*** Racine Taxpayers Association ***

Moderator George Meyers and audience

Libertarian candidate Joseph Kexel and Republican Congressman Paul Ryan appeared before The Racine Taxpayers Association and guests.  

Democratic candidate Marge Krupp was unable to attend.

Questions from the audience were presented to Kexel and Ryan by Moderator, George Meyers.

A synopsis of their answers follows.

Paul Ryan, Republican Candidate

Kexel  — "Wants and needs are a personal matter. A free market provides choices for people. Government interference skews the market as shown in the present mortgage debacle."

Ryan  —" It’s up to the individual to decide wants. Government’s role is needs. Joe is right regarding the mortgage crisis. The federal government interference in the housing market with loose money policies exemplifies government action in the "wants" area."

Racine Taxpayers Association U.S. Congress Candidate Forum, October 14, 2008

Ryan  — "I am an advocate of personal retirement accounts. Privatization of Social Security is letting people take the money and invest it and do what they want with it. My program stops the raid on Social Security funds for other government programs and sets up personal accounts which are voluntary and Social Security would administer. Persons under 55 could choose to have 1/3 of payroll taxes put into their personal account which would be managed by Social Security."

Kexel  — " I am for privatization of Social Security, but it would have to be done incrementally. Young people should be able to invest themselves. Portfolios should be diversified: younger people could take on risk and older people could move their portfolios into safer accounts."

Joe Kexel, Libertarian Candidate

Kexel  —  " Bonds may not be the best investment. It’s up to the individual to make his or her choice. Investors should get honest representation of operations inside a company, state, local and federal governments."

Ryan —  "Bonds are the safer investment, but with the fiscal mess in Washington and the future mess of the unfunded liabilities questions our ability to redeem the bonds. That’s why I introduced The Roadmap for America’s Future—a bill with real numbers to back it up.  If we do not tackle our fiscal problems and put entitlements on a road to sustainability and solvency, we will have a problem in redeeming our bonds from the federal government."

George Meyers and Pete Karas

Ryan — "I have voted against the Fairness Doctrine. This will be a critical fight in the next Congress.  One in which some people will try to censure and silence public opinion."

Kexel — I would vote against it.  I believe in the first amendment right of free speech.  In a free market, opposing ideas are expressed on radio, TV and newspapers."

Jody Harding, Beth Roeseler

Kexel — "Parents and the local community are responsible for children’s education. It is not the federal government’s role."

Ryan — "Parents are morally responsible for children’s education.   The federal government’s 'No Child Left Behind' was supposed to provide resources and rules to improve schools, but it has not been so implemented.   That is why I oppose reauthorization of the bill and support a rival program which sends resources to the states and local governments so they can decide their accountability measures.   I am fearful of a federalized curriculum.   If Washington gets control, it will mess it up."

Paul Ryan & June Reich

Ryan — "No one is for war.   I did vote for funding authorization, but the administration messed up for 3 or 4 years; sent too few troops in;  the 'Baathification' was a miserable, bad policy;  Bremer and crew managed this poorly;  Generals Petraus and Ordiano are doing a much better job, have turned things around.  The question now is  'How do we come home with a victory and why is it important.'  For our own security, we cannot leave a vacuum in the Middle East where this could turn into another Afghanistan, where terrorists would have access to all this oil money to train and equip and to come attack us again.  We must leave Iraq with a strong democracy and strong security forces to prevent that vacuum from forming."

Kexel — "I am not for the war.  I would not have voted for authorization.  It is the role of Congress, not the president, to declare war.  It is up to the Iraqi people to determine their future, not the U.S."

Joe Kexel, Paul Ryan

Kexel — "I do listen to people.  I have my own business, have family members who are disabled.  I stand close to the ideals of the Libertarian party, but there are differences between individuals in the party.  I believe in liberty and support it."

Ryan — "I call them as I see them.  It’s important that people know who you are; what are your values?  What do you believe in?  What are your principles?  There are dozens of issues on which I have disagreed with my party.  I am a conservative and I use my conservative philosophy to filter my votes on a case by case basis."

