Fox Business 2015 GOP primary debate: on Budget & Economy
Ben Carson:
Stop tinkering around the edges & address the problem
Q: Do you think big banks should be broken up?A: I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities.
But what does help us is to stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Bobby Jindal:
Wanting to cut is easy; actually cutting is harder
JINDAL: There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, & you're looking at him. We've got 4 senators running. They've never cut anything in DC. We've got 7 current or former governors running. I'm the only one that
has cut government spending. We've cut our budget 26%.Gov. HUCKABEE: A lot of us have cut things. And during 2001 to 2003, we ended up cutting 11% out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes.
So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut.
JINDAL: Mike, I share many of your social views, but your record as Governor tells a different story. In your time as Governor, spending in Arkansas went up 65%, number of state
workers went up 20%, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47%. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie.
Source: 2015 Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier GOP debate
Nov 10, 2015
Bobby Jindal:
Cut the government economy to grow the American economy
Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? We are on the path to socialism. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force.
Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government so we can grow the American economy.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Carly Fiorina:
Combine zero-based budget with tax reform
Sen. Ted CRUZ: I would eliminate 25 programs [including] corporate welfare like sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money.FIORINA: This is why we must combine,
actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government. Ask yourself this question: How is it possible that the federal government gets more
money each and every year for 50 years, under Republicans and Democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based
budgeting, which is a simple idea. There's been a bill for zero-based budgeting; it exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ First Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Carly Fiorina:
Dodd-Frank bank regulation is how socialism starts
What's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve it. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. Republicans and
Democrats said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in. The big have gotten bigger, and 1,590 community banks have gone out of business.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Chris Christie:
Hillary is coming for your wallet
Wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service. Our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that
Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Chris Christie:
The Fed should stop maintaining low interest rates
This has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. When they cut interest rates during the recession, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low because they're trying to
politically support Barack Obama. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. The wealthy are doing better because of this cheap money from the Fed. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Jeb Bush:
Dodd-Frank increased costs of community banking
We ought to raise capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has done the opposite: banks have higher concentration of risk and capital requirements aren't high enough. I talked to a banker for a bank that had $125 million of
assets. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a 2-year period. They knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. Imagine America without community banks. That's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Jeb Bush:
Don't accept new norm of 2% growth; strategize for 4%
The new normal of 2% puts huge demands on government. The reason we have deficits is that more people are relying on government. A 4% growth strategy starts with tax reform. We eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down.
A corporate rate of 20% would create an explosion of investment. I'm going to make sure that we shift power away from Washington and simplify the tax code. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2% growth.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Jeb Bush:
2% growth hurts the middle class
Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks.
Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
John Kasich:
Economic theory is fine, but people need help
I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but people need help. I have a plan that would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further
in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses, and also a plan to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Marco Rubio:
Raising the minimum wage is an economic disaster
If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. It's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine.
Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Rand Paul:
Fiscal conservative on both domestic & military spending
We borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited
fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Rand Paul:
The Fed is destroying the value of our currency
By artificially keeping interest rates below market rate, average citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. As the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the
currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Rick Santorum:
Over-taxation and over-regulation shut down our economy
The Fed is protecting a president that is over-taxing and over-regulating, shutting down this economy. And they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth with ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors,
who are seeing no Social Security. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who are speculators and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for the majority of responsible Americans.
They have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more scrutiny.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Ted Cruz:
Would I bail out the banks again? Absolutely not!
Q: Senator Cruz, would you go after the people on Wall Street that Bernie Sanders says have "gotten away with a financial murder"?CRUZ: Absolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And
the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington.
Q: Would you bail out the big banks again?
A: Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not! The biggest lie in all of politics is that
Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business.
KASICH:
When a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. When there are financial crisis, you got to go there and try to fix it.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ First Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Ted Cruz:
I would not bail out Bank of America
Q: If Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail?CRUZ: Yes. One of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, the Federal Reserve had loose money, and then in 2008, the Fed tightened the money, which caused a
cascading collapse. That's why I support getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding.
Q: I understand that. I just want to be clear, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision.
If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go?
Q: I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong causing booms and busts, what
the Fed should be doing is keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold & serving as a lender of last resort. If you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Ted Cruz:
1.2% annual growth over last 8 years is a disaster
From 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster. If you look at history, there are three levers that government has to facilitate growth. The first is tax reform. I have rolled out a simple flat
tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second is regulatory reform. The third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those, the result has been growth.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
Nov 10, 2015
Page last updated: Dec 07, 2018