Intro: "Mitt Romney hasn't provided details so we should be grateful he's selected as vice president a man with a detailed plan Romney says is 'marvelous,' 'bold and exciting,' 'excellent,' 'much needed,' and 'consistent with' what he's put out. So let's look at the five basic features of this 'marvelous' Ryan plan."
Portrait, Robert Reich, 08/16/09. (photo: Perian Flaherty)
Five Reasons Ryan-Romney Is a Disaster
21 August 12
itt Romney hasn't provided details so we should be grateful he's selected as vice president a man with a detailed plan Romney says is "marvelous," "bold and exciting," "excellent," "much needed," and "consistent with" what he's put out.
So let's look at the five basic features of this "marvelous" Ryan plan.
FIRST: It would boost unemployment because it slashes public spending next year and the year after, when the economy is still likely to need a boost, not a fiscal drag. It would be the same austerity trap now throwing Europe into recession. According to the Economic Policy Institute, Ryan's plan would mean 1.3 million fewer jobs next year than otherwise, and 2.8 million fewer the year after.
SECOND: Ryan would take from lower-income Americans and give to the rich - who already have the biggest share of America's total income and wealth in almost a century. His plan would raise taxes on families earning between 30 and 40 thousand dollars by almost $500 a year, and slash programs like Medicare, food stamps, and children's health What would Ryan do with these savings? Reduce taxes on millionaires by an average of over $500,000 a year.
THIRD: Ryan wants to turn Medicare into vouchers that won't keep up with the rising costs of health care - thereby shifting the burden onto seniors. By contrast, Obama's Affordable Care Act saves money on Medicare by reducing payments to medical providers like hospitals and drug companies.
FOURTH: He wants to add money to defense while cutting spending on education, infrastructure, and basic research and development. America already spends more on defense than the next five biggest military spenders put together. Our future productivity depends on the public investments Ryan wants to cut.
FIFTH AND Finally, Ryan's budget doesn't even reduce the federal budget deficit - not for decades. Remember: He's adding to military spending, giving huge additional tax cuts to the very rich, and stifling economic growth by cutting spending too early. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates Ryan's Roadmap would push public debt to over 175 percent of GDP by 2050.
So there you have it. The Ryan - Ryan-ROMNEY - economic plan.
And the five reasons why it would be a disaster for America.
(Please watch the video - and share.)
Robert Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including "Locked in the Cabinet," "Reason," "Supercapitalism," "Aftershock," and his latest e-book, "Beyond Outrage." His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
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Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
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We cannot even trust them; they want to do more legislating on our bodies. Why are they so darned interested in our bodies? There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the government the right to legislate our bodies. They belong to us. All their legislating is Unconstitutiona l. They are cutting the budget in all the wrong places and making the rich richer and to hell with the rest of us. No jobs plan. Ryan voted against the President's Jobs plan. Romneyhood is so unamerican and self-centered that he doesn't give a crap about us and is the most rude candidate I have ever seen. He has no idea how we live from day to day (certainly not as well as he does).
Don't Vote Rethug/Tbagger at any level, there are several states that need cleaning up.
DO VOTE, never sit out an election and allow this to happen to us again. Our livelihoods are at stake more than ever.
American, a Nation Not A Corporation!
and: The only thing that trickles down is a dirty diaper.
The harsh reality is when you only get 5 - 10% of the vote and always being financially strapped, I think it is almost impossible for those parties to make any head way in this corrupt one-party system.
A coalition party would gain 43% of the vote combined as a coalition vs. 5 - 10% of the vote and dwindling membership, no funds to run but a shoestring election, and loss of ballot access or all these parties join together as the Peace & Freedom Coalition Party/the Green Coalition Party/the Independent Coalition Party/the Declined to State Coalition Party/ the Justice Coalition Party, etc.
The coalition party is the parties united.
- NO ONE addresses the growth in healthcare COST, which the market will force to implode in less than five (5) years (just like it will for student loan debt).
- NO ONE is addressing the fraud (prosecuting it), which is why we have only one (1) bank in the top 26 of the safest banks in the world (our largest three banks are not even on the list).
