Across the street Teddy Roosevelt was shot by a wouldbe assassin. In this very theater, lodged a campaign with the bullet still lodged in his chest. Now the economy is at the top top of the agenda, americans are concerned about their jobs and their families and hopes that the road ahead leads to a better future. Here in wisconsin they have seen their fair share of partisanship but they persevere and their spirit remains strong. From now, if anyone tries to sell america short, or tells me that americans dont have the will to compete or the stamina to keep out in front, i will tell them to come to see you, the people of wisconsin. [applause] election day is less than a year away. First votes will be cast in just three months. And for the first time, the end of the road can be scene on the horizon. Moderator it is 9 00 p. M. On the east coast, 8 00 p. M. Here inside the milwaukee theater. Welcome to the republican president ial debate here on the fox business network. Im neil cavuto. Alongside my comoderators, maria bartiromo, and the editorinchief of the wall street journal, gerard baker. Moderator tonight were partnering with the wall street journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. Were working with facebook, who tells us that since the first republican debate, more than 58 Million People have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. Moderator the candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman donald trump. [applause] neurosurgeon, dr. Ben carson. [applause] moderator florida senator marco rubio. [applause] texas senator ted cruz. [applause] former Florida Governor jeb bush. [applause] moderator businesswoman, carly fiorina. [applause] Ohio Governor john kasich. [applause] and kentucky senator rand paul. [applause] moderator tonights rules are simple. Up to 90 second force each answer. One minute for each followup response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, youll here this. Moderator sounds like a game show but its not. Now i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and im not talking about your partys fine symbol. Im talking about the purpose of tonights debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make america better tomorrow. So we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country picketers are gathering as well. Theyre demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to 15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading president ial candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to 50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a 15 wage works out to about 31,000 a year . I cant be neil. The and the reason i cant be we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We dont win anymore. Our taxes are too high. Ive come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. Its going to be a tremendous plan. I think it will make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, were not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper strattestimony. Stratem we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just cant do it. Moderator do not raise the minimum wage . I would not do it. [applause] moderator dr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. This facebook map show americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nations specially here in the state of wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for 15 and nothing less. Where are you . First of all, delighted to be here. My familys here and my little granddaughter who is three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. This is particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19. 8 of black teenagers have a job. Or are looking for one. And thats because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, i can remember as a youngster, you know my first job working in a laboratory as a Lab Assistant and multiple other jobs but i would would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money but what i gained from those jobs is tremendous amount of experience and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people and how to become a responsible individual. And thats what gave me what i needed to assend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That is what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to assend the ladder of opportunity and rather than give them everything and keep them dependent. [applause] moderator sir, just to be clear you would not raise it . I would not raise it. I would not raise it specifically because im interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. [applause] moderator senator rubio, you called the recent democratic debate in las vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other governmentpaid benefits. Since you arent a fan of all their giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. Let me begin answering first question and this one because theyre related. I have said many times before my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living but they were successful people because despite because they werent welleducated and in those jobs made enough money to buy a home, live in safe neighborhood and retire dignity. Make all four children better off themselves. We call the American Dream, but universal dream of better life people have all over the world. It is reminder every country in the world has rich people. What makes America Special we have millions and millions of people who are not rich but are successful. People are not successful working as hard as ever. The economy is providing jobs to pay enough. If i thought minimum wage would be best way to help increase their pay i would be all tore for it but it isnt. In the 20th century it is disaster f you raise the minimum wage you make people more expensive than machines. All automation replacing people will be accelerated. Here is the best way. To make america the best way to start a business or expand a business. Tax reform, regulatory reform. Bring our debt under control. Fully use our Energy Resources to reinvigorate manufacturing. Repeal and replace obamacare and make Higher Education faster and easier to access especially vocational training. For the life of me i dont dont know why we stigma is tood vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders than philosophers. [applause] if we do that, if we do this, if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of americans. We will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. Moderator thank you, senator rubio. [applause] moderator weve asked people on facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth bell wrote, we are approaching 20 trillion in National Debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending . Governor kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under president clinton. Today the National Debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the Fastest Growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social security, the lifeline of millions of american seniors, is rushing towards insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between 2 and 12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget . First of all, let me just say in the state of ohio, im only acting executive on this stage today, we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mothers mother lived with us. She could barely speak english. