Romney vs Huckabee on the Economy

Update: Romney became the second Republican presidential candidate, after Jon Huntsman, to offer a full-fledged detailed economic plan when he announced a 59-point job and economic proposal during a speech at the McCandless International Trucks dealership in Nevada, Las Vegas on September 6, 2011. Called 'Day One, Job One', the plan's main objective would be to "restore America to the path of robust economic growth necessary to create jobs.".

If elected, Romney pledged to initiate 10 major actions on the first day of his presidency, consisting of five Bills and 5 Executive Orders, which are

5 Bills For Day One
• The American Competitiveness Act
Reduces the corporate income tax rate to 25%
• The Open Markets Act
Implements Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea
• The Domestic Energy Act
Directs the Department of the Interior to undertake a comprehensive energy review
• The Retraining Reform Act
Consolidates federal retraining programs and return these programs to the states
• The Down Payment on Fiscal Sanity Act
Immediately cuts non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent ($20 billion)

5 Executive Orders For Day One
An Order to Pave the Way to End Obamacare
• Secretary of Health and Human Services to return the maximum possible authority to the states
An Order to Cut Red Tape
• All agencies to initiate the elimination of Obama-era regulations that burden the economy or job creation
An Order to Boost Domestic Energy Production
• Department of the Interior to implement a process for rapid issuance of drilling permits to
An Order to Sanction China for Unfair Trade Practices
• Department of the Treasury to list China as a currency manipulator and the Department of Commerce to assess countervailing duties on Chinese imports
An Order to Empower American Businesses and Workers
• Reverses the executive orders issued by President Obama that tilt the playing field in favor of organized labor

“Today, I’m introducing a plan consisting of 59 specific proposals — including 10 concrete actions I will take on my first day in office — to turn around America’s economy. Each proposal is rooted in the conservative premise that government itself cannot create jobs.”

Budget

“And change is going to have to begin with us, in our party. We're the party of change. We are the party of fiscal responsibility, and when Republicans act like Democrats, America loses. And you've seen that over the last several years.

We're going to have to make sure that we rein in spending. It's not just the -- we -- we all agree on the -- the earmarks and the pork barrel spending and the "Bridge to Nowhere." That's -- that's an easy one to take a shot at. But the big one is entitlements and reining in entitlement costs, and that's -- that's where the big dollars are.

And then you go on to say how are we going to bring down taxation, because we have the highest tax rate, next to Japan, in the world. That's -- that hurts our economy.

What you're seeing in a weakening dollar, in a declining stock market, in -- in foreign countries coming here to -- to buy into our banks, you're seeing an underground -- the foundation of our economy being shaken by the fact that we haven't been doing the job that needs to be done in Washington. And I'm going to Washington to change Washington.”

January 24, 2008, Republican Presidential Debate, Boca Raton Florida

Deficit
"It is instead however an objective for us to balance our budget and to take in as much money as we spent. How do you do that? Well you have to cut back on spending and I propose, I don't know if the other candidates are willing to sign for the same pledge, and that is, I'm going to take non-military discretionary spending and I'm gonna say I'm gonna cap that at inflation less one percent. So, one percent lower than inflation and that saves us 300 billion dollars over the next ten years. And that’s one commitment that I made, that’s what I’m gonna do. (If) Congress sends me appropriations bill which exceeds that amount, I will veto them. I like vetoing.

But I am a fiscal conservative. I believe in cutting spending and cutting taxes."

April 03, 2007, New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women's Lilac Dinner

Debts
"I'd like to start by balancing our budget and get it to a point where we stop spending more than we take in our national debt you know is huge in its total scale and actually eliminating of the national debt is not something I would put down as an objective in the first four years that’s for sure."

April 03, 2007, New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women's Lilac Dinner

Policy
Romney, who prides himself on being a pragmatic and successful businessman, is a proponent of Reaganomics.

"The last time we had a recession, in the Bush years, President Bush recognized the best thing you can do is lower taxes and put forward a tax bill. And John McCain was one of only two Republicans to vote against it, and said he'd go back and vote against it again if he could.

He does not understand the first lesson of Reaganomics, which is, you cut taxes to grow the economy.”

January 27, 2008, CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer