CNBC Debate

CNBC Debate

What will you do to make sure Italy's financial problems don't drag down the U.S.?

CAIN - 1. Grow the economy. 2. Assure our currency is sound. Grow the economy, cut spending.

ROMNEY - Europe can take of their own problems. They can bail out their own banks. We don't need to bail out banks in Italy or banks in the U.S. with Italian debt. Europe can help Europe.

Cramer is beside himself we'd actually let Italy fail.

PAUL - No, let it fail. Liquidate the debt. Debt, debt, debt, debt. Let thema ll fail, let all the mortgages go under.

HUNTSMAN - "Too big to fail." We need properly sized banks and institutions. (Which would mean more government intervention, right?)

Romney confronted about his being against the auto-bailout.

ROMNEY - Speaks about his attachments to Detroit. Said whether by Bush or Obama, they should have gone through private bankruptcy and restructuring process. John Harwood then asks Romney again about his flip-flop image. Calls himself a man of steadiness and constantcy, uses his marriage, church, and company as examples of being steady. Pledges to be true to his country and he will never apologize for America.

Harwood gives examples of Reagan (raising taxes) and Bush (bailouts) using flexibility and asks Perry about it.

PERRY - "America is going to be America again." "If you are too big to fail, you are too big."

GINGRICH - Fire Ben Bernanke. (applause) Audit the Fed. (applause) Operation Desert Storm. (just kidding) Slams Saul Alinksy radicalism, class warfare... lots of buzzwords, but not a real answer.

BACHMANN - Taxes lead to jobs leaving the country. Our biggest burden is regulation, our biggest regulation problem is ObamaCare. Repeal Dodd/Frank, build a fence to deal with immigration.

Harwood asks Santorum about 0% manufacturing jobs. Isn't that picking winners and losers?

SANTORUM - It's not picking winners and losers, it's a section of our economy. Some have suggested we need tariffs. That just taxes you. I don't want to tax you. I'll get rid of subsidies.

Maria asks Cain about his four accusers, gets booed.

CAIN - The American people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations. (rousing applause) This country's looking for leadership. This is why people are still enthusiastic about my campaign.

ROMNEY - When asked, he said Herman Cain can answer these questions, and he just did.

Harwood, "Let's go back to the economy..." (sarcastic applause)

HUNTSMAN - I want to be the president of the 99%, and the 1%. I agree with the Occupy crowd in that this country will never again bail out a corporation. (tiny applause) We have banks that are too big to fail, and as long it remains that way, we're setting ourselves up for long-term disaster.

Cramer's on one.

ROMNEY - Our Democratic friends don't like profitable companies. I want to make American businesses successful. Obama doesn't like successful businesses. (loud applause)

PERRY - My 20% flat-tax plan will get this economy going. We need to plant a flag in the middle of America that says "Open for business again."

GINGRICH - The Occupy Wall Street crowd need a clue about history. Cites Henry Ford and Bill Gates' humble beginnings, are they the 99% or the 1%. Media is inaccurate about reporting on the economy. Maria stops him. "What is the media reporting inaccurately on the economy?" What? She asks again. He says he has yet to see a reporter ask a OWS person about who pays for their park they're occupying.

Man, Cramer's an annoying questioner. The other two are good. He asks about oil in Alaska.

SANTORUM - Quick answer, then goes to manufactuers. His grandpa was a coal miner.

Maria asks Cain about tax fairness.

CAIN - My 9-9-9 plan is the only one that solves the problem of the messy tax code. The complexity costs us $460 billion a year. Brings out Webster definition of fair. Maria asks how he can guarantee 9-9-9 doesn't turn into 19-19-19. "Tax codes don't raise taxes; people do." Says voters won't let politicians raise taxes above those rates.

ROMNEY - Would like to see flatter, simpler tax. Take our tax dollars and focus on those who are hurt the most - the middle class. Median incomes have dropped 10% the past few years. I focus a tax break for middle America. Right now let's do the job that needs to be done now, help the middle class.

BACHMANN - Obama's plan for job creation has nothing to do with job creators.

PAUL - The tax code is the consequence. Spending is the cause. You have to address spending. Cut $1 trillion in first year from five departments. Get rid of price fixing, raise interest rates.

Commercial break.

GINGRICH - If we repealed Dodd/Frank, we'd see the housing market improve overnight.

Maria Bartiromo asks why Romney's 59-point jobs plan doesn't address housing.

ROMNEY - Because it's a jobs plan, not a housing plan. (applause) We know how to improve the economy. Do the exact opposite of what Obama has done. The reason we are where we are is because the fed govt interfered with housing market.

PERRY - It's the regulatory world that is killing America. Doesn't matter if it's Dodd/Frank or the EPA, or whatever, audit every regulation since 2008 and ask "is it creating jobs or killing jobs?" If it's killing jobs, get rid of the regulation.

BACHMANN - Fannie and Freddie give bonuses to their executives?!

GINGRICH - I got $300,000 from Fannie/Freddie for giving advice of what they didn't do. It was my advice as a historian. (Something tells me there's more to what Newt did for Fannie/Freddie that offer advice as a historian for $300k.)

CAIN - When asked about Fannie/Freddie, he says you don't start there, you start with fixing the economy, 9-9-9. "Get the regulators off the backs of the banks." Then I'd unwind Fannie/Freddie so they'd be private.

HUNTSMAN - It's not right to have too big to fail. Let's right-size them. Goldman-Sachs has grown huge; is that right? Charge a fee to these institutions to protect taxpayers.

How to repeal ObamaCare?

