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Many statements, numbers and claims were touted in Thursday night’s presidential debate, but many of the takeaways focused on the demeanor and coherence (or lack thereof) that both candidates displayed on stage. Decision-making at the ballot box can be dependent on temperament and abilities, but also check out what each of the candidates said about specific areas of the economy.
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Inflation
Biden: “There was no inflation when I became president. You know why? The economy was flat on its back. 15% unemployment, he decimated the economy, absolutely decimated the economy. That’s why there was no inflation at the time.”
Trump: “He [Biden] has not done a good job. He has done a poor job. And inflation’s killing our country. It is absolutely killing us. He inherited almost no inflation, and it stayed that way for 14 months. And then it blew up under his leadership because they spent money like a bunch of people that didn’t know what they were doing. And they don’t know what they were doing. It was the worst – probably the worst administration in history. There’s never been.”
Economy
Biden: “The idea that we’re going to be in a situation where all these millions and millions, the way he talks about it, illegal aliens are coming into the country and taking away our jobs, there’s a reason why we have the fastest-growing economy in the world, a reason why we have the most successful economy in the world. We’re doing better than any other nation in the world.”
Trump: “We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We have never done so well. Every – everybody was amazed by it. Other countries were copying us. We got hit with COVID. And when we did, we spent the money necessary so we wouldn’t end up in a Great Depression, the likes of which we had in 1929… and if I’m given another four years, I will be the best. I think I’ll be the best. Nobody’s ever created an economy like us.”
Employment and jobs
Biden: “[We created] 50M new jobs, 800K manufacturing jobs, more investment in America, over millions – billions of dollars in private investment and – and enterprises that we are growing… but there’s more to be done. Working-class people are still in trouble… He’s [Trump] the only president other than Herbert Hoover who has lost more jobs than he had when he began, since Herbert Hoover.”
Trump: “The only thing he was right about is I gave you the largest tax cut in history. I also gave you the largest regulation cut in history. And that’s why we had all the jobs. And the jobs went down and then they bounced back and he’s taking credit for bounce-back jobs. You can’t do that… Why do you see these millions of people pouring into our country and they’re going to take the jobs? And it’s already started. And you haven’t seen anything yet. It’s a disaster.”
Climate spending
Biden: “He had not done a damn thing with the environment. He – out of the Paris Peace Accord – Climate Accord, I immediately joined it, because if we reach for 1.5 degrees Celsius at any one point, well, there is no way back. The only existential threat to humanity is climate change. We set up a Climate Corps…just like the Peace Corps.”
Trump: “The Paris Accord was going to cost us a trillion dollars, and China nothing, and Russia nothing, and India nothing. It was a rip off of the United States. And I ended it because I didn’t want to waste that money because they treat us horribly. We were the only ones who was costing us money. Nobody else was paying into it. And it was a disaster.”
Tariffs
Biden: “But this tariff – these 10% tariffs, everything coming into the country, you know what the economists say? That’s going to cost the average American $2,500 a year and more, because they’re going to have to pay the difference in food and all the things that are very important.”
Trump: “It’s not going to drive prices higher. It’s just going to cause countries that have been ripping us off for years, like China – and many others, in all fairness to China – it’s going to just force them to pay us a lot of money, reduce our deficit tremendously, and give us a lot of power for other things… but do you notice? He [Biden] never took out my tariffs because we bring in so much money with the tariffs that I imposed on China. He never took them away. He can’t because it’s too much money. It’s tremendous. And we saved our steel industries. But he hasn’t cut the tariffs because he can’t, because it’s too much money.”
Taxes and national debt
Biden: “He [Trump] had the largest national debt of any president in a four-your period, number one. Number two, he – that $2T tax cut benefited the very wealthy. I – what I’m going to do is fix the tax system. For example, we have a thousand trillionaires in America – I mean, billionaires in America. And what’s happening? They’re in a situation where they, in fact, pay 8.2% in taxes. If they just paid 24% or 25%, either one of those numbers, they’d raised $500M – billion dollars, I should say, in a 10-year period.”
Trump: “Now, when we cut the taxes, as example, the corporate tax was cut down to 21% from 39%, plus beyond that, we took in more revenue with much less tax and companies were bringing back trillions of dollars back into our country. The country was going like never before. And we were ready to start paying down debt. He [Biden] wants to raise your taxes by four times. All my life I’d grow up and I’d see politicians talking about cutting taxes. When we cut taxes, as I said, we did more business. Apple (AAPL) and all these companies, they were bringing money back into our country.”
Medicare and Social Security
Biden: “Make the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share. I would not raise the cost of Social Security for anybody under $400K. After that, I begin to make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share, by increasing from 1% beyond, to be able to guarantee the program for life.”
Trump: “He [Biden] did beat Medicare. He beat it to death. And he’s destroying Medicare because all of these people are coming in, they’re putting them on Medicare. They’re putting them on Social Security. They’re going to destroy Social Security. This man [Biden] is going to single-handedly destroy Social Security. These millions and millions of people coming in, they’re trying to put them on Social Security. He will wipe out Social Security. He will wipe out Medicare.”
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