Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, is supposedly a rising star in the GOP largely due to his "Roadmap for America's Future." Ryan's Roadmap is billed as "an elaborate...plan that aims to erase the federal debt by 2063, simplify the tax code and significantly alter...Medicare and Social Security" and "an answer to those who have accused Republicans of saying no, while having no ideas of their own."
Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard called it "the freshest, boldest, and most comprehensive Republican thinking" and (in what should be a giant red flag) "the most important proposal in domestic policy since Ronald Reagan embraced supply-side economics in the 1980 presidential campaign."
One slight problem. Ryan's Roadmap is not much more than a U-turn leading to the tired, old Republican economic policies and theories of the past with a fresh coat of paint. What Paul Krugman calls "leftovers from the 1990s, drenched in flimflam sauce." "Simplify the tax code" is slashing taxes on the rich, and "significantly alter Medicare" translates into privatize and eviscerate. Krugman elaborates (emphasis mine) :
"Bold, fresh, Republican thinking?" The rich get the gold mine, everybody else gets the shaft. That's about as fresh as 30-year-old bread.
Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard called it "the freshest, boldest, and most comprehensive Republican thinking" and (in what should be a giant red flag) "the most important proposal in domestic policy since Ronald Reagan embraced supply-side economics in the 1980 presidential campaign."
One slight problem. Ryan's Roadmap is not much more than a U-turn leading to the tired, old Republican economic policies and theories of the past with a fresh coat of paint. What Paul Krugman calls "leftovers from the 1990s, drenched in flimflam sauce." "Simplify the tax code" is slashing taxes on the rich, and "significantly alter Medicare" translates into privatize and eviscerate. Krugman elaborates (emphasis mine) :
"Mr. Ryan's plan calls for steep cuts in both spending and taxes. He'd have you believe that the combined effect would be much lower budget deficits, and, according to [a] Washington Post report, he speaks about deficits "in apocalyptic terms." And The Post also tells us that his plan would, indeed, sharply reduce the flow of red ink: "The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Rep. Paul Ryan's plan would cut the budget deficit in half by 2020."
But the budget office has done no such thing. At Mr. Ryan's request, it produced an estimate of the budget effects of his proposed spending cuts -- period. It didn't address the revenue losses from his tax cuts.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has, however, stepped into the breach. Its numbers indicate that the Ryan plan would reduce revenue by almost $4 trillion over the next decade. If you add these revenue losses to the numbers The Post cites, you get a much larger deficit in 2020, roughly $1.3 trillion.
And that's about the same as the budget office's estimate of the 2020 deficit under the Obama administration's plans. That is, Mr. Ryan may speak about the deficit in apocalyptic terms, but even if you believe that his proposed spending cuts are feasible -- which you shouldn't -- the Roadmap wouldn't reduce the deficit. All it would do is cut benefits for the middle class while slashing taxes on the rich.
And I do mean slash. The Tax Policy Center finds that the Ryan plan would cut taxes on the richest 1 percent of the population in half..Even as it slashed taxes at the top, the plan would raise taxes for 95 percent of the population.
Finally, let's talk about those spending cuts. In its first decade, most of the alleged savings in the Ryan plan come from assuming zero dollar growth in domestic discretionary spending, which includes everything from energy policy to education to the court system. This would amount to a 25 percent cut once you adjust for inflation and population growth. How would such a severe cut be achieved? What specific programs would be slashed? Mr. Ryan doesn't say.
After 2020, the main alleged saving would come from sharp cuts in Medicare, achieved by dismantling Medicare as we know it, and instead giving seniors vouchers and telling them to buy their own insurance...And we already know, from experience with the Medicare Advantage program, that a voucher system would have higher, not lower, costs than our current system. The only way the Ryan plan could save money would be by making those vouchers too small to pay for adequate coverage. Wealthy older Americans would be able to supplement their vouchers, and get the care they need; everyone else would be out in the cold."
"Bold, fresh, Republican thinking?" The rich get the gold mine, everybody else gets the shaft. That's about as fresh as 30-year-old bread.
Bubba,
Bart just trolls over here looking for an argument by peddling sophomoric BS. I'd ban him, but I know you enjoy slapping him around a little. When you get tired of him, let me know and we'll get the hook.
