Where GOP Candidates Stand on the Economy

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By Diane Bullock
In last night's debate, the Republican Party candidates promised to lower taxes, reduce regulation and repeal financial reform, but mostly avoided specifics. If the seven candidates who took the stage at last night's Republican debate are plugged into the concerns of American citizens, well, they could have fooled us. While this month's
CBS News Poll
revealed that the economy and jobs were the most important problems facing the country, at an overwhelming 48% -- with the budget deficit and national debt coming in second at 10% -- the GOP candidates vying for the presidency of the United States offered little in the way of solutions.
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Voters are rightly concerned about the state of our stalled economy and the deteriorating financial security of the middle class with its incredibly shrinking paychecks. Either Republican candidates had better use the next 14 months before its national convention to solidify their economic platforms or they need to hope the 14 million Americans currently out of work find jobs. The candidates used their collective two hours of airtime during the New Hampshire debate as an introduction to the American voting public and a show of Republican unity against a common enemy (Obama), rather than as a platform to propose specific policies or draw distinctions among fellow opponents. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty even pulled his “Obamneycare” punch -- a term he coined 36-hours earlier on "Fox News Sunday” to conflate the universal health care law enacted by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with Obama's plan. In a nutshell, the economic positions that came out of the debate were the tried-and-true Republican standbys of lower taxes, less regulation and repealing financial reform without much practical application. When asked how he'd create jobs, businessman Herman Cain used the private sector-as-train-engine metaphor to illustrate how eliminating the capital gains tax and ending taxes on repatriated offshore profits will spur economic growth.
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Tim Pawlenty reiterated his widely criticized Pollyanna 5% US GDP growth target by suggesting he would implement the aforementioned tax cuts and deregulation as part of an ambiguous “pro-growth agenda.” Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum endorsed his opponent's optimism while refusing to comment on the validity of his figures. Instead, he spent his 30-seconds lambasting Obamacare and the president's energy policies. In lockstep with the Republican lovefest, Romney said Pawlenty's ideas were in the “right wheelhouse” and proceeded to lay out his plan for job creation by listing all of the things the Obama Administration did wrong with respect to the economy. Texas Representative Ron Paul tripled-down on Pawlenty's 5%, using the logic that anything is possible with a free-market economy. To get there, the limited government advocate spoke about popping a 70-year-old “Keynesian bubble” by liquidating the Federal Reserve's bad debt. Repealing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which tightened accounting standards for public companies following the Enron et al scandal, topped former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's to-do list. That notion was seconded by Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, who credited herself as the congressperson to introduce a bill to repeal Dodd-Frank.
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The candidates were largely spared their thoughts on how to reduce our $1.4 trillion deficit. In response to a question on whether he believed we should raise the debt ceiling, Romney said he believed we won't raise it unless Obama reigns in government spending. The American people and Congress “and every person elected in Washington has to understand we want to see a president finally lay out plans for reining in the excesses of government,” said Romney. Romney, himself, did not lay out a plan.
To read the rest, head on over to Minyanville.
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Posted In: PoliticsEconomicsConsumer Protection ActDodd-FrankFederal Reserve
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