Washington (US Political RP; 2016 ; Special Events ; OPEN!)

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Roberts smiled and lashed out, having been waiting.

"I find it highly ironic a man who probably has no major experience in finance and economics is telling us its possible to solve our debt ridden economy while the man who has been in government for a long time tells us how to stop debt yet our state, YES, OUR STATE OF CONNECTICUT, has lots of debt! So why hasn't Brennan solved our state's own debt crisis before he rambles on about the national one?"

"Mr. Ruger, I am a congressperson, not the governor or a member of the state senate. I have a vote in national affairs not in local ones. Not to mention even if I did, this is a republic and no one person can solve these issues."

"No one is asking you to, heck no! But where is the evidence that you have at least tried to solve this? None! Zip! Nada! Rather, its time we consider a businessman to represent us. My company isn't in debt, rather, it is flourishing. And at no extra cost to my costumers. Because I know economics, I know the market, and I know that we can solve this problem if we run our government more like a business: With costumers first and anything we don't need, we get rid of. This means making sure citizens get their rights and low taxes and we cut the spending that is crippling us!"

[Dentali]

"Mr. Ruger, I am a congressperson, not the governor or a member of the state senate. I have a vote in national affairs not in local ones. Not to mention even if I did, this is a republic and no one person can solve these issues."

"No one is asking you to, heck no! But where is the evidence that you have at least tried to solve this? None! Zip! Nada! Rather, its time we consider a businessman to represent us. My company isn't in debt, rather, it is flourishing. And at no extra cost to my costumers. Because I know economics, I know the market, and I know that we can solve this problem if we run our government more like a business: With costumers first and anything we don't need, we get rid of. This means making sure citizens get their rights and low taxes and we cut the spending that is crippling us!"

"Can you please stop yelling? And I know you haven't been doing much campaigning but if you had you might have seen all the work i've been doing with small business recently, local business, working with farmers and speaking with the small business alliance of Connecticut."

"Yes maybe we should run the government more like a business... But we need to remember its not one. Its easy to talk about making cuts to spending from the outside looking in. But every dollar we cut directly affects millions of people, every decision we make needs to be measured with humanity as much as business sense."

[Velahor]

"I agree that we must stop subsidizing big business, and that a reasonable amount of regulations should be cut while still protecting small business from predatory practices by large companies.

I refuse to be wishy-washy about balancing the budget though. I actually have a bit of experience in this. The NBA has something that resembles a balanced budget act a little bit, it's called the salary cap. Let me explain. Teams have a certain amount they are allowed to spend on player salaries. There's two caps. If a team exceeds the soft cap, they aren't allowed to add any new spending, but can resign players who are already on the team. Then there's a hard cap, and if that's exceeded, teams are punished with a luxury tax.

Similarly, my ideas for punishment for not balancing the budget involves a hard and soft budget cap. If the federal government exceeds their budget in a given year, no new spending will be allowed in the next year. Let me repeat, no bills that increase spending when the soft cap is broken will be allowed.

Now when the hard cap is broken, here is where it gets interesting. If this limit is reached, the "luxury tax" is assigned to the Congress themselves. While Congress is in the luxury tax, they only receive 70% of their pay, and all non-essential federal services are shut down until the budget is balanced."

"Mr. Roberts, I can assure you, that the NBA and Congress are two different totally different things."

"And Representative Brennan, I can assure you that the private sector has some amazing solutions to problems that Congress can emulate, if you'd just give the private sector a chance."

[Tallahassee News Station]

A well-dressed woman comes up

"My name is Jana Willis, and I'm the founder and now CEO of Willis Tech. We're a startup tech chain that went corporate last year, and we were employing nearly a hundred people in the state. With the recession, though, after taxes we didn't have enough to pay all the bills, and had to downsize and let people go. My question is to all three of you, and it's what, specifically you think the corporate tax rate should be"

[Dentali]

A well-dressed woman comes up

"My name is Jana Willis, and I'm the founder and now CEO of Willis Tech. We're a startup tech chain that went corporate last year, and we were employing nearly a hundred people in the state. With the recession, though, after taxes we didn't have enough to pay all the bills, and had to downsize and let people go. My question is to both of you, and it's what, specifically you think the corporate tax rate should be"

"Ah yes, Ms. Willis I got to tour your company a few months ago, very impressive. To give you a straight answer, I want an 5% decrease combined with a larger amount of deregulation. Eventually I want to see a 10% decrease to 25% total but I don't want such a large change so quickly. We do that and we are looking at hundreds of thousands of more jobs yearly, billions more in GDP, income rising for families, increased stocked and increased domestic investment. Plus a huge influx of foreign capital and investment."

