[inaudible conversations] >> okay. yes, sir, let's go. you the man. welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the revival of our urban centers. welcome! welcome to the revival of our country. [applause] well, you know, one of the reasons we're here today is to celebrate the candidacy of herman cain, to celebrate his

ideas and his vision for our country, and for depressed communities. i can't think of a better symbol of a depressed community than what we see behind us. this significant, historic relic that is empty and unoccupied because of politics, because of regulations, because of taxation, and we're going to start the program now, and we'll start the program with the blej of allegiance and we are going to start the program with the pledge of allegiance, but due to regulations, we are not allowed to bring an american flag to the podium, so i -- [audience reacts] but herman cain being a problem solver said we're still going to do the pledge of allegiance. you go right to my lapel pen. [cheers and applause] michael, want to start the

pledge of allegiance? >> please say the pledge with me. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indis visible with liberty and justice for all. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> think we're going to do the opening prayer. do i have someone to do the opening prayer? yes. >> thank you, sorry. sorry. ladies and gentlemen, bishop collins with the opening prayer. >> thank you, niger. let us bow our heads in prayer. all mighty and eternal god, supply the needs of your people by calvary's cross.

bring forth your hand and strengthen this great man you have risen to the fore front of leadership for such a time as this. envelope him with your mighty power as he yields his life, fortunes, and sacred honor to serve the nation. as he takes this country by storm, touch the hearts and the minds of those who are voters to encourage them to move to the polls to put this man in the white house, to transform this country that we may return to those somedays in -- days in which the constitution lives in the heart of every american in which we enjoys the freedoms and liberty and the prosperity you ordained. keep his family, bless his children and his wife, bless all of those that are part of his cabinet. god bless america. god keep america in the name of

christ, and everybody said amen. >> good morning. i'm niger innis. one of our country's oldest civil rights organizations. i've had the privilege to witness up close and in person this magical historic journey led by herman cain that started over ten months ago. herman cain has captured the imagination of the american people with his wit, his humor, his optimism for america. his message and his vision has electrified conservatives and non-conservatives alike. at a time when america is in economic, spiritual, and political crisis, problem

solver, herman cain, is the right man for difficult times. [cheers and applause] we all remember in 2008, candidate president obama said he was fundamentally going to transform america. well, promises made, promises kept. he has made a proud people feel ashamed of their country, made the most powerful country in the history of man a ridicule, an object of ridicule and assassination attempts by lesser nations. he has taken the greatest engine of economic growth, the american people, and filled them with anxiety and dispair. in 1908s, ladies and gentlemen -- 1980, ladies and gentlemen, destiny called on a leader.

in 2011, destiny is calling again, and in 2011, destiny is calling on herman cain and herman cain is answering the call. [applause] the beauty of herman cain's quest is not only that he inspires america with charisma and his personal story, but he stimulates us, he stimulates our minds with his ideas. his innovative 9-9-9 plan reset the entire economic debate. his 9-9-9 plan forever changed the economic landscape, and the way that herman's 9-9-9 plan reshaped the economic discussion, his opportunities, which we are here today to unvail are going to change the way we think about economically depressed communities all across our country.

today, the unemployment rate is over 9%. for latinos, 12 percent. for african-americans, 16%. for african-americans in cities like detroit and many cities like detroit, the unemployment rate is over 25%. this is the depressioner ray status -- era statistics, ladies and gentlemen, but where some see decay, herman sees opportunity. where some see economic decline, herman sees fertile soil for economic development and growth. [applause] herman's opportunities owns plan will target these communities and create an environment where production can drive economic revival and promote economic opportunity. herman cain is well practiced at creating success where others see failure. he's turned around failing

enterprises for four decades as a main street business man, and what he's done for the burger king corporation, the national restaurant association, he knows he can do for america. [cheers and applause] it is because herman comes from humble beginnings that he knows in every corner of our nation and every depressed urban center or rural center, there's untapped human capital that just needs an opportunity to succeed. the opportunity that will be catalogized by the opportunity's own. god bless you and thank you for being here today. [applause] now, i want to bring to the stage to make some remarks, state senator joe hewn from the 22nd district.

