DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
New Look at Push for Corporate Tax Cuts
Charles Payne: I think he's being realistic. Think about that. That 15 percent number, we don't have to go that low. We're not competing against the Czech Republic. I'm not worried about us losing IBM to the Czech Republic. 25 percent is perfect, domestic businesses like retailers are paying in the high 30s like thirty eight 39 percent. They would love 25 percent.
Gerri Willis: let's talk about why was 15 percent in the first place. States, on average, have a 5 percent rate. You add five and 35 which is the present rate, you are at 40 percent. To get to 22, the average of the European countries, you've got to do 15.
Charlie Gasparino: The average effective rate, I believe is 27.1. My point is this, do we get enough bang for the buck eliminating all the loopholes and getting it down to 27 by eliminating the loopholes or by adding in the loopholes. If you eliminate the loopholes and take it to 25, is there enough bang for the buck. I don't think so.
Ben Stein: We are actually in that stage. The CBO just came out with their estimate for the budget deficit for the next ten years and they're terrifying, they're absolutely blood:curdling. Look, we don't even know why there should be a corporate tax rate in the first place. Income should be taxed directly to the stockholder. The corporation is a legal fiction. We don't even know, to our dear friend Mr. Gasparino, how much bang for the buck there is at all in corporate tax cutting. We do know ethically and legally wrong but we have such enormous deficits that we've got to do something.
Marjorie Clifton: Because these grandiose ideas are harder to accomplish than one would think. I think it's a good thing to start with compromise and their willingness to compromise. The court of public opinion is where it is going to matter and right now we've already seen a shift. Where most consumers are focused on right now are cuts for the middle class.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson: We Need to Focus on Permanent Housing Solutions for the Poor
Ben Stein: I think he's entirely right, I've always liked him a lot and I think the idea that government makes life much too good for people who don't work, don't care to work, I don't care. The ones who on able to work or sick, let the government take care of them all they want, but we've got to give people an incentive to work.
Marjorie Clifton: I think it's oversimplifying the issues and cycle of poverty dramatically. I don't think any of us at the table are suffering with the real problems of some of the people living in these housing situations for the cuts they are talking about at the HUD will influence veterans, elderly, there's a lot of other things. Are there efficiencies we can fix? Absolutely. There are great models to move people out of temporary situations. Most people in those situations don't want to stay there. There are not a lot of poor people who say this is pretty good, I want to stay like this. Making them comfortable, that's all about humanity.
Gerri Willis: is it really being good to these people? Is it really being nice to be people? Or empathizing with them not to put some restrictions on these dollars? At the end of the day, coal miners granddaughter, full story here I've seen a lot of this up close. People get into this situation, they get used to it and it's hard to get out. It's not because they're bad people it's just that lethargy that overcomes you when you were given everything.
Charlie Gasparino: My mother grew up in a housing project, my cousin who's my age grew up in a housing project, I have friends who lived in subsidized housing. I'm to be honest; I don't want to make welfare easy on people. You shouldn't, if you're able body you should be working. But let's be clear what Ben Carson was talking about. He's talking about public housing? Is he proposing getting people out of public housing by making it dirtier or less fun to hang out at the projects? If he's saying let's make housing uncomfortable for people, I am telling you that you are out of your mind.
Charlie Payne: Let me tell you something when I was growing up in Harlem, I was jealous of people that were living in the projects. My building had no elevator, it had no lock on the door, there was always a bum that I climbed over or a junkie, and there were dead bodies. I was so jealous of the projects. I think what Ben Carson is saying is that people can get used to their surroundings.
EU Slaps Google with Record $2.7B Fine
Gerri Willis: Biggest fine ever, but it's immaterial to Google. They will get along fine. What I'm really worried about is something that's coming up in another French court and it's this idea that people can have anything struck from the internet they want and there's a French court seeking to get google to do this. They have done it on the Google sites based in France, but now European regulators want them to do it across all platforms.
Charlie Gasparino: Google puts so much garbage on the internet about people, their personal lives.
Marjorie Clifton: The challenge is when a company gets so big they become the sacrificial lamb on all of these issues on how we regulate the internet. I do not support what the French are doing.
Charles Payne: More than likely Google was guilty and more than likely the EU went overboard because they're just jealous. Guess what, take a look at a 20 or 30 chart of Philip Morris at the end of the day Google will dominate and the stock will go back up.
Charlie Gasparino: And this is just the beginning for Google.
Ben Stein: I love Google I have shares in it, it's tripled in the last five years. This isn't going to affect them at all, I love it.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.