I want to welcome you to the first presidential debate. Okay, one more. Jacob Clifford from the Economics Party.
Secretary Clinton, Mr. Trump. Figured you'd want an economist here to make sure you don't say anything that's not economically sound. Let's go ahead and start. Beginning with you, Secretary Clinton, why are you a better choice than your opponent to create the kinds of jobs that will put more money into the pockets of American workers?
We need new jobs, good jobs. That means jobs in infrastructure, in advanced manufacturing. In invasion and technology, clean renewable energy and small business...
There's two points I would like to make. The government's responsibility is not to create jobs. Over 85% of U.S. workers work in the private sector, and more than half of those work in small private businesses. So when we're talking about creating jobs, let's not focus on government pet projects.
Let's talk about creating a system where small businesses and entrepreneurs can flourish. This means promoting competition... removing unnecessary regulations and limiting taxes, especially for job creators.
Now remember, politicians, we don't create jobs. You create jobs. Second, she's talking about creating high income, high wage jobs. But if you don't have the right skills, you can't expect those kind of wages. Even Trump's idea of getting rid of all illegal immigrants doesn't mean higher wages for Americans.
I do not say that. And I think it's important that we grip this and deal with it both at home and abroad. And here's what we can do.
We can deploy a half a billion more solar panels. We can have enough clean energy to power every home. We can build a new modern electric grid. That's a lot of jobs. That's a lot of new economic activity.
But that's not going to help unskilled workers. Even if you produce like 5 million windmills, workers aren't going to get those jobs unless they know how to weld. That's why it's essential for kids to stay in school and for adults to get training in marketable and valuable trades.
But those are individual decisions, not government decisions. Listen, if you want to get a good job, don't ask politicians. Go get better skills.
I don't even know why politicians promise you jobs. Why not? Why not? Yeah, why not? Mr. Trump, the same question to you.
It's about putting money, more money, into the pockets of American workers. You have up to two minutes. Thank you, Lester. Our jobs are fleeing the country.
We have to renegotiate our trade deals and we have to stop these countries from stealing our companies and our jobs. Almost everything Donald Trump says about trade is wrong. International trade has been a net benefit for Americans.
Sure, some workers have lost their jobs and some jobs have gone overseas. But prices of goods and services have fallen for American consumers. NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country. And now you want to approve Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yes, yes.
Trade is a good thing. We want to trade with other countries as much as possible. Imagine producing a cell phone in the United States.
It would cost $2,000. But since we get it cheaper from other countries, that gives you extra money you can spend on other things, which creates jobs in those other industries. Arguing against free trade is against everything economists believe.
And trying to get people to vote for you by blaming other countries and immigrants is just as bad as her for promising things that we just can't afford. Let's have paid family leave, earn sick days. Let's be sure we have affordable childcare and debt-free college.
How are we going to do it? We're going to do it by having the wealthy pay their fair share. Okay, how much is a fair share? Seriously.
The poorest half of Americans pay no income taxes. and the top 10%, the richest Americans, pay about 70% of the income taxes. Is that a fair share? I mean, even if we taxed all the rich people as much as we possibly could, it would never pay for all these entitlement programs and all these social programs that you want to create.
We can't promise everything to everyone. Let's face it. The big problem is the federal government is getting too big.
The big issues that we debate at the national level should really be handled entirely by individual states. If Oregon wants to increase taxes and increase the minimum wage, push liberal policies, then go for it. If Texas wants to push conservative policies, do it.
Let's promote healthy competition and see what policies actually work. But now with the federal government meddling in everything, states don't have the freedom to try new things. What we need is healthy competition. And in this debate, I haven't had it. I'm out.