Mitt Romney has finally made his pick for Vice President. This morning, he chose Paul Ryan, the well-known deficit hawk. The Wisconsin representative is the architect of the deceptively named “Path to Prosperity” budget plan. Ryan wants to privatize Social Security, and continue tax cuts for the wealthy.
It is apparent from this pick that Romney has little agency when it comes to his decisions. For the most part, Romney was arm twisted into putting Ryan on the ticket. This illustrates that a Romney presidency would be heavily influenced by right wing ideologues. Paul Ryan is there as the fiscal conservative, an economic hatchet man. He wants to cut social insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and measures like this will hurt millions of people who are reliant on them. It is not an exaggeration that the Ryan Plan would mean more people retiring into abject poverty. See some key parts of the Ryan budget here for yourself.
The Republican Party has openly embraced austerity as a major part of its platform this election cycle. Now, this election becomes less about President Obama’s record, and more about the direction of the country for the next 4 years and beyond. There is little question about what the American people will be getting with the Romney-Ryan ticket. Now with everything on the table, in just under 3 months American voters must decide if they want increased austerity as part of their future.
-Marc W. Polite
This is why I voted for you AGAIN! 😉
Krugman 8/2010…yes 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html
Wonks have discussed Ryan plenty the last 2 years but Krugman was the first to point out he is a fraud. Ezra Klein waited until Path To Prosperity was released to express his disappointment, Klein didn’t call the guy a fraud. Since then Klein has not said one positive thing about Ryan but he never calls him a fraud. That is a problem with news people/beltway people today, they are afraid to call a spade a spade. I am always reminding Klein of that fact on twitter.
Marc you paint a very bleak and in my opinion a distorted picture of the Mitt Romney’s choice of a running mate Paul Ryan and the Ryan plan. http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/pathtoprosperity2013.pdf “The path to Prosperity” is a road map, an outline of fiscal responsibility, a responsibility that everyone takes part in. The U.S. debt is astronomical, Ryan’s plan (at least he has one) although not perfect aims at reducing the debt gradually as it will increase our prosperity by putting the control of personal income back in the pockets of those that work for it as well as helping to stimulate business ventures. The Ryan plan outline is straight forward, the plan will simplify the tax structure across the board 10-25%.
As the saying goes you can’t give what you don’t have, cuts must be made as difficult as it may be, but I trust person like Mitt Romney who I’m confident will chip away the down side of any such plan and implement a fair and just plan that is his own. Mitt Romney as Governor of Massachusetts brought the state out of an estimated 1.5 billion dollar deficit, unlike President Obama who has no track record that would qualify him in dealing with our counties economic dilemma.
Take the case of New York back in the late 1970’s; we were bankrupt, New York was told basically were to go when asking the Federal government for a bailout. Under the leadership of the late great Democrat Governor Hugh Carey “Upon taking office, Carey cut taxes significantly, reduced corporate taxes from 14 percent to 10 percent, capped personal income tax at nine percent, and reduced capital gains taxes. His administration also offered tax credits to encourage new investment (sound familiar). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Carey
Marc, I enjoy reading the posts on your blog, I look forward to reading others opinions on this and other topics that differ from my own.
Good evening Glenn. If I painted a bleak picture, its because its true. The prospect of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are nothing at all to take lightly.
As far as distorted, feel free to point out where I distorted what Ryan has proposed. What he puts on the table would mean reduced benefits for retirees, and less care for those who rely on it.
I do agree with you on one thing, though. The debt is astronomical, but where does it come from? Most of our current debt comes from the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan. While we are talking about the issue of fiscal responsibility, how come this never gets mentioned?
Also, when you say simplify the tax structure, that is another way of saying corporate tax cuts.
As for your statement about President Obama, that’s not entirely true. In actuality, he has actually slowed down spending, and has a better record than George Bush on controlling federal spending. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/
When it comes to Mitt Romney’s ability to ameliorate the downsides of the Ryan Plan, that is highly questionable. If you read the link that I posted in my original blog post, you would have seen a quote from Grover Norquist essentially saying that Romney as president would act as a signatory. “We are not auditioning for fearless leader” Doesn’t seem like someone who can even question the people in his own party, not to mention set policy. He will act as signatory, and little more.
Which leads me to another question: How is Romney more qualified to handle the economic matters of the country then President Obama considering that he has been president for 3 and a half years now?
Also, what did you mean by the statement “putting the control of personal income back in the pockets of those that work for it” ?
All of these programs aren’t “free” they come from our tax dollars. We should be able to use what we are paying for, and our tax dollars should go to seniors who need assistance. Corporations and the business class don’t need any more help.
I am glad you enjoy reading the posts on this site. Thanks for your commentary.
Man, Romney is not even trying to lure the hispanic vote. Why Romney didn’t you go with Rubio? You mean to tell me this is the best you could think of. At least old fogey McCain made an effort to woo women voters to his camp with the Palin pick, though it failed but hey at least he was trying. This pick here just states the Republicans are about maintaining the status quo.