Back again bart and still spewing your usual crap I see. So who died and appointed YOU the blog gatekeeper bart? While we're on this immediate response demand bart I STILL haven't heard back from YOU with proof or anything but your asinine irrational whine on why a UCLA research study is not legitimate but your anonymous right wing plagiarist should be accepted at face value? What did I tell you about whiners in glass houses casting aspersions? At least you are consistent in your hypocrisy if nothing else bart.
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That's the problem with sniping attacks, the sniper has all the advantages of pre-thought, preplanning, prepositioning, etc. You don't spend a distinguished career contemplating a non-coherent set of events, you spend it formulating cohesive theoretical explanations of behavior patterns. As Greenspan learned (really he knew it all along) Reagonomics/Thatcherism was pure shit...merely a cover for flowing wealth upward. And that's the name of dat tune.
Eljefe, he can't help it, poor guy. It's that middle school mentality.
Bart, give it a rest. You're not convincing anyone with your bullshit or insults.
Well...of course the Republicans now, as the other commentator pointed out would have us return to feudalism, but that would likely be a better outcome than where the democrats would take us. Why?
The Republican plans will lead probably to a permanent economic depression, and this would result in far less Co2 and other greenhouse gasses being emitted into the atmosphere.
Maybe the earth and some humans will survive in this future.
@Morbid - I certainly don't think you can lay any blame at Krugman's feet for the Reagan idea of "free markets". Reagan brought us the profit for profit's sake - and it has been ginned up and up and up by the REPUBLICAN governance ever since. While the Blue Dogs certainly are enablers, I don't think you can say they worship at the same alter of "every man, every transaction, a consumable one." Even the sane Republicans have given up on that idea - although, I don't think there are any sane republicans left in government.
Certainly, Krugman has been calling for an end to that model for years. Krugman definitely believes in the pre-Reagan economic American economy model. It is Krugman who has said over and over again that we need to start making stuff, building stuff at the fastest rate possible. He has suggested a heavy investment in green technology and infrastructure re-building to that end. Unfortunately, the Congress has not cooperated and Obama either is not interested or does not know how to cram it down their throats and corporate media is allowing the crazies to have the loudest voice in everything.
I believe there are enough progressives in this country to, once again, bail out the idiots. It'll probably take 50 years to undo the 30 years of damage they have wrought. Meanwhile, we have to keep educating those that we can -- unfortunately, the most difficult thing to change is a closed mind.
Morbid,
oh oh...I think we been listening to the same stuff. Here's where we need to make a detour. It is unsustainable BUT...the solution is not as envisioned, the solution lies in a redefinition of 'energy' in all of its incarnations.
Shortstuff,
you is funny...
Yes, they are insane. If it's the last thing they do (and it probably will be) they will have us back to feudalism Roman style. What they don't seem to recognize is the fact that after they eliminate 3/4ths of the world's population they won't have enough slaves to bring them ALL grapes, pig, and wine.
Good screen name choice there, Morbid. Very appropriate.
Krugman's Ponzi Scheme Economic Model Is Also Broke
As far as I can see the VISION is broke. Where there is no sustainable vision, the people perish. The visionless criminal elite media, politicians, banksters, corporations, warmongers, economists, etc. have put this country (USA), this world (because we have spread our errors), on a course that is totally unsustainable. We are raping the planet in order to sustain the "growth forever" Ponzi scheme economic model, birth model of adding more consumers...
My rant. It could be a lot longer. What does a different sustainable vision of the future look like? Probably a world population of about 500 million who live in harmony with Nature as their brother/sister, like the Native Americans lived, and not something to be exploited for profit. Thank God I don't have that many more years left to live on this battlefield we call Earth but our children do and from what I can see they face a horrible future that will unfold in the next decade.
"he speaks about deficits "in apocalyptic terms.""
Per Republicans, is there ANYTHING, anything AT ALL from a Democrat President that is NOT apocalytic or does NOT lead to apocalypse?
Whenever they come up with a plan, always "new and improved" like dishwashing soap, they remind of a bad illusionist who directs his audience's attention so badly to his right hand that one can only focus on the left one.
Listening to Ryan in the past he made sense. Now he produces a snake-oiled political document. He thus falls to the average level of "corrupt politician" on my list.
Holy @@$*X$:*()^!
Nothing else I can say. These people are insane.