Daily Archives: 13 August 2012

“Ryan Budget” in a Nutshell

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Here’s a summary of the budget that the Progressives have begun demagoguing the moment Congressman Paul Ryan (R, WI) was asked to run for Vice President.

  • The latest full-scale version of the plan, unveiled in March, vows to cut spending by $5 trillion over the next decade, compared against President Obama’s plan.
  • The plan would, a decade from now, give seniors the option of taking a government payment to purchase health insurance. That payment could be used to buy a private insurance plan, or go toward the traditional Medicare plan. The plan calls for extra assistance to help low-income beneficiaries and those with “greater health risks.”
  • The plan would overhaul Medicaid by turning it into a block grant system for states.
  • The plan would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. It would implement two individual income tax brackets — 10 percent and 25 percent.
  • The plan would head off the scheduled automatic defense cuts, first by diverting the planned $55 million defense cut in 2013 by implementing those cuts elsewhere.
  • The plan vows to bring the size of government to 20 percent of GDP by 2015.

Of what are the Progressives so terrified in this budget?  Ryan put his finger on it two years ago in the summary paragraph of his Wall Street Journal op-ed, reprinted by the WSJ over the weekend:

The contrast with our budget couldn’t be clearer: We put our trust in citizens, not government.  Our budget returns power to individuals, families and communities.  It draws inspiration from the Founders’ belief that all people are born with an unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. Protecting this right means trusting citizens, not nameless government officials, to decide what is in their best interests and make the right choice about our nation’s future.

With the people in charge, Progressives won’t have anything to do.

Progressives and the Republican VP Choice

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The immediate, and so far sole, response to the Republicans’ selection of Congressman Paul Ryan (R, WI) as their Vice Presidential Candidate has been to attack the man and the man’s budget—which one branch of Congress thought well enough of to pass twice, and from which the Do-Nothing Democrat-controlled Senate has run screaming, not even allowing a debate of it.

Here’s a sampling of the Progressives’ response.

  • A claim that the Ryan budget (summarized nearby) would increase taxes on the middle class so millionaires can continue to get tax cuts.  Their position is, then, that reducing the existing 6 tax brackets to two—10% and 25%—is a tax increase.
  • Obama Campaign Manager, Jim Messina:
    • [the Ryan budget will] end Medicare as we know it and slash the investments we need to keep our economy growing the all while cutting taxes for those at the very top [and]
    • doubled down on his commitment to take our country back to the failed policies of the past
    • Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy
  • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid echoed Messina’s claim:
    • doubled down on his commitment to gut Social Security and end Medicare as we know it
  • Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D), continuing the Medicare theme:
    • a strong commitment to end Medicare as we know it

What are the Progressives’ alternatives?  Raise taxes on a group of Americans whom they routinely vilify.  Block all efforts to reform, and so save, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security (and yes, the reform will change these programs “as we know it;” that’s kind of the nature of reform.  Without reform, though, these programs will be bankrupt in 10-20 years).  Otherwise, the Progressives’ alternatives—since they decry earlier policies—seems to be to continue their current, destructive policies; policies that over the last three years have exploded our deficit, exploded our debt and earned our nation its first credit rating downgrade, suppressed an economic cycle recovery and held us in a post-recession recession with 8.1+% unemployment the entire three years, stalled GDP at 1.5%-1.8% growth that doesn’t even keep up with population growth,….

In the end, by focusing on attacking the Republican ticket and the only budget passed by one house of Congress, without offering any meaningful alternatives, the Progressives are simply confessing that they have no alternatives.  That they have no idea at all about how to fix our country’s ills.  That they have no clue about how to put Americans back to work in a burgeoning, free economy.