[Velahor]

A well-dressed woman comes up

"My name is Jana Willis, and I'm the founder and now CEO of Willis Tech. We're a startup tech chain that went corporate last year, and we were employing nearly a hundred people in the state. With the recession, though, after taxes we didn't have enough to pay all the bills, and had to downsize and let people go. My question is to all three of you, and it's what, specifically you think the corporate tax rate should be"

"Ms. Willis, it's a shame that taxes have put such a burden on your company. I'm not an economist, nor am I a tax policy expert. So I would like to work with them to come up with an exact tax rate that can keep both companies and the federal government afloat. I agree with Representative Brennan that it must happen gradually, and a 5% decrease, like he suggested, sounds about right to me.

Also, maybe we shouldn't apply the same tax rate to all corporations. Huge companies like GE and Walmart get enormous tax breaks, leaving mid-sized and small corporations like yours to hold the bulk of the tax burden. That's unacceptable, and must be changed."

[Tallahassee News Station]

A middle-aged man comes up

"Representative Brennan, I know it's the Senate that has the treaty power, so I wanted to know. In the Middle East, what you'd do about Iran if we elected you there."

[Dentali]

A middle-aged man comes up

"Representative Brennan, I know it's the Senate that has the treaty power, so I wanted to know. In the Middle East, what you'd do about Iran if we elected you there."

"Well sir, i'm not gonna lie. This last administration made a deal that makes out position with Iran incredibly difficult. The first step is to repeal the Iranian nuclear deal and establish a new one that actually has teeth, prevents them from getting nuclear weapons. And if the don't play ball the United States is going to slap the toughest sanctions in the world on them. We need to show them that Israel is here to stay, that any state that funds terrorism will not be tolerated or have a place in the international community."

"We get nowhere by bowing to demands, and making deals that greatly favor them. Its time to treat them like the hostile nation they are, take the kid gloves off and be as tough and stern as possible."

[Tallahassee News Station]

(Moderator)

Mr. Roberts, would you agree with that policy?

[Velahor]

(Moderator)

Mr. Roberts, would you agree with that policy?

"I do agree that we need a new treaty. Iran is, and will for the foreseeable future, be a grave threat to Israel, and also to the United States, and the stability of all international relations. We have to come into any discussions with the upper hand over all of it. We need to force the issue with them, we must remember that we don't negotiate with terrorists or state sponsors of terror, we push them in the direction we want by using negotiations."

[Tallahassee News Station]

A Hispanic woman in her mid twenties comes up

"Hello, my name is Nina Reyes. I'm a single mother, and I had to drop out of college after I got pregnant. Right now I'm just working fast food, and I'm struggling just to make rent and put food on the table for my daughter. My question is for Mr. Roberts, and I want to ask if you believe in raising the minimum wage."

[Velahor]

A Hispanic woman in her mid twenties comes up

"Hello, my name is Nina Reyes. I'm a single mother, and I had to drop out of college after I got pregnant. Right now I'm just working fast food, and I'm struggling just to make rent and put food on the table for my daughter. My question is for Mr. Roberts, and I want to ask if you believe in raising the minimum wage."

"Ms. Reyes, there's a problem in the country. Too many people are in your exact situation. The facts are clear, the minimum needs to be increased. Americans deserve to be paid enough to pay for food and housing, and under the current rate, minimum wage earners are not making enough to make ends meet.
I 100% believe in raising the minimum wage. I don't support efforts to make the minimum wage $15/hour because that extreme of a change can destabilize the market, but 9-10 dollars is closer to right. There were several sections of the recently proposed House bill that I disagree with, but overall, the idea was right."

[Tallahassee News Station]

(Moderator)

Representative Brennan, you recently voted against a minimum wage increase, and said you would have voted against the 2007 wage increase in retrospect. You then disagree with Mr. Roberts?"

[Dentali]

(Moderator)

Representative Brennan, you recently voted against a minimum wage increase, and said you would have voted against the 2007 wage increase in retrospect. You then disagree with Mr. Roberts?"

"The minimum wage increase in 2007 was long overdue, but if I knew then that the recession was going to hit and be the longest in US history I wouldn't have voted for it. I support raising the minimum wage but we need to acknowledge the tradeoffs that occur when we do that. When we pass a minimum wage bill, we need to offset the difficulties it will bring to big and small business, pair it with tax reform, tax cuts and deregulation. And certainly don't pass a minimum wage increase until we are out of the recession."

