Posted on 03/18/2013 9:18:33 AM PDT by Kaslin
In the kingdom of the blind, according to Erasmus, the one-eyed man is king. And in a land of big spenders, the budget proposed yesterday by Representative Paul Ryan is a model of fiscal rectitude.
Let’s be honest about one thing: The budget introduced yesterday has about as much chance of becoming law as Nancy Pelosi does of being elected pope.
And of course Ryan’s budget relies on a veritable garden’s worth of rosy assumptions in order to reach balance, including the repeal of Obamacare and GDP growth of slightly more than 3 percent. Either or both could happen, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
But at least it is a budget. It has now been more than four years since the Senate produced such a document. While Senate Democrats have pledged to do so this year, recent reports suggest that they are struggling to come up with a plan that can garner support from a majority of their members. Meanwhile, President Obama now says that he may not send a budget plan up to the Hill until the middle of April, despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires it to be delivered to Congress no later than the first Monday of February. Give Ryan points, then, for at least doing his job.
More important, the Ryan budget provides a view of Republican priorities and their vision for how to increase economic growth, reform entitlements, and balance the budget. While timid and imperfect, Ryan’s plan shows that Republicans are at least looking in the right direction.
Ryan accepts the $600 billion in tax increases resulting from the fiscal-cliff deal, but rejects any new tax hikes going forward. It also includes pro-growth tax reform — lowering rates while broadening the base.
On the spending side, Ryan would mostly retain the sequester, and would further reduce spending by $5.7 trillion from the current ten-year baseline, bringing the budget into balance by 2023.
However, while we can undoubtedly look forward to news stories about how Ryan would slash spending, his budget doesn’t actually cut spending at all; it merely slows the rate of growth. Indeed, under Ryan’s proposal, federal spending would still grow by an average of 3.4 percent every year. By 2023, we would be spending $1.4 trillion more than we do today. Indeed, spending under Ryan’s budget never drops below 19 percent of GDP, a higher proportion of the economy than it was under Bill Clinton.
Ryan’s budget would leave us with roughly $20.85 trillion in debt in 2023, which is $5.29 trillion lower than under the current baseline but still a $4.15 trillion increase over what we currently owe. Of course, if we are able to maintain a balanced budget beyond 2023, which will likely require entitlement reforms beyond what Ryan has proposed, we will then begin paying off the debt. Ryan envisions paying off the entire debt by 2050.
Ryan is hardly taking an ax to federal spending. But compared with the plans of President Obama and Senate Democrats, Ryan’s budget looks like the Texas chainsaw massacre.
According to Senator Patty Murray (D., Wash.), chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, if Democrats ever do put forward a budget, it will not even attempt to reach balance. It will, however, raise taxes by roughly $1 trillion.
And, if you use President Obama’s last budget proposal as modified by his sequester-replacement plan as a baseline, Ryan offers $1 trillion less in taxes, $6.2 trillion less in spending, and $5.2 trillion less in debt over the next ten years.
Ryan’s plan also begins the difficult process of entitlement reform. The president talks about making some minor changes to Medicare and Social Security, including adopting chained CPI (a different index of inflation) and means-testing Medicare premiums. But these just trim around the edges.
Ryan, on the other hand, would make much more fundamental changes. As with Ryan’s past budgets, his new one offers a premium-support option for Medicare starting in 2024.
The budget would also block-grant Medicaid and food stamps (the latter would be reformed more gradually, as the unemployment rate decreases), and reform civil-service pensions by requiring increased contributions from federal workers.
Unfortunately, however, Social Security is not really addressed, aside from calling for the president and Congress to come up with solutions. This omission makes Ryan’s optimistic long-range budget projections all the more suspect.
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson writes that Ryan’s budget shows that he “cares less about deficits or tax rates than about finding some way to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government.” Well, besides the “dramatically” part, there is something to that. As Ryan says, “balancing the budget is a means to an end,” that end being a growing economy and freer, more prosperous society.
That’s another reason the latest Ryan budget is a step in the right direction.
The Ryan budget will go over great with these NEW voters the GOP is reaching out to
RE :”The Republican National Committee will formally endorse immigration reform on Monday and outline plans for a $10 million outreach to minority groups — gay voters among them — as part of a multi-step roadmap designed to make the GOP more “welcoming and inclusive” for voters who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in 2012.
.......The RNC will also push for a tone of “tolerance and respect” in the immigration debate, create “senior level advisory councils” focused on minority groups, and establish “swearing in citizenship teams” to connect with new voters immediately after swearing-in ceremonies.
