Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2013-2015: on Budget & Economy

Evan McMullin: Worked as investment banker at Goldman Sachs

Bill Weld: I was one of the most fiscally conservative governors

Darrell Castle: Don't bailout financial giants; just let them fail

A: That's a good question. It sounds kind of terrible, but probably nothing. In other words, I think what we did in 2008 was a horrible mistake. What we got out of it was $20 trillion in debt. My philosophy: let failing companies fail. There's no such thing as "too big to fail". Let them fail; that's creative destruction. Newer faster banks will come along, younger banks. And they'll stop doing this. As a result, the system is flushed, cleaned out. Bailouts need to stop and these companies need to start operating on a real, genuine free market system where there's no one there to catch them when they fall.

Q: Do you think the derivatives market should be regulated again?

A: Yes. I think there are far too many regulations and some of them should be stripped away from American business so that they can hire people again, but at this point, I don't see any way to avoid regulating it, yes.

Jill Stein: Predatory capitalism: concentrate wealth and lose democracy

There's really been a bipartisan collusion with the 1%. In the words of Justice Louis Brandeis, "We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

Unfortunately, our country has been concentrating wealth and losing democracy. And now it's reaching its logical conclusions--it's the inevitable final stages of predatory capitalism that's creating an unlivable world. Not only is our economy increasingly unfair, but now we're putting the very future of the planet at stake.

Bernie Sanders: 2012: Supported fiscal cliff compromise package on taxes

Nonetheless, two years later, he voted for a major tax and budget bill known as the fiscal cliff package, which made 98% of the Bush tax cuts permanent--a package that only eight senators opposed. It was a major compromise for Democrats, especially for Sanders, who now wants to hike tax rates to levels not seen in the last 30 years. One Democratic colleague said, "It was it a lousy deal but the only deal available."

Sanders' record of compromising doesn't make him a flip-flopper. It shows him as a pragmatist who, like most of his colleagues, compromises to pass legislation even when it may not achieve all the things he would have liked.

Donald Trump: Strong on debt limit; ask for a pound of flesh

TRUMP: OK, I would use the debt limit. I want to be unpredictable, because, you know, we need unpredictability. Everything is so predictable with our country. But I would be very, very strong on the debt limit. And I could see asking for a very big pound of flesh if I were the Republicans.

Chris Christie: Cut taxes and reduce spending, while creating new jobs

And the fact is that we spend $2.5 billion less than we used to. But here's the bigger thing. What they wanted was something in New Jersey who was going to finally stand up and say no to higher taxes, no to more spending, and more yes to parental involvement, parental choices. We've done all those things in New Jersey. And so anybody could pick out any kind of statistics they want. But in New Jersey, it's much better today than it was six years ago.

Carly Fiorina: Simplify tax code and reduce regulation

FIORINA: First we have to remember what the engine of economic growth is in this nation? Small businesses, family-owned businesses, community-based businesses. Two-thirds of new jobs are created by small businesses. Half of Americans are employed by small businesses. We're crushing them. We're now destroying more than we're creating. That's why we have to roll back this regulatory burden and take a 75,000-page tax code and make it three pages, because guess what? When you have a big costly, complicated government, only the big, the powerful, wealthy and well connected can deal with it. It's called crony capitalism. It's why we must reduce the size of government.

Rick Perry: Dodd-Frank should focus on Wall Street, not community banks

Perry: I talked about smart regulations. There's a difference between more regulation and Dodd-Frank, [the banking regulation law]. Dodd-Frank drove community banks out of business. I used to be on a small bank board back in Haskell County in Texas, and I know what these regulations are doing. I think it makes a lot of sense for us to have these big banks. You realize that the six largest banks in the country have 61% of the mortgages now. It's a stunning number. We're seeing Freddie and Fannie Mae back in the business of having small down payments to be able to get a loan.

Rick Perry: Federal Reserve & Wall Street actions have hurt our economy

Bobby Jindal: Reduced size of government in Louisiana

JINDAL: We actually measure prosperity according to how people are doing in the real world, not the government sector. In Louisiana, we have balanced our budget 8 years in a row without raising taxes. Largest income tax cut in our state's history. Secondly, we have cut our state budget by 26%, $9 billion and cut over 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats. We've had eight credit upgrades. We've got more people working than ever before in Louisiana's history, earning a higher income than ever before. We've reversed 25 years of out-migration. You look at Louisiana's economy and we have $60 billion, 90,000 jobs coming into our state because of economic development wins.

Rick Perry: Texas is primarily responsible for national job creation

Bernie Sanders: Economic issues take a larger toll on minority groups

But to be honest with you, given the disparity that we're seeing in income and wealth in this country, it applies even more to the African-American community and to the Hispanic community. And what we are going to do is make a major outreach effort to those communities.