>> thank you, thank you. [applause] what an honor and privilege it is to be here with the next president of the united states. i told mr. cain even though this region is home to a few other pizza joints, with his plan and vision for this country, we'll make room for the god father of god father's pizza. just take a look around. you will see obvious remanents of failed, liberal policies. but look at it on the bright side with a vision, the principles of mr. herman cain, we can get those failed liberal policied sailed right out of the window. and as folks in this region know, we certainly have had some problem, but the auto industry's

making a come back, and, again, with herman cain on our side, he has a plan, a tax plan, that they are targeting every single day of the week now, but i'll tell you what, it's the american people who count, and it's the american people who are on herman cain's side. he's got a plan to put a better tax structure in place, a plan to do some tough love with entitlements, and a plan to get government the heck out of our way. [cheers and applause] so today, i have the honor and privilege of spending time with the next president of the united states, a conservative, principled, intelligent, and capable god father of today's conservative movement, mr. herman cain.

[applause] before he comes forward, i have the opportunity and the privilege to introduce our next speaker, dr. alverta king. thank you. [applause] >> well, hello, america. this is our opportunity. if you did not get cain's vision today, make sure you get it. don't leave here without it. it's excellent, yes, yes, yes. revise, renew, rebuild. 9-9-9 now is our time. hush little baby, don't you cry. now is the time for a lull buy. to all the hungry children in america, have hope. to all the people crying for jobs, have hope. now is our time. can a nation be born in a day? only if we listen and obey.

hear the still small voice. america now is truly our time. people are crying. people are dying, yet there is truly hope in america. yes, jesus loves me for the bible tells me so. remember that song? our children will sing their nursery rhymes again. our boys and girls will stay in school and not rot in jail. in 1963, my uncle, dr. martin luther king jr. had a dream, that there be one human race, not separate races, and we would come together in a beloved community then white men, black men, women, children, gentiles and jews would come together and sing, free at last. economic freedom can be a reality. take hope. listen. follow our leader. mr. herman cain is a leader for america. he is ready to be our leader for

this hour. america has economic power. our companies can come home from overseas and bring our jobs back home. our troops can fight for peace again and war at seas. bring the jobs home. america, we can do it. this power can be revealed in the diligent hands of a proven leader. that's why so many krisics fight the -- critics fight the 9-9-9 plan. they didn't think of it first, and it's a solid plan to bring the jobs home. how will herman cain, our leader, bring our jobs home? think about it. right now, america pays the high education corporate tax rate in the world, a staggering tax penalty. this incredibly punitive business tax makes it extremely difficult for our companies to compete with countries like china and the global market. this punishing tax penalty

forces our companies to seek cheap labor on shores far away from home. when mr. cain brings 9-9-9 relief from penalties to our jobs from 35% to 9%, the lowest business tax rate in the world, we will once again be competitive leader even with countries like china. we can go back to work and have our paychecks again. once freed from the dragon of massive corporate taxes, america will bring our jobs home. 9-9-9 means jobs, jobs, jobs. [applause] then, we can be charitable again and help others because by embracing 9--9-9, we also help ourselves. 9-9-9 offers hope and opportunity for americans of

every walk of life, an opportunity to live in a good quality of life again. no more fear of how to feed and educate our families. 9- 9-9-brings jobs back from overseas. want to know why critics fight 9-9-9? it is because they didn't think of it first. a leader leads. that's why you are going to hear about opportunity, power from our leader. he has a plan. opportunity and economic justice for all. in 1963, uncle ml spoke of a check mark insufficient funds breaking the backs and hearts of america. our leader is ready to put the money back in the bank. he is ready to not only show us the money, but to give us the money. we will have jobs again. america, rich man, poor man, beggar man, safe, listen, there is hope for america.

my country tis of thee, let freedom ring of thee i sing. life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. america of thee i sing. no more killing babies, sick people, and old people, no more denying people jobs and homes and compassionate health care and healthy families. there is enough for everyone at the table. america, i am dr. alveda king. i have a dream, i am the dreams. i present the next president of the united states of america, mr. herman cain. please welcome him. god bless america. ! [cheers and applause] >> wonderful, thank you, thank you very much. thank you for being here today because this is a day that we have an opportunity to explain

