Posted on 11/13/2015 7:42:55 AM PST by Kaslin
WASHINGTON - This week's Republican presidential debate was on the whole a very grown up affair that finally focused on the sluggish Obama economy.
It offered solid proposals to get the great American jobs machine up and running again by unlocking investment capital to grow the economy at a faster pace than the mediocre 1 to 2 percent we've suffered through the past seven years.
Unlike the earlier CNBC debate where its moderators asked "gotcha" questions aimed solely at getting them into a fight with one another, this one said at the outset that it was going to deal with what voters say are their biggest concerns: the economy, jobs, and incomes.
It was hosted by the Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal, and their moderators asked intelligent questions that were aimed at the candidate's plans to get our country moving again.
Fox News moderator Neil Cavuto set the civilized tone of the debate when he said at the outset it would be about "the economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less."
All of 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 offered in Congress for decades but has gone nowhere, and isn't going anywhere next year, either. Ben Carson offered a similar plan he compares to "tithing" in church. It doesn't have a prayer.
America remains wedded to a progressive tax system of sorts that allows making the tax rates flatter by lowering them across the board.
As John F. Kennedy's tax plan started to do in the 1960s, and as Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s by lowering all the income tax rates, with the top rate reduced to 28 percent.
For the most part, the candidates are also following this approach by further lowering the rates to foster stronger economic growth, new business formation and better paying, full-time jobs.
Hillary Clinton's plan for the economy is to raise taxes on investors and businesses, and to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, as President Obama has proposed.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said her plan would kill at least half a million jobs, as employers are forced to cut their payrolls just to stay in business.
CBO's report said job losses could soar to as many as a million.
Clinton and Democrats in Congress are fully aware of CBO's analysis, but dismissed its findings, as they have turned a deaf ear to the economy's sub-par performance since 2009.
But not the GOP candidates who honestly faced it head on this week, saying it would hurt job growth.
"I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is," said billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump.
"Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of of jobless people increases," particularly among younger, entry level, lower income black workers, said Carson.
The former neurosurgeon said the question that needs to be asked is, "How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent?"
There are other ways to raise incomes for those at the bottom of the wage scale and those with middle incomes, too.
Boost economic growth and new business formation by cutting small business tax rates. That, in turn, will enlarge the job market, forcing employers to compete for available workers through higher wages and benefits.
The debate over illegal immigration also drew a good workout out on Tuesday, with Trump defending his plan to round up 11.3 million undocumented Hispanics and their families and deport them back to Mexico.
"We are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall, the wall will be built, the wall will be successful," Trump said.
But Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a bitter opponent of Trump's deportation plan, said it will never happen.
"For the 11 million people, come on folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across the border," Kasich said. "It's a silly argument. It's not an adult argument."
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who speaks Spanish fluently and whose wife is Hispanic said that it would tear families apart, forcing them to leave children behind who were born in America.
"They're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this," Bush said. "That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency, and the way you win the presidency us to have practical plans."
Shortly after Bush said that, Hillary Clinton's campaign spokesman, Brian Fallon tweeted, "We actually are doing high-fives right now."
The Hispanic community is one of the largest and fastest growing blocs of voters in our country and recent elections show that the party that campaigns for their vote wins and the one that doesn't loses.
President George W. Bush won re-election in 2004 with 44 percent of the Hispanic vote, a nine point jump over his winning vote in 2000.
But Obama won a whopping 66 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008 compared to Sen. John McCain's 23 percent.
In 2012, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ran on a plan to "self-deport" illegal Hispanics.
Obama won 71 percent of Hispanic voters, compared to Romney's 27 percent.
According to Democratic insiders, Clinton is mounting the largest campaign for Hispanic voters in the party's history.
We need to get all of "US" to git offa our differentials and go vote on election day!!!
The Hispanic community is one of the largest and fastest growing blocs of voters in our country and recent elections show that the party that campaigns for their vote wins and the one that doesn’t loses.
