Paul Ryan is back at it. The now famous "rising star" in the Republican party is one of the people Republican leaders seem to be most comfortable putting on television because, unlike most of the flock, actually has a plan, or in this case, a budget. Armed with said budget, Ryan lectures America about the dire consequences of our fiscal irresponsibility while eschewing his party's vile stance on social issues (at least publicly).
Except that this isn't exactly the case. In fact far from having a plan, Paul Ryan has a disaster, or, if we are giving him the benefit of the doubt, a really, really bad plan. Furthermore, it is a plan that exacerbates the problems our country faces rather than mitigates them, and it prioritizes the rich at the expense of the rest of us.
There is no doubt that Ryan is willing to put himself out there politically, and I have to believe the guy is sincere in his conviction that America is about to fall over a fiscal cliff. There is also no denying that some of the cuts and restructuring he proposes are necessary to create sustainable public safety net programs and ensure future prosperity.
Having said that, his most recent budget is so over the top it is not only a joke, it is an embarrassment. For one thing, Ryan is still subscribing to the worn out theory of trickle down economics that is partially responsible for the declining American middle class. Give the rich as much as possible and some of it will trickle down to the rest of us. I don't know about you, but I don't associate the words trickle and prosperity. But we don't need word association to show us that trickle down economics is a bad theory, we have 30 years of evidence. Still, to Ryan's credit, he is a rising star in the Republican party, not quite yet a star; perhaps he is too young to know the failed history of the economic theory he espouses.
Furthermore, while slashing tax rates for corporations (not a terrible idea) and the super rich (a really bad idea), Ryan also slashes spending on domestic programs that serve the neediest Americans. It's easy to make a case for why this is callous, Robin Hood in reverse is morally deplorable, but I would like for someone to explain to me how this helps the economy. Many of our social programs need reform, but if the Republican line of thinking leads them to the conclusion that giving people more money makes them confident to spend, wouldn't that same line of thinking lead them to the conclusion that subsidizing insurance or healthcare would also make people more confident? Abandoning the neediest Americans isn't just wrong, it's economically backwards. We need a growing middle class, not an expansive proletariat, which is exactly where Republican policies will lead us.
Finally, and perhaps most telling, Ryan's budget relies on closing tax loopholes to eliminate the deficit. Aha, you may think to yourself. Despite being callous and partisan, at least the Ryan budget will actually cut America's budget. So perhaps it's not all bad, right? Of course not. Asked which loopholes he would close to achieve all of these savings, Ryan named...none. Not a single loophole. Yes, that is right, despite publishing a budget that purports to eliminate the deficit by closing tax loopholes, Paul Ryan has yet to identify a single loophole he would close. Not surprisingly he categorically rejected closing any loophole that benefits the wealthy, because, you know, the more money we give them, the more will trickle down to the rest of us. Or something.
Paul Ryan may be a rising star in the Republican party, but his budget illustrates how far the Republican party can take us: very far...backwards, perhaps they can even turn back the clock half a century; they're certainly giving it their best shot. Meanwhile, Americans suffer, and only one party offers solutions. We would all benefit if the Republican party could relocate their sanity and start contributing ideas to the dialogue, but if Paul Ryan's budget is the best they have to offer, we're in deep trouble.
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