“We need to go to communities where Republicans do not normally go to listen and make our case,” the report says. “We need to campaign among Hispanic, black, Asian and gay Americans and demonstrate that we care about them, too .”
GOP Roadmap Calls for Immigration Reform AP ^ | 3/18/2013 | AP
There’s got to be something really wrong with the Ryan plan...Grover Norquist likes it, and if Grover Norquist likes it, it’s usually because he helped write it. He has that ‘pledge’ to hold over people and gets LOTS of compliance from congress people over it...like AMNESTY.
Balance the budget now, not in ten years.
This new Ryan plan is more smoke and mirrors.
The train is heading for the cliff before that and immediate action is needed.
BALANCE THE BUDGET NOW.......
” ...The RNC will also push for a tone of “tolerance and respect” in the immigration debate, create “senior level advisory councils” focused on minority groups, and establish “swearing in citizenship teams” to connect with new voters immediately after swearing-in ceremonies.”
SUICIDE
how about this for a *10 yr plan*...whatever the tax receipts are for this yr, the gubmint is allowed to *spend* 90% of that next yr...
of course that doesnt have all the pizzazz of the beltway thinktanks...too much like 'kitchen table' family budgeting...
Kitchen table budgeting is a new catch-phrase of the GOP.
Its designed to appeal to those who only know little more than how that household budget works.
But few families allow the kids to get-together and vote the one of the kids as head of the house to increase allowances and birthday presents.
Or better yet, have new kids sneak in to the family and demand their own allowances.
GOP and libs have a thing going with gridlock, no tax increases and no spending cuts with no deal. its win-win.
Immediately???
That's not going to happen, no chance. ZERO. A GOP POTUS would be against that.
But on a similar point the smoke and mirrors is the Ryan Medicare reform that does nothing till 10 years after passage, wait 10 tears then the wabbit jumps out of the hat.
I have little faith that Ryan knows what he's doing but the fact that his medi-scam plan is delayed a whole decade rather than starting right now tells me even he doesnt believe his own BS.
sounds like the plot of a new SOL computer-toon...???
seriously though, why dont they just use last yrs 'revenues' and allot 90% of that and the rest to debt...???
next yr, wash rinse, repeat...
best 10 yr plan available...of course that unemploys all the budget forecasters in dc...
Remember ‘Compassionate Conservatism’ ??
This is ‘Caring Conservatism’,
same idea.
And think, once they are legal they actually get to jump AHEAD of us in line because we are Anglo-saxans.
Legalized they get all that affirmative action laws and labor rules and racial entitlements to use against us.
Want to pass a voting ID law??
Nope, that would further insult the new victim class, legalized illegal dreamers.
Want to hire the best employee?
Sorry, you hired too many of them this year, you need to hire a few dreamers (aka new citizens) or be sued.
And dont think about saying anything that might offend them,
Want them to read as part of their job??/.
Sorry, that causes racial disparities. Its like voter IDs
sad but true, trying to out santa claus the other guys, a GOP potus would prolly be worse...
I dont understand
Last years reve-news are long spent. In fact soon this years will be too.
Here's a great poll question, how should congress handle the deficit ?
1) Raise your taxes
2) Raise your retirement age to 70
3) Both raise your taxes now and raise your retirement age to 70 (you can see how this will go)
4) Tax the livin daylights out of those fat cats like Bloomberg and Romney as I hate bthem anyway
5) Do nothing, just keep running deficits as we have been, that's the young people's (Obama voters) problem. They dont care, why should I?
I spelled this out in #12
You think these folks are mad at Bohner??
Its a love-in compared to if Romney(-Ryan) was POTUS
Even more clearly..
Bohner
McConnell
RNC
Obama Administration
MSM
= National Suicide
with no *budget* [besides CRs] how can anything be spent ???
or to put it another way, dont bother with this yrs budget, just wait till next yr, see what the receipts are, and 'spend' that...
i know, too tough to do in an election yr...
as for #12, i like 4 and 5...but would like to propose #6 give everybody an extra $1,000,000 per person as a citizen benefit...
hell, a mil is so 20th century, make it a bil...
You forgot the GOP primary:
Palin>Bachman>Perry>Cain>Newt>Santorum and our favorite Mitt.
Obama must have been thanking his stars for the GOP
There are so many to blame I cant even get mad at any one.
OH, now I understand. Stop spending anything more till FY14. Just go to zero for the remaining ~ 8 months.
Now that you made your *wish* do you blow out the candles?
” 4) Tax the livin daylights out of those fat cats like Bloomberg and Romney as I hate them anyway”
LOL!
” Obama must have been thanking his stars for the GOP”
Like I have said before, Obama is the luckiest man in world history.
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