Beth Roeseler, Stephanie Brien, Joe Kexel, George Meyers, Mark Johnson

Ryan — "I support the War Powers Act and the legislature should hold the executive branch accountable for it’s actions.  In certain situations, emergency powers should be granted.  Iran poses a real danger and we must do everything to prevent her from getting nukes.  We must set forth a multi-lateral diplomatic strategy that is air- tight to prevent that from happening.  China and Russia have to be more involved.  This is the most vexing problem facing us today."

Kexel — "There should be thorough discussion prior to a formal declaration of war.  The American people pay for war and send their sons and daughters to war.   The people should have a say, not just the president.  I believe every nation has the right to nuclear energy.  Nuclear bombs are another matter.  Iran and North Korea stepped up their nuclear programs when the president named them with Iraq as the 'Axis of Evil.'  They seem to feel that if they have a nuclear bomb, we won’t invade them.  We have to engage them at the diplomatic table and assure them we don’t have warlike aims.  We have to be honest and up front and both sides have to meet halfway."

Guest

Kexel — "There are people in need, but the federal government is attempting to solve more problems than they should be.  Short term, cost of living assistance should be given, but over time the government should slowly remove itself from managing people’s retirements."

Ryan — "I make it my policy not to make commitments in campaigns on specific programs.  We’re going to have a half trillion dollar budget deficit next year.  It’s wrong to make fiscal promises without looking at the broader fiscal situation. I voted for re-authorization of the Older Americans Act, but I’m not voting to increase it to this amount without looking at the total budget situation."

Paul Ryan

Ryan — "Yes, I helped get the waiver.  I think it’s important for Wisconsin to do what it wants to do.  This is Wisconsin money with some federal money for Medicaid.  I believe in state experimentation, not cookie-cutter, one size fits all programs from the federal government."

Kexel — "I favor a waiver that helps remove the federal government from meddling with the states.  The states are a powerful resource that we don’t exploit enough.  Different states have different problems and cookie-cutter federal programs don’t address this."

Joe Kexel

Kexel — "I recommend we use all the force required to maintain our borders.  As a sovereign nation, we must have enough police presence to make sure no one gets across our borders illegally.  It’s foolish to worry about homeland security when you have a porous border."

Ryan — "I voted for the fence and voted against the appropriation which delayed construction.  I believe that border protection is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government.  What is working where its been tried is real border patrols, real fences, real resources and then detention centers to hold illegals until their court date."

George Meyers, Jayne Siler, Stephanie Brien, Richard Reich

Ryan — "Bush, Cheney, Clinton, Carter, Reagan, Ford and L.B.J.. This all started in 1968 with the Unified Budget Act which put the Social Security Fund into the general fund which then was used to finance the Vietnam war.  Ever since, Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the White House have spent that surplus money.  I have authored bill after bill to remove the fund from the general fund.  In 2009 the fund starts to go down. In 2017 the fund will be in deficit."

Kexel — "You could have had a private retirement mentality in America that money would never have been in government hands to begin with.  We basically made a deal with the devil in Social Security.  Short term it was nice, but long term we have these games being played.  It was wrong that it was put in the general budget.  It should be treated as a pension fund.  The money should be invested in treasury bonds, or other safe investments.  The funds should be dedicated strictly for Social Security purposes."

Kexel — "Absolutely not.  In a free market a company can pay their chief executive anything they want.  However, we can’t have bail-outs either.  If a CEO makes a big mistake, he will pay for it.  A bail-out rewards failure.  Stockholders can take action against corporate boards if they disapprove the board’s actions."

Ryan — "Of course not, that’s socialism.  The bail-out was a very hard pill to swallow.  When Treasury Secretary Paulson came to us with a 2-1/2 page bill which was essentially a blank check, we were offended.  It was a bill written by Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd and would be signed by President Bush.  Myself and several others added 107 pages of taxpayer protections to the bill.  To make sure this intervention was temporary, that the taxpayer would get their money back and that the money coming back didn’t go to housing slush funds for ACORN or other groups and that the money would go to pay down the debt.  The bail-out is unprecedented but is necessary to prevent a crash of the economy.  Good companies who have done nothing wrong would go out of business putting good people out on the street."

