Eye To Eye: Economy (CBS News)
CBS
Transcript
[Music] during this presidential campaign we've been talking one-on-one to the major candidates in a series we've called primary questions in our CBS News poll 38% of Voters name jobs and the economy as their number one concern so today I asked the candidates what they would do about it why do you think you're in the best position to fix an alien economy I've done business around the world in over 20 different countries um i' I've helped turn around businesses in trouble uh I also as you know took over the Olympics when they were in trouble and helped get them back on track in Massachusetts our state was in a ditch was going downhill fast losing money every month and losing jobs every month it was hard but we were able Republicans and Democrats to work together to turn that around we didn't raise taxes uh we uh we rebuilt our economy and it's uh it continues to come out of the deep trough it was in so I believe my record of actually uh turning things around is quite distinctly different from that of Senator McCain so you're suggesting Senator McCain has no record on the economic front well Senator McCain hasn't had responsibility for a city or a state or a business I've been involved in the major economic issues going back to the Reagan Revolution when we cut taxes and restrain spending and put this country back on the path to Prosperity at the time he became president we had 10% unemployment and 20% interest rates rates and we cut taxes but we restrain spending in the growth of government and I've been involved uh in Restraint of spending I'm called the sheriff in the by some of the appropriators and by the way that's I'm not most popular with some of my colleagues in the Senate when I take on their pork barrel projects uh I have the experience and knowledge on economic issues to lead this country based on fundamental conservative economic principles being a governor I've steered the canoe through low water and high water I've taken a deficit and turned it into a surplus I've LED in the creation of jobs I understand that if you really want to create jobs you have to produce something which means you got to change the tax system so Americans are producing things and actually making things again that is an important part of having a strong healthy economy and building the middle class why do you think you're best qualified of all the candidates to handle a struggling economy I've spent 20 years Katie trying to make sure that our economy uh is prospering from the bottom up and not just the top down and so my economic program that includes tax cuts for the middle class $1,000 per family to offset the payroll tax uh relief for seniors who don't make a lot of money so they don't have to pay income tax providing additional tax breaks for uh homeowners on their interest rates all those things are designed to strengthen the purchasing power of the middle class strengthen the economy I think that's the package that will move move us forward in the right direction well I've been talking about what we need to do with the economy now for my entire campaign I would still like to see us have a moratorium on home foreclosures Let's help people stay in their homes we need to freeze these interest rates otherwise we're going to lose millions of more people uh out of their homes and I think it's very important that we start generating new jobs you know the lessons I learned from the first Clinton administration about how to be a good Steward of the economy I will bring with me into the White House as we look toward the future so we get this economy working for everybody again