So far we have been silent on the current sexual harassment problems of Herman Cain; partly because I feel like I may have been a little hard on the Herminator lately, and partly because the accusations speak for themselves.  Last night however was the CNBC Republican Debate and I can no longer be silent on the shenanigans of Herman Cain and the rest of his Republican counterparts.  Since writing about the current crop of Republican candidates can be somewhat painful I will only give you the highlights and bullet points of the debate.   I know most democrats don’t follow the republican debates, but you need to know the forces that are working against you and the rest of the 99 percent.

Republican Debate Highlights and Lowlights (in no particular order)

On the same day of the debate, the Stock Market dropped 400 points based on Italy’s current financial crisis.  All candidates said America should do nothing to help Italy. Instead we should stick our head in the sand and focus on the US economy. Apparently they do not know that we now have a Global Economy.

All the candidates want to eliminate regulations.  Lack of regulation was what caused the financial meltdown

All who answered said that Medicare should be dismantled and the problem given to the (currently broke) States

Newt Gingrich stated that the student loan debt problem was the fault of students because they don’t want to work while going to school and that they don't take enough units

Herman Cain answered every single question with “9-9-9” - whether it was relevant or not

Gingrich proposed social security should be “off the budget”.  The Iraq war was "off the budget" and caused 1 trillion dollars of debt fighting this unfunded war.

Romney (a Michigan native) said to the Michigan crowd that the bailout of GM and Ford was a mistake, even though 14 million jobs would have been lost in bankruptcy (Note: both GM and Ford are now profitable and are hiring).

Romney said public workers make too much money and they should have their salaries and benefits reviewed. Note: no public sector employee makes enough to be in the 1%

Ron Paul wants to get rid of the Department of Education and the Federal Student Loan program. So does Rick Perry

Ron Paul says students can “pay for college the same way you pay for a cell phone or a computer”

Mitt Romney wants to slap tariffs on Chinese products, guaranteeing Chinese retaliation to impose tariffs on US exports

Mitt Romney stated we should let all homes underwater foreclose, let the rich buy them out and then rent them back to the former homeowners

Herman Cain (who is under investigation for sexual harassment ) called former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi “Princess Nancy”.  Herman seems to never miss a moment to demean women.

Mitt Romney and Michelle Bachmann were both called out by CNBC for lying about taxes, incomes and the economy.

Jim Cramer was the only moderator with balls enough to call the candidates out on their lack of answering the questions:

If you can't see the video below, click here

(and Jim Cramer is one of the biggest free market capitalists in the world)

What was NOT said in the Economic Debate

There was not one mention of poverty during the debate

There was no solution for the housing crisis.  The only 2 people to address the question (Romney and Paul) both said the government should do nothing to take care of homeowners.

Every candidate wants to repeal ObamaCare but no one offered a plan to replace it

No one had a plan to bring the cost of insurance down or how the poor could afford it.

No one offered a plan for hunger or even discussed the problem

There was no plan to lower the cost of healthcare.

There was no discussion of help for the unemployed

There was no plan to address the high cost of college tuition or the reduction of student loan debt

I know some of the notes in this article seem unbelievable.  I watched the debate twice and I still can’t believe it myself.  If you have any doubt here is a link to the debate and you can watch the selfishness, ignorance and complete disregard for the problems of the middle class and the poor by watching this link.  One word of caution: don’t eat your lunch before watching because you might just lose it.

Return to The 411 Home