Another Ryan Joke (Budget)?

Let me preface this by saying that Paul Ryan looks like a smart guy.

The sad thing about the above statement is that I can't lay the blame of his latest budget proposal on his intellect.  What I can say is that he has fallen victim to the same Republican mantra bullshit that has claimed many poor souls over last thirty years.

Ryan's new plan is not much different than his old one last year.  Ryan's budget proposal consists of lowering the tax rate for the rich and corporations, to offset the tax cuts he would eliminate tax breaks and credits (many of which will affect the poor and middle class i.e. earned income tax credit) while cutting spending on some vitally important programs which help the poor, disabled, and the elderly.  These programs include a modification to last years medicare cuts with vouchers still being a huge part of the program but now offering the option of staying in medicare.  This proposal is suspect at best because it would sabotage medicare as we know it as healthy seniors who could afford private health care (at least initially) would opt for the private plan while all non healthy seniors who could not afford health insurance would opt for the public plan thus bloating medicare costs.  The big cuts would come to medicaid which would be left to be rationed by the states with the federal government giving block grants to states in support which would drop in amount every year even though medical costs will never drop. In addition Ryan proposes phasing out most federal programs that help the general public like education grants, the FDA, the FAA, and border patrol. 

So in a nutshell what the plan would offer is the following:

1. Tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy because tax rates drop.
2. Tax increases for the poor and middle class because of the broadening base and the elimination of tax deductions.
3. Medicare reform which would be no benefit to anyone in the long term as prices will continue to rise more than the value of the vouchers while medicare although not eliminated will be bloated because it will be the only affordable option to the seniors that really need care.
4. Medicaid reform would be cut dramatically which will affect the disabled and seniors.
5. Cut in government programs would affect the safety of all citizens.
6. Increase in defense spending would help big Republican campaign contributors all while destroying the agreement that came into affect when a Republican led revolt held the whole world hostage with their debt ceiling fiasco last year.

The bottom line is that the plan is a joke.  The right claims that citizens need to make sacrifices and I agree but why is it that the sacrifices that need to be made under Republican plans lie with the poor and needy while we let the rich and affluent off scott free?  This makes absolutely no sense to me.  Common sense leads me to believe that the best way to keep this wonderful country moving is by investing in the people who as a whole make up the fabric of this country.  This doesn't mean allowing the rich tax breaks which they won't spend while taking away from the poor who will.  It means making education affordable for everyone, it means investing in infrastructure that will improve the efficiency of transportation in this country, and most importantly of all it means investing in the everyday people who make this country great.  Let's face it, the affluent are brilliant and successful people but if it wasn't for the everyday Joe who gets up in the morning and works his ass off day in day out, year in year out where the fuck would they be?  Shouldn't we be taking care of this valuable asset?

During times of need this country has always rallied together and shared in the sacrifices that made it great regardless of party affiliation.  This is another time that this needs to be the case.  We need tax rate increases of which the majority of them will be on the rich and on corporations by eliminating tax breaks and raising rates.  We need money to be invested in the people and the infrastructure of this country (especially at the low rates that the government can borrow at right now), and last but not least we will need to review and attempt to cut back the costs of some programs within the federal government in order to make them more viable for future generations.

So let's stop talking about how brave Paul Ryan is for releasing a plan that at best is a partisan gift to the upper 1% and let's start getting serious about how we can better our country.

Some goods reads on the topic:
NYT Editorial
National Review Opinion-Eakin
The New Republic-Cohn
Wapo-Klein
WSJ-Editorial