Kexel — "Regarding the bail-out, I fear it will lead to more inflation.  $150 Millions of pork was added to the bill totaling about a trillion dollars - ,7% to 8% of GDP.  We are teaching big business that if they mess up, the taxpayer will help them out.  The banks will keep the good mortgages and sell off the bad ones.  The banks should be allowed to fail and the mortgages auctioned off."

Paul Ryan

Kexel — "We should have less government intervention in the market.  Government insurance programs like FDIC sound good, but they encourage business to make poor decisions.  Second, changes should be made in the way the Federal Reserve works.  They should deal with inflation rather than job numbers.  If they hadn’t pumped more currency into the system the banks would have run out of credit long ago and this problem would have occurred when the problem would have been much smaller."

Ryan — "There is no market now for these securities.  There is no free market for the securities that are clogging up the system.  The whole point is to get the market going again.  The banks should lose their money, but we have to make sure they don’t take the rest of us down with them.  I’m concerned that the Federal Reserve may inflate their way out of this.  The job of the Federal Reserve should be limited to maintaining the stability of the dollar."

Pete Karas

Ryan — "I am not in favor of legalizing drugs.  You have to attack both the supply and the demand side.  Border security is necessary in controlling the supply side.  Foreign policy is involved with Venezuala helping the Columbian drug cartels.  We have to help our ally Colulmbia persuade its people to grow coffee beans instead of cocaine.  On the demand side, we have to work with our children and with our schools.  Legalizing drugs would be a step in the wrong direction."

Kexel — "As a Libertarian I believe personal liberty is very important.  A society which can tolerate alcohol can tolerate any drug.  If they legalize drugs, the #1 drug would probably be pot.  The reality is you cannot stop a black market.  Black markets create crime.  Gangs are supported by the high price of these drugs.  If drugs were legal, gangs would not have this money source.  If the states want to make rules on drugs, O.K.  The federal government should not be involved."

Marge Krupp was unable to attend

Kexel — "I oppose any national health care system.  There is no sanction in the constitution to provide it.  The free market is much more powerful than people imagine.  Between 1992 and 2005, cost of living went up 38%, standard medical services up 77%, yet uninsured cosmetic surgery went up only 22%.  Cosmetic surgery, like lasik eye surgery brought competition into the picture.  Lasik surgery is safe and affordable, as little as $300 per eye and the technology that brought it about was the free market, not a government program.  When I walk into a medical clinic, they try to sell me every diagnostic test they can because insurance will cover it.  If there is going to be government health insurance, I would want it to be local or state – the federal government is too far away and is too influenced by lobbyists."

Ryan — "I don’t disagree with anything Joe said.  I do oppose single payer health care, but we don’t have a free market system.  Canadians are coming to the U.S. because the wait is so long for care; 7 out of the 10 provinces send their cancer patients to the U.S. because they can’t serve them quickly enough.  124 people died in Ontario 2 years ago waiting for by-pass surgery which took an average of 13 weeks to get.  To have a free market you need product transparency and price transparency.  You don’t have that in medical care.  Cost and level of service among hospitals and doctors vary widely.  By-pass surgery in Milwaukee will cost from $47,000 to $120,000; an MRI from $600 to $5,000; having a baby from $4700 to $20,000.  I propose that the tax on health care be equal, so that everyone gets the same benefit.  Now, only the people who get health care from their jobs get the best tax benefit.  Give people the ability to buy their insurance where they get the best deal, set up high risk pools, fund them in each state so people with pre-existing conditions can get affordable health care."

Dick Reich, Secretary

WHEN: Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Forum starts at NOON. Join us for lunch at 11:30. ($8.00, tax & tip incl.)

MEET THE CANDIDATES