Anyone else wonder why it is, when they do these various breakdowns of voters, that everyone automatically gives 90+% of the black vote to the Democrats?? Everyone in both parties just takes for granted that blacks will automatically vote Democrat.
Can you imagine if a Republican presidential candidate could get even 25% of the black vote? Can the GOP ever make inroads into the black vote? Perhaps with a black VP running mate this time around, such as Alan West or Tim Scott??? Just a thought...............
I’d rather search for a GOP candidate who can get just 5% of the white vote.
Do that, and they get a landslide victory.
All of my legal hispanic friends love trump.
Make that 5% MORE of the white vote.
I was at a Paradise restaurant in Dallas shortly after that and I was eating my meal across from an Hispanic woman in her forties and we were both watching FOX News when Ted Cruz came on the screen when she said out loud without any prompting from me. "I really like that guy."
So, there you go.
Trump/Cruz let’s roll.
I really believe that whoever promises jobs and presents a believable platform for them will get a large percentage of the black and hispanic vote.
I think that has to include getting rid of illegals.
“Searching for a Republican Presidential Candidate who can Win the Hispanic Vote”
Why? And if anyone, someone with the name “Cruz” will garner more votes just because he has a Hispanic name.
Obviously this woman is a worker, not a taker.
I wish one of the candidates would bring up the fact that we are not verifying citizenship for benefits. No illegal alien should be able to get any gov’t assistance. If they couldn’t, they would have to leave. They shouldn’t be able to put their kids in school (judges who rule they have to should be impeached.) Same with going after businesses that are not obeying our I-9 laws, verifying citizenship before employment.
It just amazes me that our gov’t will NOT enforce our laws.
The Hispanic Obsession
All we hear is that Hispanics all think one way - like La Raza. The GOPe thinks that all Hispanics think in only one way - like La Raza. But the truth is there are a lot of Hispanics who like Ted Cruz, and I met two over the course of two weeks and both were unsolicited. I know a number of Reagan-loving Hispanics and they would be the very first to say that we need legal immigration. They don’t want crooks being freely allowed into this country any more than we do.
You shouldn’t compromise principles and pander to get approval from a group that may have a majority on the other side. They will take your money and take your weakened policies and still vote for the opposition.
Winning over a hostile group takes courage and reason. You must persuade by proving out your policies are better for them than your opposition.
But realize that you cannot win a majority of the poor who are getting the equivalent of bread and circuses from the Dems.
Advice for those that worry about such things...CA, IL Mexican Hispanics will go for the RAT by a large margin. Most of the non mexican Hispanics will probably split 50/50.
Cant merge all Hispanics together....even here on FR.
I find it impossible to believe that all hispanics only care about is whether each and every single person in Mexico can just move here.
Then came Goldwater('64) who got only 6%.
Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights act, embraced the southern strategy and won AZ, LA, MS, AL, GA, and SC.
Do you remember the press crying about families being broken apart when Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton sent in soldiers to pull Elian Gonzalez out of a closet? Pointing a gun at his little head?
His mother DIED to get him to a free country... but Janet RENO (democrat) didn’t want Cubans coming here because they vote Republicans/
We’ve seen thuggery - and it was done by Democrats - and don’t even get me started on the children burned alive in WACO... the press didn’t give a damn about their screams either.
Dems want Hispanics to be ‘the new blacks’ - broken, dependent and grateful.... I suspect Hispanics are smarter than dems think - smart enough to stay out of the dem hellhole.
Incorrect!
NEP, the organization that took that poll, changed that number to 40% after six years of relentless criticism about their methodology.
And let's keep that number in perspective, too.
I am aware of 10 national polls on Hispanic voting in 2004.
8 of those 10 polls reported that Bush got LESS than 40% of the Hispanic vote in 2004.
If only.
The first wave of “Cuban” immigrants in the 1960’s had European ancestors, and they did indeed vote Republican.
The next wave of Cubans, starting in 1980, had Caribbean ancestors.
They are heavily concentrated near the New York City metro area, and they vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.
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