The Republican Presidential debates this week were insightful…but not very informative.

We now know that Texas created more jobs when George Bush was Governor than when Rick Perry was Governor.

And we know that the unemployment rate in Texas has risen under Governor Perry.

We now know that Mitt Romney did not create many jobs at all when he was a governor, but created lots of jobs in other countries in his private career — just not so much in America.

We now know that Jon Huntsman did create jobs as Governor of Utah, but that Republican voters don’t really care, as judged by his poll numbers.

And if we cared enough to look at the statistics we would discover that in each of their cases job creation over a decade mirrored national job creation in general.

Ok, so these Republicans do not hold the secret to job creation.

But we already knew that too, for the Bush years demonstrated that the “job creators” did not create jobs when taxes were lowered, or when they felt “secure” with government policies.

We know they chose to keep the money from their tax cuts, increasing their portion of the wealth in America.

We learned that no Republican will even discuss Immigration policy until the southern borders are secure. We also know no fence will ever make the southern border secure. We then know that no Republican will act on Immigration.

We learned earlier in the week, and again in the debate, that Michele Bachmann guarantees to control gas prices at below $2 a gallon…except in our free economy that is impossible to control.

In terms of the economy we learned that the best way to create jobs and reduce the deficit is to have a thriving economy. Seriously?

And we get that thriving economy by what means? No one running for President had much to offer.

But Herman Cain did offer 9-9-9, a plan that would lower corporate taxes by stunning levels, reduce taxes, especially on the rich, by equally stunning levels, and create a new sales tax to be paid mostly by the middle class.

Mr. Cain would enrich the corporations and the wealthy and impoverish the middle class…a theme that seems increasingly popular in Republican circles. None of his fellow candidates pointed out this considerable flaw in his economic motivator.

We also learned that the current front runner, Rick Perry, believes Social Security is a Ponzi scheme destined to fail. He offered no ideas to prevent that failure.

And if you think Perry’s judgment on Social Security harsh imagine what he thinks of the less well-funded Medicare program.

So the Republican front runner would apparently end both Social Security and Medicare, two programs he sees as unsustainable. Interesting. A recent poll indicated 87 percent of Americans like Social Security, Ponzi scheme or not.

Still learning, we learned the other frontrunner, Mitt Romney, would start a trade war with China, a mistake candidate Huntsman (who actually has been US Ambassador to China) could not avoid pointing out to Mr. Romney.

Finally, we learned from the always surprising Ron Paul that most of what government does he would end.

FEMA? Forget it. EPA? You have to be kidding. Paul might, as President, sell the White House and work from his home office. After all, who needs big government?

Jim Crawford is retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.