Associated Press
Paul Ryan brought his teleprompter to Cleveland yesterday, delivering a speech on one of his favorite subjects: "Restoring the Promise of Upward Mobility in America's Economy." In effect, it was a chance for the far-right congressman to defend his governmental worldview, making the case that poverty would decline and prosperity would flourish if only federal policies were more in line with his vision.
The transcript of the remarks is online, but there are a couple of things that jumped out at me. Most notably, Ryan seemed eager to stress his approach to welfare.
"[A] Romney-Ryan administration will clearly restore those parts of the welfare-reform law that have been undone or weakened. We will do this for the sake of millions of Americans who deserve to lead lives of dignity and freedom.
"We will also apply other lessons from welfare reform's success.... Mitt Romney and I want to apply this idea to other anti-poverty programs, such as Medicaid and food stamps. The federal government would continue to provide the resources, but we would remove the endless federal mandates and restrictions that hamper state efforts to make these programs more effective."
It's important to understand how ridiculous this is. For one thing, nothing in welfare law has been undone or weakened, so there's nothing to "restore." For another, Ryan's approach to Medicaid is to gut it in such a way that would deprive millions of already struggling Americans of basic care.
But pay particular attention when Ryan talks about his approach to "other anti-poverty programs." He insists Washington "would continue to provide the resources," but that's where the problem lies.
In reality, Ryan's proposed budget plan, which was heartily endorsed by Mitt Romney, is simply brutal towards the poor and working families. The plan identifies $5.3 trillion in nondefense budget cuts over the next decade, and nearly two-thirds of the savings come from programs intended to help Americans of limited means.
As the CBPP's Robert Greenstein put it, "[T]he Ryan budget would impose extraordinary cuts in programs that serve as a lifeline for our nation's poorest and most vulnerable citizens, and over time would cause tens of millions of Americans to lose their health insurance or become underinsured." He added that Ryan's plan "would cast tens of millions of less fortunate Americans into the ranks of the uninsured, take food from poor children, make it harder for low-income students to get a college degree, and squeeze funding for research, education, and infrastructure."
When Ryan offers assurances about "providing resources," he actually means far fewer resources, leaving families that are already struggling to get by with even less. It's not a recipe for "upward mobility"; it's a callous policy that leaves millions behind.
This stood out, too.
"Look at the road we are on, with trillion-dollar deficits every year. Debt on this scale is destructive in so many ways, and one of them is that it crowds out civil society by drawing resources away from private giving. Even worse is the prospect of a debt crisis, which will come unless we do something very soon."
To say Ryan has a credibility problem here is a severe understatement. We have "trillion-dollar deficits every year"? Yes, though the deficit has decreased by over $300 billion in Obama's first term, and Ryan's own budget plan would continue to run trillion-dollar deficits over the next several years.
The debt "crowds out civil society by drawing resources away from private giving"? If there's any evidence to support this claim, Ryan is keeping it well hidden.
"Even worse is the prospect of a debt crisis, which will come unless we do something very soon"? Putting aside the notion that an actual "debt crisis" comes with high interest rates and difficulties in borrowing -- and we have the opposite -- what Ryan continues to forget is his role in creating the very mess he's whining about.
We know exactly how the deficit got this large: the drivers were Bush-era tax cuts, two wars, Medicare expansion, and a Wall Street bailout. Who voted for all of these measures? Paul Ryan.
And even if we ignore his track record, Ryan's budget plan doesn't actually reduce the debt, it simply redistributes wealth, slashing investments in priorities he doesn't like, and redirecting funds to the top.
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Any woman who votes for Romney and Ryan is signing away their right as a woman. They believe in the personhood bill giving a fetus the right to property...they believe no matter what they say in no abortions in any case including rape and incest and they very conveniently do not mention that this particular point is in the republican platform signon on the day of the convention by Mr. Romney...no abortions even in the case of rape and incest. They of course deny this but they lie. As for Roe v Wade as soon as Romney gets a chance he will put in supreme court justices to overturn this law. They are talking about jobs for women as a ploy to make you think they care about you. They don't believe any woman should earn the same as a man even doing the same job so honey, what kind of job will you be getting...a lesser paying one for sure and no one fighting for you. Now again, as to jobs Romney told corporations how cheap it is to move their business to China..they reimbursed for moving their equipment even and the Chinese work for 90 cents an hour. Bain Capital is already shipping 170 jobs in Illinois women and men and even though they have had a record profit year. Do you think for one moment that Romney will stop this....never..he is the Godfather of shipping jobs overseas. Pres. Obama is rewarding companies who bring jobs back and women you will earn what you deserve...equal pay.This is serious stuff going on out there against women and since 2010, there have already been almost 100 bills presented against women's rights.Ryan has already along with Todd Aikin changed the definition of rape to make it harder to prove using the word "forced" is there any other kind of rape?Wake up ladies...jobs will come back under Obama ..the jobs bill which has sat for oer one year..will be signed this time....I guarantee this.