[Tallahassee News Station]

A mustached fiftysomething man comes up

"My name's Frank, and I work down at Windsor Steel. I've seen a lot of my friends losing jobs or losing hours over the last years, so I wanted to ask Representative Brennan what he plans to do about foreign competition."

[Dentali]

"Hi Frank its a pleasure to speak with you. Now the number 1 reason why businesses are leaving our country is because its so much cheaper and easier to manufacture products in other nations and then ship them over here. In this country we has massive over-regulation and one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, as well as unfair trade practices across the globe."

"Now some people would encourage us to create broad import restraints and while this would help domestic steel in the short term, tariffs and protectionism is going to have overall negative consequences for our economy. Steel especially right now is threatened because countries like China are creating a huge surplus and driving down the price of steel. Which while good for the consumer its obviously an issue for companies like Windsor and workers like Frank."

"Now we certainly need to level the playing field with China, who uses unfair trade practices and we are doing that. Right now we have over 70 anti-dumping orders for iron and steel alone, and this protectionism, sanctioned by the WTO is not sufficient."

"The only path forward, the only path that really creates jobs, is pro growth policies. Comprehensive tax reform, tax cuts, deregulation, we need not shelter the American Economy but instead put forth policies that put our nation on the strongest possible footing and strongest position for growth and prosperity."

[Tallahassee News Station]

(Moderator)

Mr. Roberts, your thoughts?

[Velahor]

Roberts: "Deregulate, deregulate, deregulate. Notice that that's the answer to most of the questions asked to Representative Brennan tonight.

Now I'm not a full-blown economist, but I do have an economics degree from Yale, and that's worth something. No economic situation is simple enough to say "deregulate, and all the business will come back to the US". The fact is, American companies outsource because labor is cheaper overseas. Outsourcing is not good for anyone except Wall Street wallets.

Similar to how we need to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, we need to decrease our dependence on foreign labor. When American companies do all their manufacturing overseas, working class Americans lose jobs, and foreign countries continue to abuse their working class by allowing American companies to pay workers a fraction of what they can here. It's hard enough to make a living on minimum wage here in the US, so I believe it is a legitimate human rights abuse the way that sweatshop and factory workers overseas are paid. We also hinder China from becoming a free, capitalist society by allowing practical slave labor to be funded by American companies. So let's do what's better for the working class both in America and abroad, and bring jobs back to the US. I plan on doing this several ways.

First of all, deregulation, fixing the economic environment. But not unbridled deregulation, which is where I feel Representative Brennan and I differ. I believe in some tariffs to make American-made goods competitive, at rates that don't destabilize our economy. I also believe in heavily tax-incentivizing companies who manufacture in the US. Reward American companies for making American goods. Don't give tax breaks to companies who manufacture overseas.

So to follow up to what the Representative said, we must be pro-growth, but we must be firmly Pro-America as well, taking back our working class jobs and putting the American economy before the global one. I don't know if the Representative knows how much deregulation will be needed until your friends get their jobs back, but Frank, I can tell you that I will do more than just deregulating until deregulating works."

[Dentali]

"I'm sorry Mr. Roberts, I might be saying deregulation, deregulation, deregulation. But you consistently say 'I will assemble a team of experts', well then why don't we just have the team of experts run for office? Immediately after criticizing me for favoring deregulation, you go right back and say we need to deregulate."

"Additionally I said tariffs to level the playing field against Countries like China who constantly cheat the WTO rules is a good thing. I however said they are not sufficient, as we have over 70 already against China for steel alone."

"Finally I would like to remind Mr. Roberts that I included tax cuts and tax reform in my approach, far more than just deregulation. But in my extensive relationship with Connecticut business organizations over decades, the number one concern they consistently bring up is over-regulation. Thats my 'team of experts' as you would say."

[Velahor]

"I'm sorry Mr. Roberts, I might be saying deregulation, deregulation, deregulation. But you consistently say 'I will assemble a team of experts', well then why don't we just have the team of experts run for office? Immediately after criticizing me for favoring deregulation, you go right back and say we need to deregulate."

"Additionally I said tariffs to level the playing field against Countries like China who constantly cheat the WTO rules is a good thing. I however said they are not sufficient, as we have over 70 already against China for steel alone."

"Finally I would like to remind Mr. Roberts that I included tax cuts and tax reform in my approach, far more than just deregulation. But in my extensive relationship with Connecticut business organizations over decades, the number one concern they consistently bring up is over-regulation. Thats my 'team of experts' as you would say."