- Obama, Romney, regulators, Congress, courts, and MSM (and probably Reich) are all captured by the banks, which is why all the bloviating by pundits like Reich are meaningless.
Since nothing will be proactively done, the only way to force the change is to starve the beast. Transfer all your assets out of the money-center banks now! After MF Global, PFG Best, Libor & silver manipulation, etc., it's the safe thing to do anyway.
All we can do is continue to pay the banks every month to pay down credit cards, student loans, and home mortgage.
i am an independent who reads from both sides. Reading comments on this site os often painful.
How few understand that doing nothing insure that we go bankrupt soon with the poor and disadvantaged suffering the most.
It is actually cruel and selfish to ignore the facts of our monetary problem. Extend and pretend is not a strategy.
Second: The top 10% pay 71% of the taxes. Just how much MORE is their "fair share"?
Third: Obama's Affordable Care Act does nothing to lower the cost of malpractice insurance, a HUGE cost to Doctors that spirals up at a frightening rate. In thousands of pages, it does very little to put "affordable" into health care.
Fourth: Since the Department of Education was founded, the US student international rankings have consistently dropped. Federal spending has not improved education. Bloated school administrations and budgets do not educate children, they just feather bed teacher unions. Iran and North Korea could care less about our infrastructure.
Fifth: Our first 43 presidents got our debt to 10 trillion. Obama pushed it to almost 16 trillion. Ryan's plan HAS to be better than that.
When Obama took office in 2009 debt was not the $10 trillion you claim, because the 2009 budget that pushed the debt to $12 trillion was already in place when Obama was inaugurated; even before he was elected.
There is no way he could wave a magic wand on the first day in office and make three decades of economic nonsense go away. It will take time to undo the bullcrap started by Ronald Reagan. To illustrate the debt trap set by Reagan we have to look at the Clinton administration. Four years of deficits, inherited from Reagan-Bush, were offset by four years of surpluses. Over those 8 years Clinton produced a surplus of $60 billion. But the debt increased more than $1 trillion.
It works this way; after Reagan raised payroll taxes in 1983 Social Security produced massive surpluses while other taxes produced massive deficits. To mask the severity of those deficits, Reagan, a GOP Senate and conservative House passed the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 that required Social Security surpluses to go to the Treasury in exchange for IOUs that went to Social Security. That meant the working middle class was paying taxes that vastly outpaced those derived through income, inheritance, or others the 1% pay.
You are also wrong claiming the top 10% pay 71% of the taxes. That applies to income taxes; not payroll taxes, gasoline taxes, liquor taxes, tobacco taxes or other minor taxes scattered about.
While those millions of working middle class taxpayers were producing massive Social Security tax surpluses, the top elites who had their taxes slashed by Reagan and his puppets in Congress, were loading up on Treasury bills, bonds and notes to draw interest from the Treasury, interest that was being paid by the money diverted from Social Security.
So it doesn't matter how much you think the elites pay in income taxes, they are paying their taxes with money drawn from the Treasury and the Treasury gets it from the working middle class by raiding Social Security.
Too many in that woking middle class, probably such as you, continue to vote into office the right-wingers who have stacked the deck, continue dealing off the bottom, fixed the game and bribed the referees and umpires. Millions of Americans are being screwed by the people they vote for and haven't the faintest idea that they are "getting' it."
Second: That is an irrelevant number, since an overwhelming number of persons do not earn enough to pay taxes. Distribute the hoarded wealth downward by raising the minimum wage to create more taxpayers in the lower 90%.
Third: The cost of malpractice Insurance as a driver of health care cost increases is a canard.
Fourth: You point out a (possible) fact, then fail to respond with a solution. How about listening to the teachers, paying them decent salaries, stop burdening them with standardized tests for both them and their students. Also implement full funding for educational initiatives by recognizing that a 21st education cannot be built using 19th Century education models. Educate the handicapped, adults, and immigrants; FREE. Look to alternatives from the 12 grade ABCD grades model. This is a huge subject that cannot be dismissed by one (possible) fact.
