Paul Ryan’s hypocrisy and the Romney/Ryan Vision for our Country

[Time for change]

Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate hoping that his widely known advocacy for fiscal austerity would impress his conservative base, and perhaps fiscally conservative independents as well.

The introduction to Ryan’s proposed 2013 Budget Resolution, titled "Path to Prosperity – A Blueprint for American Renewal", reads like a fairy tale. It contains 7 major points, point number 7 being to “Lift the crushing burden of debt” from our country. To do that he proposes to “Prioritize defense spending to keep America safe” (point # 1), enact massive tax decreases (point # 5) for wealthy individuals (reducing the top marginal tax bracket to 25%) and corporations (from 35% to 25%), strengthen the social safety net (point # 3), and “fulfill the mission of health and retirement security” (point # 4). Hmmm. What part of this plan is designed to save money to “lift the crushing burden of debt”?


Ryan’s budget fantasy

Many have expressed admiration for Ryan for actually “crunching numbers” to come up with his proposals. But as William Black explains, Ryan did not “actually crunch the numbers”. Instead he “created fantasy numbers, instructing the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to suspend disbelief and treat the fantasy numbers as real”. Specifically, here is the warning that the CBO issued in their treatment of Ryan’s budget numbers:

At the request of the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Congressman Paul Ryan, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has calculated the long-term budgetary impact of paths for federal revenues and spending specified by the Chairman and his staff. The calculations presented here represent CBO's assessment of how the specified paths would alter the trajectories of federal debt, revenues, spending, and economic output relative to the trajectories under two scenarios that CBO has analyzed previously. Those calculations do not represent a cost estimate for legislation or an analysis of the effects of any given policies. In particular, CBO has not considered whether the specified paths are consistent with the policy proposals or budget figures released today by Chairman Ryan as part of his proposed budget resolution. The amounts of revenues and spending to be used in these calculations for 2012 through 2022 were provided by Chairman Ryan and his staff.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman had much the same thing to say about Ryan’s plan, but was a little more blunt about it:

This is just a fantasy, not a serious policy proposal. Look, Ryan hasn't 'crunched the numbers'; he has just scribbled some stuff down, without checking at all to see if it makes sense. He asserts that he can cut taxes without net loss of revenue by closing unspecified loopholes; he asserts that he can cut discretionary spending to levels not seen since Calvin Coolidge, without saying how; he asserts that he can convert Medicare to a voucher system, with much lower spending than now projected, without even a hint of how this is supposed to work.

Ryan’s hypocritical record

Ryan’s record during his 7-term tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives is even more damning with regard to his claim to be interested in balancing the budget. The only interest he’s shown in balancing the budget has been on the backs of the poor. When it comes to anything else, he hasn’t shown any restraint.

Despite all his severe anti-big government rhetoric, he has a history of lobbying for millions in federal money for Wisconsin’s 1st district, which he represents. That includes money from the Obama economic stimulus bill, which he attacked as "misses the mark on all accounts". Indeed, as John Nichols points out with respect to Ryan’s long Congressional record, far from being a budget balancer:

He is, in fact… a hypocritical big spender – at least when Wall Street, the insurance industry and the military-industrial complex call. Ryan has been a steady voter for unwise bailouts of big banks, unfunded mandates and unnecessary wars. Few members of Congress have run up such very big tabs while doing so little to figure out how to pay the piper. How has Ryan gotten away with his fool-most-of-the-people-most-of-the-time politics?

But this year Ryan might not get away with it – not only in his run for Vice President, but even getting re-elected to his House seat in Wisconsin. This year his Democratic opponent, Rob Zerban, is calling him on his hypocrisy]:

Congressman Paul Ryan can grandstand about the debt all he wants, but at the end of the day, Ryan is a root cause of many of the financial issues our country faces today… From supporting two unfunded wars, to dumping millions of senior citizens into the Medicare Part D “donut hole” while tying the hands ofthe government to negotiate prescription drug prices, and from fighting for subsidies for Big Oil that his family personally benefits from, to supporting the unfunded Bush tax cuts for his wealthiest campaign contributors, Paul Ryan’s hypocrisy is astounding… Congressman Ryan had 10 years in Congress – almost all with a House Republican majority – to reduce the deficit, prior to President Obama’s election. He did nothing.

The impact of Ryan’s budget proposal if it becomes law

Ryan’s budget plan, which has the full support of Mitt Romney, would attempt – unsuccessfully – to balance the federal budget on the backs of the poor, who already are in dire straits, while offering huge advantages to the wealthy. First, his tax “reform” plan would greatly favor the wealthy and hurt the poor, as shown in this chart produced by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:



Note the much greater percent federal income tax decrease for those with half a million dollars or greater income, compared to those with incomes under $200,000. And on top of that, consider that even if the percents were identical, the money saved by a given percent tax decrease by a multimillionaire is orders of magnitude greater than the money saved by a family with an income of $200,000 or less with the same percent decrease. As an example of what this plan would mean for the wealthy (and the budget deficit), under the Ryan/Romney budget plan, Mitt Romney would have paid less than 1% in federal taxes, of the $21 million he made in 2010.

With Ryan’s proposed increases to our military budget, how would such a large reduction in federal taxes be paid for in an attempt to reduce the budget deficit? That would be paid for by deep slashes in spending for domestic programs. As Jamelle Bouie explains, in addition to deep cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, all other discretionary spending would have to be cut to less than 10% of what it is today, down to about $100 billion by 2050:

Ryan’s budget… shrinks “all else” to 3.75 percent of GDP, with a significant portion reserved for defense. So what is "all else"? In 2011, "all else" {includes} everything we associate with the federal government, from food stamps and Pell Grants, to weather monitoring, law enforcement, and regulation…. To shoehorn today's federal government into $100 billion dollars would require draconian cuts. To do it in 2050 would require an end to the federal government as we know it.

By transforming Medicare into a voucher program, seniors would essentially be on their own. While less federal spending would go to Medicare, out of pocket expenses for seniors would double, from about $6,000 to over $12,000 annually:



Yet despite all the painful cuts to social programs that so many Americans rely on for their livelihood, the budget deficit would rise under Ryan’s plan because of increased military spending and massive tax cuts for the wealthy:






Putting Romney’s choice of Ryan into perspective

Bouie summarizes Ryan’s vision and Romney’s decision to choose him as a running mate:

He (Ryan) wants to rid the United States of social insurance. In Ryan’s world, if you suffer any misfortune, you’re on your own. If you weren’t born with the advantages of wealth and privilege, you’re on your own. If you want clean air, clean water, safe products, and protection from abusive employers – you guessed it – you’re on your own….

Romney chose Ryan to send a message: This election is about ideas, and if you elect me, these are the ideas I'll pursue. It's a radical vision for America, and it's now the official platform of the Republican Party. Romney's prior moderation shouldn't fool you into thinking otherwise.

[Cha]

1. I have another way of saying it..

This election is about the Koch bros and their ilk finally getting their stooges in the White House if they're able to buy and cheat their way in.

Thanks for all the effort you put in to this report, Time For Change.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. Ryan didn't have a problem spending the stimulus!

The election in the GOP's eyes is about how the rich can can rob the poor.