Debate Night. No Winners…Just losers

Steven P. AhleNovember 10, 2015

0 201 3 minutes read

debate

There were no real winners in tonight’s debate. The losers were those of us who watched it. When a subject was brought up, only two candidates were asked for a response. Carson looked bewildered, Trump just rambled on. Bush continued his slide. Rubio has some big spending planned through his new child credit in his budget plan. Kasich said nothing but he did say it with feeling. The others just took up space. Trump, Carson and Rubio did not lose any ground, but neither did they gain any. Here’s hoping the next debate let’s all the candidates (top 5 only) go at each other to show us who is really the toughest.

There will be no reporting on anything said by Bush, Paul, most of Kasich or Fiorina, because I get tired of writing blah blah blah so many times. The first question was on the minimum wage.

That question went to Trump, Carson and Rubio. Trump, Carson and Rubio all agreed that there should be no raise because if we raise the minimum to fifteen dollars an hour, entry level jobs will disappear. Rubio added that vocational schools get a bad rap because, “We need more welders not philosophers.”

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Yes

The second question was on reining in the massive debt we have. John Kasich has actual experience in these matters when he was the head of the budget committee in the House. It was his cuts that lead to a balanced budget. Clinton never offered a balanced budget until the third year of surpluses.

Ted Cruz offered a plan to tax citizens at a flat rate of 10% and businesses at 16%. He also said that the liberal printing of money was hurting our economy by weakening the dollar. Cruz argues a sound dollar would help our businesses and increase jobs. He pointed out that during Obama’s presidency, the economy has grown on average of 1.6% a year on average.

Carson was asked about vetting. Carson said vetting is necessary but outright lying like Politico did is wrong. He also pointed out that Hillary lied in the Benghazi hearings and the press declared her the winner.

At this point, Donald Trump and John Kasich got into a battle on immigration. Trumps is for deporting illegal aliens and Kasich is for full amnesty, saying that’s who we are as a people. So, he’s saying we’re saps? Kasich said deporting millions of illegals is impossible. Trump pointed out that Ike did it.

Cruz outlined his plan for Social Security, which includes making people retire at a later age and gradually cutting SS benefits. The elderly would see no cuts but younger taxpayers would get to put a share of their payroll taxes into a retirement account that they control themselves. Cruz said that the United States needs to begin enforcing immigration law. He said the best way to get the press to start telling Americans about the cost is to have illegal journalists cross our borders and bring down the wages for journalists.

Dr. Carson was asked about regulations and he went round and round Robin Hood’s barn but never answered the question. He really needs a coach to teach him how to relax. Even his best ideas don’t come across as powerful as they could be and Hillary would probably eat his lunch in a debate.

Ted Cruz pointed out that he has a solid budget proposal on his website that explains the cuts his budget would require.

The next question for Rubio was on inequality. Rubio suggested that the answer would be to strengthen the family unit. His tax plan greatly increases the tax credit for children that would cost a trillion dollars over the next 20 years. This is not money that we get to keep from our taxes. This is free money that we give to parents with dependent children.

Trump was required to explain his position on TPP. He said to shut it down . We have a half a trillion in trade deficits every year. Every trade deal needs to be one on one and no more letting India and China slide with regulations that other countries like the US must follow.

Then Carson made a statement I haven’t figured out yet. The moderator pointed out that Carson opposes boots on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. But then he said that US policy should be to destroy ISIS and not just contain them like Obama is trying to do. How do you do that without boots on the ground?

Carson takes the other tack on big banks. He doesn’t want to break them up, he just wants to contain them. Good luck with that.

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