Fifth: OMG! Bushie (yes,him) started 2 unfunded wars, and cut taxes. When the bubble burst and the Federal government being the only source of unemployment funding etc. the deficit had to go up. Blaming Obama and not reinstating the tax cuts made by Bush instead of directing the surplus to reduce the deficit was irresponsible. The bubble gave him almost enough cover.
Besides attacking Romney & Ryan has he shared any details???
Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, even NBC do not talk about ANY Liberal based proposals.
So, when you say that Obama and the Democrats have proposed nothing its a lie, not necessarily by you; but certainly a lie by whomever your sources are.
We need American People to have journalsits like on here to go and start some town hall meetings. Telling us the same sh__ every day is old news We know they and all GOP even some Dems are worthless slime. It is the Public that needs to hear you...go to Letterman, Conan, Kimmel but get the word out.
Raise money for a Show on TV there is an objective.... Get Progressive, Nation, Left Wing whatever, and Organizations to go and make people aware of what is going on.
I would like to add that it is amazing how Mother Nature is ignored. Notice how many States now are having Wildfires that are destroying Buffalo and annihilating Wolves. Many of them Red States with Mormon or Evangelical Majorities. Talk about some repeat of History. Bible is showing that when man skrews up Mother Nature asks for sacrifices, too bad Wildlife and Trees are involved. Right now Wyoming wants to irradicate all Wolves from the Earth...burn, baby burn
"Doing the same thing over and over"--you mean kinda like "trickle-down" economics? Didn't work for Hoover, didn't work for Reagan, didn't work for Bush . . . but y'all just keep running that same play, son, I'm sure it'll work out eventually.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-beinhart/tax-cuts-vs-unemployment_b_792087.html
http://rricketts.ba.ttu.edu/Tax%20Rates%20and%20Revenues.htm
http://worldnewsvine.com/2010/12/bush-tax-cuts-vs-unemployment-extensions-the-great-republican-lie/
I bet you knew none of that.
I was just kidding.
Tell you what: let's not and say we did.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Nader came out to town hall meetings. Came out to Environmental and Social Meetings.
These people just continue to rehash the same crap. They get paid to. I think he writes great but who is he getting to?
Every article here is from a writer elsewhere, and who are they getting to...Intelligen t People Not to the Public.
Democrats in this area, wanted to get someone in Office, an encumbent, they hired outside this area and we are depressed County. Then they refused to go talk to people to let them hear both sides. That was not their cup of tea, oh no, they would man stupid phones, bump them selves up but no real getting down with he unemployed. Slime bag with money got in and encumbent got skrewed by his own stupidity of not hiring local, and not going door to door.
they called me this year and I laughed, told them I do not work for Tea Party.
Again they are not going and telling the People anything or showing them facts.
I like it here, nice but I am smart enough to read lot of journalists and publications America hasn't got time, they are trying to work two and three jobs.
You can make people aware or watch Republicans win. Your Choice
For an interesting bio, look up Jim Glassman, host of the George W Bush Institute's "Ideas in Action" show and author of the 1999 Best(?) or at least good seller "Dow 36,000." Hmmm, do we see a problem here? Even Sandy Weill, the Godfather of the Glass-Steagall reform sees it now, who else do you want? See http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/25/news/economy/sandy-weill-banks/index.htm and please, Joe, tell me what you think after trying a few of them.
Try Cathy O'Neil, a insider Wall Street Risk Analyst, too
He was in the trenches in the Clinton administration. It was his advocacy of pro labor policies that helped Clinton win re-election. he was instrumental in getting the economy turned back around so that by the end of Clinton's 2nd term we were in surplus. So he has a proven track record that he can advocate policies that succeed.
In case you didn't know, he left the Clinton administration in the second term, since inside the White House his advice began to be ignored and replaced by sages such as Rubin and Sumner. How did that work out?
Um... wouldn't that be Romney and Ryan? And why is an education and literacy somehow considered antithetical to "work"?
The GOP hates people who actually work for a living, and working people that haven't been brainwashed despise what the GOP fanatics stand for.
And, as for # 4- military spending, two days ago Ryan was addressing a crowd and hinting at war with Iran. Just what we need or even want!
Ryan was a big player in the Bush years and helped us into the Iraq invasion and into the collapse of the economy and accumulation of huge debt. Now, Ryan seems to think the country is ready to accept his budget which is rejected by many, some even in his own party.