HUNTSMAN - I'd meet with the 50 governors and address cost-containment. How do you empower patients? Harmonize medical records. Close the gap on the uninsured. Let the free market work to get truly affordable insurance.

PAUL - Get govt out of health care, we need medical savings accounts. It's a bipartisan problem.

PERRY - Send Medicaid back to the states; they know how to work it.

CAIN - The legislation has already been written, but "Princess Nancy" sent it to committee but it never came out.

ROMNEY - Health-care in 30 seconds is tought but let me try. Send Medicaid back to states, let individuals get their own insurance and don't discriminate against them. Do what Ron Paul said, get insurance to work like the market. Finally, get rid of our malpractice system.

GINGRICH - It's an absurd question. 30 seconds isn't enough time. I'd challenge the president to seven 3-hour Lincoln-Douglas style debates. Maria keeps trying to get Newt to answer the question about health care, then he rattles some stuff off, mostly covered by others but he goes into brain science for a bit.

BACHMANN - The main problem with health-care is cost. It's too expensive. First, let Americans buy insurance across state lines. Make all medical expenses tax-free.

SANTORUM - This is the difference between me and the other candidates. I led the discussion on medical savings accounts. I was always for private-sector health-care. I was one of the ones warning about the bubble before it burst.

ROMNEY - Govt is playing too heavy a role in health-care. Consumers need to be more involved, informed of what's happening. 18% of our GDP spent on health-care, more than anyone else in the world.

PAUL - My plan of cutting $1 trillion preserves Medicaid, but we deal with the bailouts, the banks; we'll probably wind up bailing out Europe, which would be a tragedy.

Commerical break. Rick Santelli joins the panel and gets a pop from the crowd.

SANTORUM (who has one uncomfortably toothy smile) - We need to look at plans that bring people together, that's why I'm focussing on manufacturing. (gets it oh-so-subtle digs to Huntsman and Cain).

ROMNEY - I had to find Democrats in Mass. who cared more about their state than their next election to get things done. We're headed toward Italy and Greece. We need a leader who can bring Reps and Dems together who care more about their country than their next election.

PERRY - Americans are looking for a regulatory climate that doesn't strangle the life out of their businesses. Yeah, we can all work with Reps and Dems, but you need a plan that'll fix the economy, and my flat-tax plan. I'll cut three govt departments: Commerce, Education, and uh, what's the third one.... and uh...

ROMNEY - EPA?

PERRY - Yeah, no! EPA needs to be rebuilt. The third one... uh... oops.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a campaign dies.

CAIN - My 9-9-9 plan makes every sector grow, not just one sector. It's bold. Yes, it's BOLD! I provide a compelling solution.

GINGRICH - I'm not going to raise taxes on middle Americans in an economy this bad. I'll take Soc-Sec out of the general budget; deal with it as a stand-alone issue. Give young people option of pursuing Galveston or Chilean model.

ROMNEY - This issue of the deficit is a moral issue. We can't pass all this debts to future generations. We need to cut spending. 1. Cut programs, like ObamaCare. 2. Move some programs back to states. 3. Finally bring some productivity to federal workers, cut fed jobs by 10%.

BACHMANN - I'm opposed to the payroll tax cuts becuz it blows hole in Soc-Sec trust fund. We sent $2.2 trillion in tax money to DC but they spent $3.7 trillion last year.

HUNTSMAN - The Fed has purchased trillion in securities. I'd clean up the balance sheet. We have a trust crisis in this country. Congress, the executive branch, Wall Street. There's no trust in our institutions of power. I'm the only one here who's done a flat tax. The WSJ called my tax plan the best. Phase out corporate welfare.

PAUL - Gets student-loan debt question. The policy of student loans is a total failure. Fed govt shouldn't deal with education. Inflation is the problem.

GINGRICH - Pres. LBJ started student-loan program. It made students take longer to graduate.

PERRY - Department of Energy! That was the third program. People on Soc-Sec need to understand it'll be there for them. The young people out there, who's going to stand up for them. I will do that.

Commercial break.

CAIN - It's wrong that Cali hired Chinese company to help rebuild San Fran bridge. That's why we need 9-9-9.

ROMNEY - China is cheating. It is good for US to have free trade, but they're playing by different rules, stealing copyrighted materials, hacking into our systems, they're stealing our jobs. 1. I'd label China a currency manipulator. 2. I'd make charge to WTO. 3. I'd apply tariffs if necessary.

GINGRICH - I'd be curious to hear what Huntsman has to say, but we need to dramatically increase competition.

HUNTSMAN - 30 seconds to respond?! Bottom line is tariffs start a trade war. Mitt's pandering.

ROMNEY - I've seen predatory pricing where they try to drive others out of business by keeping prices low, then raise them when their competitors go out of business.

BACHMANN - Chinese are bad actors. Chinese are housing nuclear weapons in new tunnels. We're in hoc to them for $1 trillion.

CAIN - Volatility is caused by uncertainty. To restore trust, we need to grow the economy.

Cramer: "People were getting ripped off when the economy was going great!"

CAIN - Repeal Dodd/Frank!

PERRY - Too cozy a relationship between govt and stock market. When there are individuals breaking the laws, prosecute them for criminality.

PAUL - Punish crony capitalism.

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I'm tired, so I need to think about this one. My impressions right now are Romney won, Cain did fine even if he doesn't have anything beyond 9-9-9, Gingrich's answers were a house of cards, Ron Paul was his usual Libertaraian self, Huntsman was helped by being a little more memorable than Santorum or Bachmann, and Perry's "Oops" was the equivalent of the Howard Dean "HYAAA!"