Ryan Can't Dodge Medicare Stand

Well it's only 5 days later, and the Ryan Medicare Plan has come front and center. Trying to make a distinction from the Congressman's highly volatile proposals on the the entitlement, Romney is already attempting to put some distance between his "bold" choice for V.P. and his plans for America. One of the subtle things I noticed the day after the Ryan's pick, was on the podium where Romney was to give his speech was a sign proclaiming "The Romney Plan". Nobody knows what the hell that is, but we sure as shit know what Ryan stands for.

Republican political analysts are applauding Romney's "bold" choice while at the same time are proclaiming he just lost the White House. The Ryan pick has also put some fire back in the Congressional elections as well. In what was expected to be a hold on the House for Republicans, has now turned into a wide open nationwide contest. Democrats only need 25 seats to retake the House, and Ryan's political record already has some Republicans running for cover. Ads are already out from some Republicans distancing them from Ryan's attack on Medicare.

In a poor attempt at something akin to a preemptive strike, Both Romney and Ryan are screaming President Obama took $716 Billion dollars from Medicare to pay for Obama Care. What they don't tell you is Romney and Ryan keep that cut in their own budget. So they take that $716 Billion dollars as well. The difference is, Romney/Ryan take that money to create a voucher program that passes costs off onto individuals, while subsidising tax cuts for the rich. The Presidents plan takes that money out of Medicare Advantage programs that were costly and inefficient, and makes pharmacy and insurance companies pick up the slack by putting a ceiling on profits. So next time you hear Romney or Ryan talk about how Obama gutted Medicare with this $716 Billion dollar cut, know they are doing the same thing, only they once again protect the rich, while giving the shaft to the middle class.

As for Ryan's reputation as a fiscal hawk, his record proves otherwise. After 14 years in the House and over 9500 votes. Ryan toes the Republican line just like the rest of the party of "NO". Here are some examples:

1. He voted for the $700 Billion dollar bank bailout (TARP)
2. The Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan
3. The Bush Tax Cuts
4. The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
5. No Child Left Behind
6. The Transportation Bill that included the Bridge to Nowhere

What do all these proposals that passed have in common? THEY WERE ALL NOT PAID FOR! Over $5 Trillion dollars straight to the countries credit card. For those of you who listen to Romney and Ryan say how they are going to balance the budget? Guess what? It doesn't happen until 2040!

Oh, and just to clarify, yesterday Ryan admitted the tax loopholes so pivotal to creating revenue for their warped vision for the future will wait until AFTER the election. (Is it me or did I just say this in my last blog?) Brit Hume of Fox News asked Ryan to counter that charge. "What we're saying is get rid of special interest loopholes and deductions that are uniquely enjoyed by the wealthy to lower the tax rates for everybody," Ryan said. But lowering middle-class tax rates, if coupled with eliminating key deductions, could lead to an effective tax increase, the cornerstone of the analyses of Romney's tax plan. Hume pressed for specifics. "That is something that we think we should do in the light of day, through Congress," Ryan told Hume, promising to "have a process for tax reform so that we do this in the front of the public. So no, the point I'm trying to say is, we want feedback from Americans about what priorities in the tax code should be kept, and what special interest loopholes we want to get rid of.  "One of the "loopholes" that costs the IRS the most money is the mortgage interest deduction. Another relates to municipal bonds. Hume asked Ryan if either would be on the chopping block. Ryan refused to say.

Ryan has certainly been a "bold" choice. So bold his Medicare plan has now possibly put Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, and New Hampshire a bit closer to Obama's column. They have the most elderly voters in their states, and if history is any guide they don't like Ryan's Medicare plan. So three cheers for Romney's "bold" choice, here's to ten more just like it.

Yes Virginia There Is A Santa Clause, And His Name Is Paul Ryan

Well despite speculation that Mitt Romney was going to go dull white bread for his V.P. pick, enter Wisconsin's Representative from the states 1st Congressional District Paul Ryan. Ryan who is anything but, the safe, bland, choice many were waiting for, certainly qualifies as a bold move on Romney's part. However, when the dust settles from his initial roll-out, Paul Ryan is probably the most polarizing figure Mitt Romney could have chosen. As for me, I couldn't be happier with the pick, and I'm sure just as much champagne was flowing at the DNC, as was at the RNC yesterday. Romney's choice in Ryan draws a big fat red line in the sand for people to decide which way this country should to go. There is no gray area anymore, Romney's campaign wanted definition, well they just got it in spades!

