Herman Cain Talks 2012 (VIDEO)

Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain went on "The O'Reilly Factor" last week to discuss his bid for Presidency. Cain is from Georgia and is the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza. He explained that the overriding reason he should be voted president is because he is a "problem-solver that knows how to apply business skills to solving the problems of this country in the White House." Cain goes on to explain how he would lower taxes, grow the economy, and how he would handle issues overseas.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Personal Story" segment tonight: Atlanta businessman Herman Cain wants to be president, and in the latest Fox News poll, seven percent of Republicans are currently supporting him. By the way, some key members of Newt Gingrich's staff quit today. Not good news for him. Anyway, Mr. Cain is a former CEO of the Godfather Pizza chain and ran for the U.S. Senate from Georgia. He was defeated in 2004. But now he is getting national attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": I say we should listen to the man who made his fortune selling bacon cheeseburger pizza. Americans don't have time to read complex legislation. They are too busy getting their hearts restarted. President Cain will not tolerate legislation longer than a pizza menu.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: All right. Mr. Cain joins us now from Atlanta. You know, that's a compliment to you that, you know, you have broken through to those pinheads over there on "The Colbert Report." So, they are paying attention to you.

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. That's a good thing, Bill.

O'REILLY: All right. Now, if there is one -- and I mean one -- overriding reason why you should be president of the United States, what would that reason be?

CAIN: That reason would be it's time to have a problem-solver that knows how to apply business skills to solving the problems of this country in the White House. We have the wrong person in the White House. He has put the wrong gas in the tank of this economy -- spending. We need to put some different things in the tank of this economy so we can grow it. Problem-solving business skills.

O'REILLY: Give me one example of what President Obama has done wrong in your opinion.

CAIN: He did not surround himself with the right people.

O'REILLY: Yes, but I -- no, no, no -- I want a nuts and bolts mistake he made on the economy.

CAIN: He didn't lower taxes. He increased regulations. If you stop right there, that's why this economy is not growing, Bill.

O'REILLY: All right. So he didn't stimulate the private sector by giving the folks more money.

CAIN: Correct.

O'REILLY: All right.

CAIN: Correct.

O'REILLY: Now, we would assume if you were elected president that you would, you know, lower taxes dramatically. Is that correct? You would lower taxes, right?

CAIN: That is correct. I would lower the top corporate tax rate. I would lower the personal rate. And I would also take the capital gains tax rate to zero.

O'REILLY: OK. No cap gains so that would make, you know, capitalists go real happy. Right. But how do you get the $14 trillion debt down when your revenue stream is going to drop, particularly with the cap gains? You are not going to get any money from that sector. How are you going to get the debt down?

CAIN: That assumption, Bill, assumes static analysis. I'm assuming dynamic analysis, which means that if you lower taxes the right way -- if you look at the decade of the '60s when Kennedy lowered taxes. If you look at the decade of the '80s when Reagan lowered taxes -- for the decade taxes went up over 50 percent. It will not take revenue out of the Treasury. Secondly, at the same time you are increasing the growth in the economy, you are taking some hard cuts on spending. You have them going in the right direction.

O'REILLY: All right. Look, look, look. The revenue enhancement came under President Bush. That's the most recent example in the '90s because the capital gains was cut to 15 percent and people invested in the stock market, did well and the revenue came in. You're saying you wouldn't take a dime from that. So if revenue is going to go down, it's going to go down dramatically if you were president. Now you say, OK, I'm going to cut. Now, you're going to have to cut unbelievably, unbelievably, down to the bare bones to, you know, to bring that debt down.

CAIN: Right. But, Bill, you have a major -- I disagree with you on one of your assumptions. It is not going to bring down revenue. This is the myth that has been planted in the heads of a lot of people.

O'REILLY: I don't know where you're going to get revenue from if you don't have cap gains coming in. You're going to -- where is it going to come from?

CAIN: Bill, let's try this. When the capital gains rate is taken to zero, small businesses benefit the most. They put their money into small community banks who loan money to small investors. Big banks are not loaning money to small businesses. This is why this economy is not growing.

O'REILLY: That's good for the folks. It's good for small business. Where is Washington's cut?

CAIN: Washington's cut? Washington doesn't get a cut. Look, Bill…

O'REILLY: I know it doesn't. That's what I'm saying that your revenue stream is going to drop.

CAIN: No. Bill, it's not going to drop.

O'REILLY: All right. You disagree. I'm just posing the question.

CAIN: Not going to drop. OK.

CAIN: The way you stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is for us to get serious about a real energy independence strategy.

O'REILLY: That's going to take longer than this year. How do you stop them from getting a nuke this year?

CAIN: Have a serious strategy, Bill. And if you have a serious strategy, it's going to cause the speculators to speculate down instead of speculating up.

O'REILLY: That's not going to stop Iran…

CAIN: Bill, Bill…

O'REILLY: Even though gas price goes down, it's not going to stop Iran from developing a nuke.

CAIN: Not in the short-term, Bill. Look, here is my punchline. If we help drive the price of oil down, that hurts Iran. And if the price of oil gets down near $70 a barrel, we win. They won't have the money to develop a nuclear program.

O'REILLY: No, they will develop it anyway.

CAIN: Look what happened at OPEC today, Bill. Look what happened at OPEC today. They couldn't come to agreement because Venezuela and Iran, they want to drive the amount of oil down so the price can go up.

O'REILLY: I got you on that, and I'm with you on that. We have got to get the price of oil down but it's not going to stop Iran from developing the nuke. OK, last question. 

O'REILLY: We're going to have you back, but I have one more question.

CAIN: All right.

O'REILLY: In a few weeks, President Obama is going to take some troops out of Afghanistan. Right thing to do? Wrong thing to do?

CAIN: Wrong thing to do because by taking out a trickling amount of troops out just to say he has started the withdrawal is being disingenuous to the American people and to those that are going to be left behind.

O'REILLY: How long do you keep the troops in? We have been in 10 years. How long do you keep 100,000 U.S. troops there?

CAIN: Bill, when I know clearly what the mission is, and the military generals and experts tell me we can win, we keep them in as long as we can. If they say we can't win, then I want an exit strategy. That's how you approach the problem.

O'REILLY: All right, Mr. Cain. Thank you very much. You are a fascinating guy. We appreciate it. And as I said, we will have you back.