I have not heard anything yet on your blog/show regarding the fact that this man, Paul Ryan, who is on the same page with the Glen Beck-Dick Cheney-Todd Akin-Richard Mourdock far right radicals, is a heart beat away from the Presidency in the event of a Romney win - this frightening possibility should be shouted from the rooftops in order to get people out to vote for Barack Obama and for sanity
mp22, As we speak, Glen Beck, Dick Cheney and Reinse Prebus (or whatever) are hosting a fundraiser for Romney. Ryan, who's been sent to Alabama or one of the Dumbfukistan red states, will be the guest on a video. That video will brighten up the meeting of the minds.
There's a regular bunch of guys. LOL The rich and the Insane.
That is such a scary bunch, they should have waited till Halloween.
The Republicans' (at least tacit) endorsement of the likes of Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, and now Paul Ryan raise serious questions, and HELP ME, I desperately need to raise some national recognition of the problem. These guys will make an impoverished woman endure the discomforts of pregnancy and the deprivations of a whole lifetime in raising a rape-induced ["Gift of God"] without ONE DIME of federal support. These impoverished single victims of rape are facing a hopeless life by virtue of Republican refusal to acknowledge, let alone support, the victims of the Republican's own misguided ideology. I am a 72 year-old white straight male begging you to support this cause. Apparently the Republicans are saying the status quo is OK. This is NOT "pro-life" - it is "anti-life" in that it destroys any chances of a productive, rewarding life for the mother, and it probably results in a disastrous life for the poor child born of such circumstances. Our colleagues on the right side of the aisle would have us believe this is appropriate. What they won't acknowledge is that it is merely convenient.
Help, PLEASE!
Thanks,
Allen Bachelder
North Street, Michigan
Faced with this story on the tube, I was for the first time struck by how much Ryan resembles Eddie Munster. To confirm, I went on a search for images of Munster to confirm my opinion, and damn if someone hadn't already noticed it. I found this on topix.com:
I'm not so struck with the Romney/Fred Munster comparison
Other items continually forgotten from the conversation are the numbers in the Ryan plan itself...continued deficit spending for the next ten years increasing the debt to over 23 trillion. Interest on the debt at the end of this period increases to 900 billion annually...200 billion MORE than the annual defense budget. 1.6 trillion annually for interest on the debt and defense alone. A budget surplus is not projected until 2040. I am curious how the party of 'fiscal responsibility' is going to spin this obvious lack of responsible behavior. You can almost predict what it will be...
"These congressional democrats have been laddening our bills with pork" or "obstructing our conservative, responsible agenda." "Debt and deficits are not as important as promoting economic policies that foster growth." Or my personal favorite, "Tax cuts pay for themselves as there is a dollar for dollar offset resulting from the stimulated economy." Nope, a vote for a republican doesn't result in a fiscally responsible government, just a shift in where the wasteful dollars will be spent. The real concern is how far will they take the socially conservative agenda!?! In decades past they ran on these ideological issues but very rarely attempted to implement. Their efforts seem to gained significant traction changing the system of representation to a plutocratic theocracy.
In a way, some of these problems would go away if we simply stopped paying for them. People would simply die sooner. Although, I think we can do better, the "not paying for it" part, is all that's going to register with the free market absolutists. Ryan's fascination with Ayn Rand is a good indicator of what he is actually able to get his head around. Rand's infantile philosophy appeals to teenagers for a reason.
Ryan's budget plan doesn't actually reduce the debt, it simply redistributes wealth, slashing investments in priorities he doesn't like, and redirecting funds to the top.
how the deficit got this large: the drivers were Bush-era tax cuts, two wars, Medicare expansion, and a Wall Street bailout. Who voted for all of these measures? Paul Ryan.
And even if we ignore his track record, Ryan's budget plan doesn't actually reduce the debt, it simply redistributes wealth, slashing investments in priorities he doesn't like, and redirecting funds to the top.