WASHINGTON – This week’s Republican presidential debate was, overall, a very mature affair that ultimately focused on Obama’s sluggish economy.
He offered solid proposals to restart America’s great job-creation machine by unlocking investment capital that will enable the economy to grow at a faster rate than the average 1-2 percent we have faced over the last seven years.
Unlike the earlier CNBC debate, in which the moderators asked “we’re fighting” questions with the sole purpose of drawing them into a fight with each other, this debate said at the beginning that it would address what voters believe is their biggest problem: economy, jobs and incomes.
Hosted by Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal, their moderators asked smart questions designed to outline the candidate’s plans to reignite our country.
Fox News moderator Neil Cavuto set a civilized tone for the debate, saying at the beginning that it would be about “the economy and what each of you would do to improve it. “No more, no less.”
All the candidates talked about their tax cut plans – some quite good, some not so good.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s “flat tax” plan has been proposed in Congress for decades, but it hasn’t produced any results and won’t change next year either. Ben Carson proposed a similar plan, which he compares to “tithing” in the church. There is no prayer in it.
America remains committed to a kind of progressive tax system that helps flatten tax rates by lowering them across the board.
Just as John F. Kennedy’s tax plan took effect in the 1960s, and just as Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s by cutting all income tax rates, with the top rate lowered to 28 percent.
For the most part, candidates are also following this approach, lowering rates further to support stronger economic growth, modern business creation and better-paying full-time jobs.
Hillary Clinton’s economic plan includes raising taxes on investors and businesses and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, as proposed by President Obama.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said her plan would destroy at least half a million jobs as employers are forced to cut wages to stay in business.
The CBO report shows that the number of jobs could raise to as much as one million.
Clinton and Democrats in Congress are fully aware of the CBO analysis, but have rejected its findings because they have been deaf to the economy’s destitute performance since 2009.
But not the GOP candidates, who faced it head-on this week, arguing it would hurt job growth.
“I hate to say it, but we have to leave it as it is,” said billionaire real estate tycoon Donald Trump.
“Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of people unemployed increases,” especially among younger, entry-level and lower-income Black workers, Carson said.
The former neurosurgeon said the question that needs to be asked is: “How do we allow people to climb the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent?”
There are other ways to raise the income of those at the bottom of the pay scale and those on middle incomes.
Stimulate economic growth and modern business creation by lowering tax rates for miniature businesses. This, in turn, will expand the labor market, forcing employers to compete for available workers through higher wages and benefits.
The debate on illegal immigration also had a good run on Tuesday, with Trump defending his plan to round up 11.3 million undocumented Latinos and their families and deport them back to Mexico.
“We are a country of laws. We need boundaries. We will have a wall, the wall will be built, the wall will be successful,” Trump said.
But Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a fierce opponent of Trump’s deportation plan, said that would never happen.
“As for the 11 million people, come on. We all know they can’t be picked up and transported across the border,” Kasich said. “It’s a stupid argument. This is not an argument for adults.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who speaks Spanish fluently and whose wife is Latina, said it would tear families apart, forcing them to leave behind their American-born children.
“When they hear that, they high-five the Clinton campaign,” Bush said. “That’s the problem. We have to win the presidency, and the way you win the presidency is by having practical plans.”
Shortly after Bush said this, Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon tweeted: “We’re actually high-fiving right now.”
The Latino community is one of the largest and fastest growing voting blocs in our country, and recent elections show that the party that fights for their votes wins and the one that doesn’t lose.
President George W. Bush won re-election in 2004 with 44% of the Latino vote, a nine-point margin over his winning vote in 2000.
But in 2008, Obama won a whopping 66 percent of the Latino vote compared to Sen. John McCain’s 23 percent.
In 2012, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney introduced a plan to “self-deport” undocumented Latinos.
Obama won 71 percent of Latino voters, compared to Romney’s 27 percent.
According to Democratic insiders, Clinton is running the largest campaign in the party’s history targeting Latino voters.
