In one of yesterday's posts, Curb Your Enthusiasm, I warned progressives not to get in a lather over Paul Ryan's supposed Federal Budget 2012 proposal. As with most aspects of politics these days, it is a political prop of stagecraft and not to be taken at face value.
As Dana Milbank of The Washington Post writes, this fake budget doesn't even cut the deficit -- that major policy initiative of the Tea Party!
As Dana Milbank of The Washington Post writes, this fake budget doesn't even cut the deficit -- that major policy initiative of the Tea Party!
Without question, Ryan makes some severe cuts: Taking hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, ending the Medicare entitlement, and slashing planned spending on transportation, energy, education, veterans benefits, agriculture payments, counterterrorism and more.In other words, folks, his budget is a gimmick. It's not serious. It's a political tool to pander to his real base -- the egregiously rich.
Yet for all these cuts, the Republicans’ plan increases the federal debt by more than $8 trillion over the next 10 years, and it continues federal budget deficits until nearly 2040. Under the proposed balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that Ryan and his Republican colleagues claim to support, Ryan’s budget wouldn’t be in compliance for at least the next quarter century.
How could the House Republicans make such enormous cuts and yet not solve the debt crisis? Simple: Ryan’s proposal isn’t a budget. It’s a manifesto for the anti-tax cause. The GOP plan reduces the government’s revenues by $4 trillion over 10 years because of tax cuts, including a lower top rate for businesses and the wealthy...
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