"My critique was not of deregulation itself, my critique was of you over-reliance on it to solve our problems. No matter what, some third-world, civil rights abusing, foreign countries will be able to hire labor, the biggest expense in manufacturing, at cheaper rates than America. So give our country the complete dream package of deregulation, get rid of every regulation on the books, and we still won't be able to rely on deregulation and some here and there tax cuts and reform to bring jobs back to the US. We have to incentivize American manufacturing.

Actually...one second...let me break down what you said further. You said three things that will fix our hemorrhaging of American manufacturing jobs: deregulation, tax cuts, and tax reform. Make things easier for big business. Fair enough. I want to address each of there separately, first off, deregulation, which, as I already stated, cannot on its own make American manufacturing competitive. Tax cuts...what tax cuts can we give? Yeah, tax cuts are great in theory, but most only apply to the top corporations. Plus tax cuts don't really bring jobs back to the US except indirectly through a lessening of expenses. And finally, tax reform, which is something I can get on board with if you can make big companies pay similar rates to the small ones.

My plan here actually directly targets the problem, rather than throwing out economic conservatism hoping that it does the trick. In the 1980's, we had some of the most deregulated business in modern times, and guess what? American companies were still outsourcing like you wouldn't believe. We have to do more.

American workers are like businesses in the fact that they are offering a service, their labor, for pay. American labor has a price floor, the minimum wage. Foreign countries without minimum wages or with unenforced minimum wages don't have this price floor, so through tariffs we must manually create a price floor for them in order to make American labor a competitive commodity for corporations to pay for."

[Dentali]

"Business is the enemy now? Im sorry is this the democratic debate? Youre against tax cuts? You just said you wanted to cut the corporate tax rate. So what exactly is your position Roberts? Are you lying to Frank or Jana? You yourself admitted you are not a tax policy expert."

"Then you throw the 1980s under the bus, the time of Reagan and some of the best economic policy our country has ever seen. The only things you are going to do with your protectionism is make the prices of goods skyrocket, and make our economy less competitive."

[Velahor]

"Business is the enemy now? Im sorry is this the democratic debate? Youre against tax cuts? You just said you wanted to cut the corporate tax rate. So what exactly is your position Roberts? Are you lying to Frank or Jana? You yourself admitted you are not a tax policy expert."

"Then you throw the 1980s under the bus, the time of Reagan and some of the best economic policy our country has ever seen. The only things you are going to do with your protectionism is make the prices of goods skyrocket, and make our economy less competitive."

"The 1980's was the best era of economic policy we have seen, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't still a time of massive outsourcing. Look it up, Congressman.

Like I have stated in the past, I am not against ANY of the things that you are saying, and NONE of the spin you are trying to put on what I have said will change that. I am FOR deregulation, FOR tax cuts, and FOR tax reform. But Representative Brennan, I am also for American workers, and while you are accusing me of being a Democrat, I am giving Americans like Frank and Jana real answers to their problems. We CAN deregulate while also taking measures to make American labor competitive."

[Tallahassee News Station]

(Moderator)

A very good discussion gentlemen, but let's move on to the next questioner.

[Tallahassee News Station]

A middle-aged woman comes up.

"I'm going to be asking a question to Mr. Roberts. I know you're a Catholic Mr. Roberts, and I'm a evangelical, but I know you talk a lot about family values. I run a company that hosts and sets up weddings, but I believe in the Bible's definition of marriage, and I can't in good conscience service a same-sex wedding. I've heard about all those businesses and hosts getting driven out of business because of that in Oregon and Colorado and New York, and what I want to ask is, will you defend my rights to conscience?"

[Velahor]

A middle-aged woman comes up.

"I'm going to be asking a question to Mr. Roberts. I know you're a Catholic Mr. Roberts, and I'm a evangelical, but I know you talk a lot about family values. I run a company that hosts and sets up weddings, but I believe in the Bible's definition of marriage, and I can't in good conscience service a same-sex wedding. I've heard about all those businesses and hosts getting driven out of business because of that in Oregon and Colorado and New York, and what I want to ask is, will you defend my rights to conscience?"

"Absolutely. Businesses have the right to refuse service to anyone based on the religious beliefs of the owner. I will defend that right as Senator.

If you were required by the government to serve same-sex weddings, you'd be required to provide a service that your company doesn't actually provide. It would be like the government requiring car salesmen to sell boats as well. Businesses and business owners have rights to associate with the customers they want to associate with, and I pledge to defend those rights."