9-9-9 without six attacks at one time. if you know what i mean. some people have asked me how did you come up with this? what do you know about economics? earlier in my career when i was at the pillsbury company, one of my jobs at one point of director of business analysis where i oversaw economic analysis for the pillsbury company. some people think that's just pepperoni between these two ears, but i used to work on economic analysis. in the early 1990s, i was asked to serve on commission with jack kemp, the economic growth and tax reform commission. we started the fair tax, the

flat tax, and came to some wonderful conclusions about what a good tax structure ought to be. let me introduce before i go any further my senior economic adviser, the co-architect of 9-9-9, mr. rich lowry out of cleveland, ohio. [cheers and applause] i'm happy to be in detroit, but more importantly, i'm happy to be in america where opportunity is born and this is where dreams can be achieved. [applause] i know you heard a lot of disinformation about 9-9-9. don't believe it. look it up for yourself. this is why i want to review that before i get to the opportunity zone. first, 9-9-9, we had five simple principles that we wanted to satisfy. we wanted it to be simple.

we wanted it to be transparent. so that you would know when and how you were going to be taxed. we wanted it to be first time. how many people here like spending money to get your tax returns filled out? that's not very efficient. it costs $438 billion a year to file and comply. we wanted it to be fair, not according to washington's definition of fair, but webster's definition of fair which means everybody gets treated the same. that's fair. [cheers and applause] we wanted it to be revenue neutral. the 9-9-9 plan throws out the current tax code. that's where we start. we have been complaining about it for decades. we know it's messed up, and so

because we put a bold solution on the table, some of my fellow contenders have accused me of being too bold. this economy cannot wait. it is our life support. we need a bold solution, which is why we put together 9-9-9. [applause] the other thing the 9-9-9 does is level the competitive playing field. you see, on that first 9, the business can deduct purchases, capital investments, and net escorts. what that means essentially is it makes goods and products produced in the united states on a level playing field with everybody else in the world because we take out many of these embedded taxes. the third thing this approach

does is it expands the tax base by adding in the national sales tax of 9%, the third 9. some of my opponents in this republican race have said, why do you want to give government another mechanism to tax us? my response is -- i want to take away the 10 million ways they have now to tax us. i'm not worried about one. i'm worried about the 10 million in the current tax code. [applause] one of the reasons that they are not going to turn 9-9-9 into something else any time soon, you can never they they will never change it. there's two reasons why they are not going to change it any time soon. number one, i'm going to be the president. i'm not going to sign it. [applause] they keep forgetting that.

number two, because it's visible. you know what it is. you understand it. they start talk about raising it for no reason other than their still overspending, you are going to let your voices be heard. visibility of this plan is one of the biggest deterrents we have to keep the politicians honest. now, the opportunity zone feature has been in our analysis all along, but just like i accused my opponents the other night of having not read the plan, we now have proof they didn't read it. if their staff had done the proper job and read it all the way through, they would have discovered what i'm about to share with you because first of all, 9-9-9 captures revenue to

equal existing tax revenue from five sources. the payroll tax -- you don't have to pay that anymore. corporate income taxes -- they are in the first 9. personal income taxes -- everybody's rates are between 10% and 35%. you capture that in the second nine. it also replaces capital gains taxes and the death tax. capital gains -- what if an investor wanted to do something with the bill behind us? what if they wanted to spend ten million to turn it into a mall or restaurant facility or a destination facility in this city? under 9-9-9, they would be able to deduct that capital investment in the year that they

make it, and not have to deal with depreciation schedule as they call it, which are punitive to businesses. the fact that capital gains goes away, it allows that entrepreneurial spirit in this country to be financed by people with money to get together with people with ideas. imagine every one of these facilities that we are surrounded by having an entrepreneurial and an investing getting creative in order to do something with these depressed economic properties. that's what built america. [cheers and applause] we need to renew and unleash that same spirit, so here are two of the features my competitors didn't get to when they didn't read the plan. number one, how do we deal with the poor? those that are at or below poverty level? we already had the provision in there and we still raise the same amount of money.

if you add up the below poverty level, your plan is not 9-9-9, it's 9-0-9. say amen, y'all. 9-0-9. in other words if you add below the poverty level based on family ties because it's a different number of each one, then you don't pay that middle 9 tax on that income. this is how we help the poor. the other way is we get the economy going so we can let people find jobs. for economically disstressed cities, detroit has an unemployment rate of over 20%, and there are other cities just like that. it's getting worse, so the opportunity zones will allow cities like detroit to qualify for additional exemptions relative to the first nine.

