and instead go for letting its economic might speak for itself. NOVEMBER 2019 BCBUSINESS 21