Who do you think the first of the candidates on this stage will be to drop out of the race?
Ben Casselman
Most economists agree with Rick Santorum that the U.S. should get rid of the deduction for state and local taxes, which essentially leads residents of low-tax states to subsidize those in high-tax states. But they’d also get rid of the mortgage-interest deduction, which incentivizes people to buy bigger houses than they would otherwise.
Farai Chideya
During the last debate, race came up primarily during a policing conversation near the end of the debate — not sparked by the moderators but by a comment from Gov. Christie. In this economic-focused debate, there is plenty of room to talk about race and opportunity. There’s already been a vigorous pushback against financial regulations like Dodd-Frank tonight. What about regulations on mortgage lenders, several of whom faced tens or hundreds of millions in fines for race-based inequities in lending during the mortgage crisis? And then there’s the racial wealth gap, which has persisted throughout the years. In 2013, the median wealth of a white family was $130,102, versus $64,165 for an Asian-American family, $13,900 for a Hispanic family, and $11,184 for a black family. One way for the GOP to go for a big tent — after an election that so far has bruised chances with the Latino electorate in particular — might be to address the wealth gap head-on and propose some solutions to it.