The Romney-Ryan ticket is a danger to the country and must be defeated if we are to progress and not regress.
I can't imagine a half way rational world in which they could win, but I'm even more afraid they are distracting attention from the real plan to infiltrate even more Grover Norquist or ALEC stooges at every possible local, state, and federal position possible. I do believe they have built an unenlightened, dark-ages, machine more powerful than any of the old political machines. What should we expect them to do with it?
There are some lessons from history, Torquemada's super Inquisition on a darker side, and an inconvenient history of what the British felt they had to do to keep the American and French Revolutions from spreading to England. The British did reform enough to keep their system from a collapse like the French, but it wasn't "pleasant".
I have my doubts about the machine my old party has become, being smart enough to tread a reform path like the British did to contain an internal revolution.
They contained the revolution in England but not in Ireland, when their mercantilist Corn Acts provided a form of welfare to the wealthy but starved the Irish into rebellion. Will we be the British, keeping our 1% from taking as much advantage as the French 1% did, but still losing an Ireland in the wider picture?
See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-power-wall-street/ for those within Wall St who see only a fraction are using the innovations they came up with for legitimate investing.
We now have 4/5ths of the market engaged in speculation instead of investing, and incredibly, we bail out the gamblers (and crooks) when they lose their depositors' money. Jon Corzine gets a slap on the wrist for a clearly criminal act, as wrong as Bernie Maddoff, if not as staggering in billions. Then we have the trillions taken from the tax payers in rigged municipal bond deals, LIBOR rigging, bailouts and guarantees.
But back to the point on some government types, Reich has been on the correct side, like the rest of the 450 economists that warned us about tax cuts in a 2003 NYTimes ad. Let's ask the others like Weill, Rubin, Summers, etc, if they see the unintended consequences and collateral damage their theories didn't predict.
If I returned to what used to be a reasonable Republican party, I would parse my support, and opposition to so-called Republicans, much as you did in the last few lines.
Second: That is an irrelevant number, since an overwhelming number of persons do not earn enough to pay taxes. Distribute the hoarded wealth downward by raising the minimum wage to create more taxpayers in the lower 90%.
Third: The cost of malpractice Insurance as a driver of health care cost increases is a canard.
Fourth: You point out a (possible) fact, then fail to respond with a solution. How about listening to the teachers, paying them decent salaries, stop burdening them with standardized tests for both them and their students. Also implement full funding for educational initiatives by recognizing that a 21st education cannot be built using 19th Century education models. Educate the handicapped, adults, and immigrants; FREE. Look to alternatives from the 12 grade ABCD grades model. This is a huge subject that cannot be dismissed by one (possible) fact.
Fifth: OMG! Bushie (yes,him) started 2 unfunded wars, and cut taxes. When the bubble burst and the Federal government being the only source of unemployment funding etc. the deficit had to go up. Blaming Obama and not reinstating the tax cuts made by Bush instead of directing the surplus to reduce the deficit was irresponsible. The bubble gave him almost enough cover.
Reich isn't going to "convert anyone on the right," period. Certainly not the "tea party" right. They think their views are God's word. They can't be convinced, only defeated.
These two hypocrites could actually be the total undoing of the USA as an economic, political, or military power in the world. Not to worry, China is poised to take our place. So is Japan for that matter. China has the population and the totalitarian government to accomplish it, though. Ding Hao!
For the record, the Obama Admin.--led as usual by Wall Street's Tim Geithner opposes re-imposition of FDR's Glass-Steagall firewall against speculators. HR 1489 authored by Rep Kaptur (D-Toledo)enjoy s bipartisan support but has been blocked by the White House--and its Ryan-like Wall Street allies in the GOP leadership.
Given the trend in 'right track' and 'economy-handli ng' poll numbers...
A Dem convention delegate vote for Obama sure looks like a vote for Romney-Ryan.
As the son of a 1976 Udall delegate I would not want that on my conscience.
Dump Wall Street's Barry Obama.
(I was active in Cook County politics before anyone ever heard of Barack Obama. So I get to call him Barry.)
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