science

Steve Forbes

Steve Forbes is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Steve Forbes rather than just read about it. In short: Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publisher, businessman, and politician who is the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes, the business magazine.

Key takeaways

Steve Forbes belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Steve Forbes to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Steve Forbes from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publisher, businessman, and politician who is the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes, the business magazine. The son of longtime Forbes publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandson of Forbes' founder B.C. Forbes, he is an adviser at the Forbes School of Business & Technology. Forbes has served as head of the Board of International Broadcasting (BIB), and was a candidate in the 1996 and 2000 Republican presidential primaries and is known for his flat-tax plan which supported a flat tax of 17% on all personal and corporate earned income and keeping the first $33,000 of income exempt. Forbes hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live that aired on April 13, 1996, shortly after dropping out of the race that year. A Princeton graduate like his father, he holds honorary degrees from several universities, including the New York Institute of Technology and Lehigh University.

Early life and education

Forbes was born in Morristown, New Jersey, to Roberta Remsen (née Laidlaw) and Malcolm Forbes. Forbes grew up in Far Hills, New Jersey and attended the Far Hills Country Day School with his longtime friend and future governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman. He graduated cum laude from Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, in 1966. Forbes graduated with an A.B. in history from Princeton University in 1970 after completing a 75-page long senior thesis titled "Contest for the 1892 Democratic Presidential Nomination." While at Princeton, Forbes founded his first magazine, Business Today, with two other students. Business Today is currently the largest student-run magazine in the world. Forbes is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi and Tau Kappa Epsilon. He holds honorary degrees from several universities, including the New York Institute of Technology and Lehigh University.

Political career and views

Early political career In 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed Forbes as head of the Board of International Broadcasting (BIB), which historically managed the operation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush reappointed Forbes to the position. Forbes would continue to serve as the BIB's leader until 1993, following the inauguration of Bill Clinton. Following his career as the BIB's head, Forbes went on to get involved in various conservative political advocacy groups. From 1993 to 1996, Forbes was the chairman of the Board of Directors of "Empower America", which later merged with the advocacy group FreedomWorks. Through "Empower America", Forbes became associates with prominent conservative politician Jack Kemp, who would go on to endorse Forbes during the 1996 Republican Party presidential primaries. From 1996 to 1999, Forbes also served as honorary chairman of the advocacy group "Americans for Hope, Growth and Opportunity", described as "a grassroots, issues-advocacy organization founded to advance pro-growth, pro-freedom and pro-family issues." Forbes helped craft Christine Todd Whitman's plan for a 30% cut in New Jersey's income tax over three years, and this plan proved to be a major factor in her victory over incumbent Governor James Florio. Despite Forbes and Whitman being childhood friends, Forbes would later distance himself from Whitman during his bid for the Republican nomination in 2000 owing to Whitman's pro-choice stance on abortion.

Campaigns for U.S. president

Forbes entered the Republican primaries for President of the United States in 1996 and 2000, primarily running on a campaign to establish a flat income tax Forbes believed the American taxation system had become too Byzantine and bureaucratic and was in desperate need of reform and simplification. When Forbes ran for president in 1996 and 2000, he sold some of his Forbes, Inc. voting shares to other family members to help finance his run. Forbes did not come close to securing the Republican nomination, despite winning the Arizona and Delaware primaries in 1996 and getting some significant shares of the vote in other primaries. Forbes's "awkward" campaigning style was considered to be a major factor in his defeat. Time Magazine called his stumping a "comedy-club impression of what would happen if some mad scientist decided to construct a dork robot." Jeff Lyon of The Chicago Tribune wrote of Forbes on the campaign trail, "[Forbes] resembles the classic milquetoast, with a prissy smile, gold-rimmed glasses that make his eyes look smaller, and a stiff way of presenting himself when he works a crowd. He has a cornball style and uses preppie slang like 'get real' and 'el zippo' (meaning zero) in speeches." Forbes and his campaign staff were known for travelling between campaign stops via their "big silver bus." For his 2000 presidential campaign, he raised $86 million in campaign contributions, of which $37 million was self-donated.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Logo from 1996 campaign

Logo from 2000 campaign

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Steve Forbes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Steve Forbes claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Steve Forbes before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Steve Forbes ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Steve Forbes

In research: Steve Forbes appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Steve Forbes in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Steve Forbes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1947 births, American chief executives in the publishing industry, American magazine editors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Steve Forbes outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Steve Forbes in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Steve Forbes means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Steve Forbes out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Steve Forbes in simple terms?

Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publisher, businessman, and politician who is the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes, the business magazine.

Why does Steve Forbes matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Steve Forbes?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Steve Forbes.