So lets look at what Mitt Romney has just signed up for? Paul Ryan known for the "Ryan Budget", or what he affectionately calls the "Path to Prosperity" would promote the following:

1. Ryan's budget plan cuts $5.8 trillion over 10 years from projected federal spending and reduces the deficit by $4.4 trillion over the same period. Discretionary spending, which includes programs like food stamps, would see more than $900 trillion in reductions. The budget also calls for the repeal of President Obama's health care reform law, which the plan says would save billions in federal subsidies that will be given to lower-income people to buy insurance.
Translation: Coupled with Romney's call for more tax breaks for the rich, Romney/Ryan would balance the budget on the back of the middle class and working poor. Give health care back to the insurance companies, continue cuts in education, public employees, scientific research.

2. The most contentious part of Ryan's proposed budget is what he would do to change Medicare. Ryan's plan would eventually transform Medicare into defined payments that seniors can use to buy private insurance or a government plan on an insurance exchange. There would be no limits to the out-of-pocket costs seniors could have to pay in this program, but Ryan assumes that the increased competition between Medicare and private plans would bring down overall costs. The amount of money seniors get to buy their insurance can only grow at a slightly higher rate than GDP each year. (The Congressional Budget Office says this would save the government money, but also significantly increase the amount seniors will eventually have to pay for their own insurance.) The eligibility age would gradually rise to 67, from 65. Democrats say this transforms Medicare into a "voucher program" that may leave seniors with big prescription bills and other medical costs, and the Obama campaign is already using this proposal against Romney and Ryan. If Obama can convince seniors--a powerful voting bloc that turns out at the polls--that Ryan would worsen or weaken Medicare, it could mean bad news for their campaign.
Translation: Destroy Medicare as we know it, to finance more breaks for the rich.

3. Ryan would cut the top federal income tax rate for individuals and corporations to 25 percent from 35 percent. The budget says some tax breaks and loopholes would be eliminated to help offset the revenue loss from that move.
Translation: Cut government to a level that is unsustainable. At the current 35% rate we can't balance the budget? How do you cut more taxes on the rich, increase the military budget, and slash revenues another 10%? It is simply not possible. Plus Romney will not tell us what tax breaks and what loopholes will be eliminated? I guess it's a secret until AFTER the election.

4. Ryan would slash Medicaid, the insurance program for some low-income people, by $735 billion over ten years, and hand the program back to the states to administer with more freedom. The CBO writes that states would most likely have to "reduce payments to providers, curtail eligibility for Medicaid, provide less extensive coverage to beneficiaries, or pay more themselves than would be the case under current law."
Translation: Make the poor, poorer. Give an entitlement like Medicaid back to the states? They can't pay for the programs they administer now? Where is all this money going to come from? you can't keep cutting taxes, and decrease revenue, and think it will all balance out with discretionary spending cuts, its IMPOSSIBLE! How much more discretionary spending can be cut? Look at the problems states are having now? Look at all the municipalities that are going bankrupt because federal and state governments have been slashed to the bone. If they get their way, everyone will pay more, and everyone will get less. More for insurance and less coverage, more in local taxes, less for schools, and fire, and police, and teachers.

5. The budget spares Social Security and defense spending, which are left at current levels. Ryan's decision to back off Social Security is interesting, since he put forward proposals to privatize the program around the same time that President George W. Bush tried to sell the nation on a similar proposal.
Translation: The fact that Ryan even attempted to go here is a bad omen. There is no government entitlement he won't gut, to put your health, education, safety, environment, and public welfare in general, back in the hands of greedy corporations that put profit before people. The free market is mans best friend. Remember corporations are people!

The bottom line is this. You want more breaks for the rich? You want the banks to go back to business as usual? You want insurance companies running your health care? You want oil companies to rake in record profits, and still get government subsides? You want energy companies to administer our environmental policy? You want state and local governments to continue to struggle so we can subsidise the wealthy? If you answered yes to these questions, Romney and Ryan are for you. But know this, Paul Ryan isn't going to bring one single Independent to the Republican ticket. Ryan hasn't added one single person to the Republican rolls, who wasn't going to vote for Romney in the first place. So let them cheer Romney for his bold choice now, come November they can ask Ryan for a tissue to dry their eyes, when they get their asses handed to them.