right now in the first nine, you can deduct purchases if you're a business. you can deduct capital expenditures, net exporteds, but -- exports, but for those cities that qualify as opportunity zones, you will also be able to detucket a certain -- deduct a certain amount of payroll exeanses, so you will be insented to put people to work. the other thing about the opportunity zone is that it just doesn't apply to certain kinds of businesses located in the zone. all businesses would qualify for those kinds of extra exemptions. [applause] another thing i believe in is helping cities to empower themselves, empowering workers and individuals to help themselves. this is not an entitlement program, and so the cities have to step up and remove some of

the barriers that are within their city limits such that if the cities do what they can do to help themselves, we will have the 9-9-9 legislation so structured that they will get additional benefits, and so it starts with the national opportunity zone, that if you are at or below poverty, your plan is 9-0-9. now, some people will say if you're at poverty, then you're not concerned about that first 9 anyway. that's not true. i know a lot of business people that are barely making it. barely making it, and so, yes, they would get 0 for the middle 9, and, yes, nay would get special deductions if their in an opportunity zone, so all of the critics who want to say that this plan is not this and not that, i invite them to take a

look at an article that was published just a couple of days ago by one of the most renowned economists on the planet. he worked with president reagan during the reagan administration. he is currently head of his own company. i'm talking about dr. art laffer. he's currently head of laffer associates and the laffer center for supply side economics and author of "return to prosperity," and he wrote an article published in the "wall street journal" the other day that refuted all false claims made against 9-9-9 the other night during the debate. before i say what he concluded was his own analysis, it never felt so good being shot at. never felt so good being shot at because as aveda king says, they didn't think of it first, and

they don't have a credible plan. to the activation that a new sales tax could be raised in the future, dr. laffer responds so could any other tax. what makes that one any different? to the accusation that it is not revenue neutral, dr. laffer concludes, i believe his plan, herman cain, would indeed be stat tick revenue neutral and with the boost it would give to the economic growth, it would bring in even more revenue than expected. two, -- to the accusation that this will not generate economic growth, dr. laffer points out, output will soar as will jobs.

tax revenues will also increase e enormously, not because tax rates have increased, but because marginal tax rates will decrease under the 9-9-9 plan. bottom line, folks, 9-9-9 means jobs, jobs, jobs. [applause] let's renew the economy of this nation. [applause] this is the greatest country in the world, and we have people that are apologizing for america's greatness. as your president, i will never apologize for the greatness of america because of the spirit of america that build this great country. ronald reagan, one of our greatest presidents, used to describe this nation as that

shining city on a hill, but in the last several years, that shining city on a hill has slid down to the side of the hill because of this struggling economy, because this administration is weakening our military, because of foggy foreign policy around the world, and because of a severe defirst deficiency of leadership. i believe that the american people are saying loud and clear that they want to move this shining city on a hill back to the top of the hill where it belongs, and i believe that we can do that in november 2012. [applause] there's two things that people haven't figured out yet. some of them are still trying to answer the question, why is

herman cain doing so well in the polls? he doesn't have the greatest amount of money. a lot of people didn't know who he was. i can tell you what's happening that they don't get yet. number one, the voice of the people is more powerful than the voice of the media. [cheers and applause] you, the people, and you're listening. [applause] secondly, message is more powerful than money. america is hungry for solutions and not more rhetoric. that's what they are paying attention to. not only our 9-9-9, jobs, jobs, jobs, plan, but our approach to the many other crisis we face, and we have become a nation of crisis, but the good news is we can fix things. the american dream has been hijacked, but we can take it

back. i know that because i have lived my american dreams, and then some. so have many of you. ever since my first grandchild was born in 1999, and i looked into that little face for the very first time, and the thought that went through my head, which it had to be coming from god al mighty, what do i do to make this a better nation and a better world? this journey has unfolded for the last 12 years, and i am convinced that the spirit of america is boing to renew america -- going to renew america, and i'm convinced the american people are ready for a problem solver in the white house, and not another politician. ronald reagan, who i'll refer to again, describes this thing we call freedom as something very fragile, very delicate, and if

we allow it to get away from us, we might not be able to get it back. reagan reminded us that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. we can't pass it on in the bloodstream. it must be fought for and protected for one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our grandchildren when the united states of america used to be like when men were free. i'm not going to have that conversation with my grandchildren, and i don't think you want to have that conversation with your grand kids. in the fourth verse of the star spangled banner are some words that people rarely