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. And economic theory is fine but you know what . People need help. Now i have a plan that in fact would cut taxes but not 11 or 12 trillion, that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan, the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate. A lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that call them. Hillary and the democrats promise everything on the spending side. We have to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, johncase i can. Com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in washington as chief architect. I balanced in ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and cut taxes people get work. And our most important moral purpose, as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their godgiven potential. That is why it is so important. For those at the bottom, weve got to do what we can to train them so they can move up but just to look the other way is not acceptable because you know what . As the governor of ohio i have to deal with real challenges and weve gotten it done in our state and i will do it for america. [applause] moderator did you want to name any specific steps, sir . Sure. We would move the medicare system from a 7 growth down to about 5 growth. And i have a whole series of ways to do that. In ohio we reduced medicaid funding for the poor from 10 to 2 1 2 . Didnt cut one benefit or didnt take anybody off the rolls. Why . Because were innovators. Ive been an innovator my entire career. I dont care what special interests or lobbies have to say. I have a job to do and when i take over a public office. Now we freezed nondefense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out and at the end of the day we will get to a balanced budget. I want everybody here to know. When i was Budget Committee chairman in washington i stepped on every toe in that town and we got to a balanced budget and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of ohio we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. I will do it in washington. Moderator thank you, sir. I have done it twice. I will do it thrice for the United States of america. [applause] moderator senator cruz, the International Monetary fund recently cut its expectations for Economic Growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the u. S. Within the next year. Due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say, tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. Youre calling for a 10 income tax and 16 business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs . Well, maria, it is great to be with you. Its great to be here in milwaukee. You know the question you asked i think is really the most important question any of us can face, which is how do we get the economy growing . How do we bring back Economic Growth . Because Economic Growth, its foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1. 2 a year on average. The obama economy is a disaster and the imf is telling us this is the new normal. It doesnt have to be. If you look at the history of america, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate Economic Growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted i have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax. 10 for every american that would produce booming growth and 4. 9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on Small Businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we pursued all three of those, whether in the 1920s with calvin coolidge, or the 1960s with jfk or in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan, the result has been incredible Economic Growth. We have done it before and with leadership we can do it again. [applause] moderator thank you, sir. Excuse me. Moderator governor bush . I would like to make comments. Already made two comments, john. Moderator more questions for you governor kasich. I got four minutes last debate. I appreciate it jeb. Im all for you. I want to talk about valueadded tax and 11 or 12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So i would like to talk about it at some point. That is what leadership is. Moderator we will certainly get to that. Governor bush . Yes. Moderator almost 40 of the americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. Thats what the Participation Rate tells us. You have said, your policies will drive the economy back to 4 growth which we havent seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change and how will that lead to jobs and growth . First of all, we could get to 4 growth. The new normal of 2 puts huge demands on government. The reason we have structural deficits that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we dont have makes the deficit grow. A 4 Growth Strategy starts with tax reform and in the proposal that i have laid out is the one the wall street Journal Editorial Board has said the most progrowth of all the proposals out there. We cut the, we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 which puts us 5 above below of that china and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higherwage jobs some thats part of it. On the regulatory side i think we need to repeal every rule that barack obama has in terms of work in progress. Everyone of them. [applause] and start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the internet, we have to start over but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and start over on that. The waters of the United States act which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industry, we should repeal that we should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. If were serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that Small Businesses right now, more of them are closing than are being set up. Hillary clinton has said that Barack Obamas policies get an a. Really . One in 10 people right now arent working or, have given up all together as you said. That is not an a. One in seven people are living in poverty. Thats not an a. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an a. May be the best that Hillary Clinton can do but it is not the best america can do. [applause] moderator thank you, sir. [applause] moderator miss fiorina, while you all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election the democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president s jobs performance. Now in seven years under president obama, the u. S. Has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under president clinton the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under george w. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination you will probably be facing a democrat named clinton. How will you respond to the claim that democratic president s are better at creating jobs than republicans . Well first of all i must say as i think about that question i think about a woman i met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children and she said to me, you know, carly, i go to bed every night afraid for my childrens future. And that really struck me. This is america. A mother is going to bed afraid for her childrens future. The reason she is afraid for her childrens future, we had problems a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under democrats. The truth is this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of Economic Growth for a very long time. This isnt about just replacing a democrat with a republican now. It is about challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics specifically. We need to actually do five things. To really get this economy going again. We need to go to zerobased budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent. We can challenge