Donald Trump: If debt reaches $24T, that's the point of no return

Martin O`Malley: Reinstate Glass-Steagall: separate investments from banking

Source: Irish Times 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Apr 27, 2015

Bernie Sanders: We've transferred trillions from middle class to the top 1%

SANDERS: Well, she's absolutely right. What we're seeing, is that for 40 years, the American middle class has been disappearing. Millions of people are working longer hours for lower wages despite a huge increase in technology and productivity. And what we have seen during that period is a massive transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top 1/10 of 1% of America--massive wealth and income inequality, where you have 99% of all new income today going to the top 1%.

Q: You said you had serious doubts about whether she was willing to take on the billionaire class?

SANDERS: That is the fight that we have to wage if we're to save the middle class: take on the big money interests who control so much of our economy and, as a result of Citizens United, our political process as well.

John Kasich: Wall Street is vital for the US, but often times too greedy

A: You know, look, that's past history. Wall Street is necessary. Because it helps move the financial operations of America forward. But I'll tell you the problem with Wall Street. It's too much about, "I've got to make money." There's too much greed. If all you seek is money without values, then you're bankrupt. And so what I think is our financial community has to realize that there's a moral underpinning. Free enterprise and free markets are exactly what we ought to have in America. But there has to be a conscience that underlays it.

Q: Anything positive to say about Lehman?

A: The greatest thing I got from Lehman is I spent a lot of time in the Silicon Valley. And when I went out there, I could see the future. And that's what we have to be about in America, bringing ourselves together, innovating, you know, in terms of innovation and vision.

Lincoln Chafee: Widening disparity of wealth hurts the middle class

CHAFEE: Yes, absolutely. There's no doubt that Senator Warren's absolutely right about what's happening to the middle class and she's just been a prophet about this for a number of years. And that's what makes any community, whether it's a state or a city or a country or anywhere around the world strong: having a robust middle class. I have a great record of voting against the Bush tax cuts which widened that disparity of wealth, that hurt the middle class, led to the Great Recession. And so I'm proud of my record and would like to have Senator Warren's support and her legion of followers.

John Kasich: National tour to call for a balanced-budget amendment

In 1989, Kasich landed on the Budget Committee, where he let his inner deficit hawk soar. In 1993, Kasich became Chair and the key player in the bloody budget battles with President Clinton. A couple of government shutdowns later, Kasich emerged as chief architect of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

Bottom line, for now, he says, "my energy and my passion and my fight is in two things: Ohio and my balanced-budget cause."

Speaking of which: When I suggest that crisscrossing the country in the hopes of convincing 34 states to call a constitutional convention on balancing the budget seems a bit quixotic, he appears almost amused. "Is it? Am I Don Quixote? I've been that way before!" He flashes me a smile. "And you know what? It seems to work out."

John Kasich: Balanced Budget Forever: promote constitutional amendment

Ted Cruz: Top 1% under Obama got fat & happy while workers are hurting

CRUZ: Well, look, if Hillary Clinton wants to run by telling Americans that the economy is doing great and you can credit President Obama and Hillary Clinton for that, I would encourage her to follow that strategy. Because the simple reality is, that's true for the wealthy. The top 1% under President Obama, the millionaires and billionaires that he constantly demagogued, earned a higher share for our income than any year since 1928. Those with power and influence who walk the corridors of power of the Obama administration have gotten fat and happy under big government. But I'll tell you, hardworking men and women across America are hurting. We today have the lowest labor force participation since 1978: 92 million Americans aren't working, and we've seen wages stagnate.

Rand Paul: Is the Fed too big to be audited?

Minutes later, Paul, who last month introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, drew raucous applause when he warned its policies are undermining U.S. currency. "Anybody here want to audit the Fed?" Paul said. "Anybody feel that the Fed is out to get us? They're all over the TV! They're going to be out there saying, 'Oh, we can't audit the Fed.' What, are they too big to be audited? Too secret to be audited?"

[Remembering his father's campaign in Iowa], Paul said chuckling, "We used to have an 'end the Fed' dunk booth over there," pointing toward a nearby sidewalk. "People threw balls at Ben Bernanke in order to get someone in the tank."

Chris Christie: Five balanced budgets in a row, without tax increases

CHRISTIE: Well, you have to remember what we inherited five years ago--an $11 billion deficit budget, 10 years of consecutive tax increases at the state level. This was an awful mess. And now, what have we done? We have five balanced budgets in a row. We had $2.3 billion in tax cuts to the businesses of New Jersey, 143,000 new private sector jobs and unemployment rate that's gone from 9.7% down to 6.5%. So, we still have work to do in NJ, no question. But we've gotten a lot of things done over the course of the last 5 years. I'm very proud of that record and I'm working every day to make that record even better as go forward. There will always be the naysayers. But I'm there getting the job done every day and I think that's what the people of NJ liked about us.

Paul Ryan: Attach policies to debt limit increase which decrease debt

RYAN: Well, we have had policies attached to the debt limit before. That's actually more the case than not. So that's not a new idea. What we don't like is this idea of continually rubber-stamping debt limit increases without acknowledging the problem that got us into debt in the first place. The challenge we have is this president has never proposed to ever balance the budget, let alone pay off the debt. So we'd like to look at what are those things we can do to take a step in the right direction, with jobs, the economy, getting this deficit under control, while we deal with the fact that our deficit is out of control.

Martin O`Malley: Closed $1.7 billion budget deficit in 7 years

O'MALLEY: Yeah. We have been restoring fiscal responsibility for these last seven years. We inherited a $1.7 billion deficit from our predecessor. We're on the verge of closing that. In the budget that I submit this week, we will close it without any new taxes. Part of what drives our budget, of course, is the economy and the pace of this recession. And it has been an extended recession. However, I've cut more in spending than any governor in modern history, and yet we've also been able to make the record investments in education, transportation infrastructure and innovation. And what we also have been able to do is to maintain a AAA bond rating

Q: But if I understand you, there will be no deficit projected into next year?

O'MALLEY: Those forecasts depend on what sort of rate of growth you put into the economy. The best way for every state to reduce its deficit is for our national economy to grow at a faster pace.

Martin O`Malley: Middle-out economics instead of trickle-down economics

O'MALLEY: Well, I believe that the people of our state and, also, the people of our country, want us to make choices on their behalf that yield results, results that make our economy grow by making our middle class grow. And I'm proud of each of those things. I'm proud of the people of our state. But, also, being an inclusive people, respecting the dignity of every individual, these things are also good for an economy. These things are good for building an innovation economy and attracting the most talented workforce. I think they all go together. What the people of our country want is not ideology, not trickle-down economics, but middle-out economics, where we strengthen our middle class to grow our economy and to give our kids a better future.

Paul Ryan: Tea Party helps keep the taxpayer in the game

RYAN: I think these groups are valuable. The way I look at it is this--they're part of our conservative family. I'd prefer to keep these conversations within our family. I see the Tea Party as indispensable, invaluable in helping keep the taxpayer in the game, keep Washington accountable. And when I look at, when we lost our majority in '06, we deserved to lose it then. They helped us get out ship righted again by being fiscally conservative. We've got 2/3 of the House conservatives voting for this. I think this is a step in the right direction. It's not as far as I want to go, but it's a step in the right direction.

Paul Ryan: My budget deal got Democrats to agree to long-term sequester

RYAN: We're not busting sequester caps. In just the next 2 years, 70% of the sequester is intact.

Q: But $60 billion more is going to be spent.

RYAN: 92% of the sequester over the life of the sequester is intact. The Democrats came to this saying get rid of the entire sequester. And we've now got them to agree to 70% of it now and 92% of it exists over the term of the deal.

Q: So you say "we don't bust the sequester," but you let it leak. The sequester, a lot of people feel, has imposed real budget discipline. And the critics say you're going back to the days of spending more and taxing more.

RYAN: There's no taxes in this. There are some user fees.

Paul Ryan: When Fed "tapers", interest rates rise & hurts us fiscally

RYAN: I'm worried because the Federal Reserve is going to start tapering, we call it. They're going to start going back to normalizing their policy. Interest rates have a tendency to rise under those kinds of situations. And that makes our fiscal situation even worse. There are two ways of tackling this fiscal problem. One, grow the economy, get people back to work, and solid through economic growth. Two, do this kind of comprehensive entitlement reform that we've been long advocating.

Rand Paul: The sequester is the law of the land: can't compromise on it

PAUL: I'm willing to compromise. But we're borrowing more than a million dollars every minute. So, we do have to address that. I think the one thing I cannot accept is the Democrats want to exceed the sequester caps, these things that we put into law to restrain spending already. And it's funny, they're all about ObamaCare being the law of the land, but so is the sequester. The sequester is the law of the land, and if we exceed that, it's a real big step in the wrong direction.

Q: The sequester means forced budget cuts that unless there is some agreement on Capitol Hill about spending, they go into place.

PAUL: Yes, and to clarify what the sequester cuts are, they're a cut in the rate of increase of spending, because over ten years, even with the sequester, government will grow. It goes down for a year or two, but over 10 years, it grows.

Paul Ryan: Sequester on discretionary spending yes; no on $1.2T savings

RYAN: Don't forget it's the president that proposed the sequester and House Republicans twice passed legislation replacing the sequester with smarter cuts.

Q: I've heard this talking point for Republicans for a long time: "This was the president's idea" and on and on, but let's look at your own words in August 2011: "What conservatives like me have been fighting for, for years are statutory caps on spending, literally legal caps in law that says government agencies cannot spend over a set amount of money and if they breach that amount across the board sequester comes in to cut that spending. We got that into law." You were certainly suggesting it was a good idea.

RYAN: Those are the budget caps on discretionary spending. We want those. Everybody wants budget caps. The sequester now is backing up the super committee, to come up with $1.2 trillion in savings.