We Won't Let Leonard Lance's Shenanigans Take The Focus Off Paul Ryan's Determination To Turn Us All Into Ayn Rand Zombies

Fasten your seat-belts

I love two counter-strikes NY Rep. Jerry Nadler is offering to Ryan's irresponsible slashing and burning. One, Amdt 232, would cut $90 billion from the war in Afghanistan, leaving enough to fund an orderly withdrawal-- essentially ending the tragic occupation of that country. I have a feeling Ryan and Obama will be on the same page there. They'll also both oppose what amounts to a Nadler stand-alone bill, a re-introduction of the Say No to Drug Ads Act, a bill that would end tax perks to pharmaceutical companies for their direct-to-consumer advertisements. "There is absolutely no reason for the federal government to provide major tax breaks to pharmaceutical companies creating advertisements for their own financial enrichment,” said Nadler. “It’s bad enough that TV drug ads mislead consumers and tout benefits of high-priced drugs without properly conveying the risks, but the drug companies don’t need extra subsidies to do so. My legislation would end this undeserved perk for the industry, while generating billions of dollars to support much more essential health care programs."
 
The Administration must have been very happy to have gotten USAToday's Paul Davidson to do a story yesterday called Obama Budget Plan Could Create Millions Of Jobs. It's great -- if hollow-- p.r. for a widely panned plan.

President Obama's proposed fiscal 2012 budget is potentially a massive job-creation engine, with plans to generate millions of them by repairing and expanding highways, bridges and railways.

But the spending plan also heralds an outsize political battle as it reignites the type of Republican skepticism over the effectiveness of such outlays that characterized the 2009 economic stimulus.

And that outsized political battle is something the White House feels it can win, not with a full frontal attack using progressive values and standing tall for the kind of approach FDR used when the GOP drove the economy into depression last time they had the chance-- Obama doesn't even believe in the FDR approach himself-- but by letting the Republican reactionary policies stand against his own conservative policies. The progressive perspective on this is straightforward-- end the pointless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, cut back on Pentagon holy cows, end the payroll tax ceiling for the wealthy and cut back on corporate tax loopholes. Obama's budget at least tries a few progressive ideas among the whole potpourri of conservative ones. Yesterday the Center For American Progress used the reactionary agenda of a top Blue America target as a punching bag: Higher Tolls on the Roadmap: The Ryan Roadmap would increase Medicare premiums by more than thirty percent in 2021. Maybe he thought no one would notice... or care (outside of his corporate donors who are planning for the future more intensely than most American families who are just struggling to get by month to month, thanks to the very policies Reagan and the Bushs forced onto the country over decades, the policies Ryan is advocating once again.

While conservatives garner public attention with their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, other conservative proposals to undermine our nation’s health care system are receiving less attention. Most notably, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the chairman of the Budget Committee in the House of Representatives, advocates in his “Roadmap to America’s Future” replacing today’s Medicare program with a federal voucher that future Medicare-eligible seniors could use to purchase health coverage. This proposal will force Medicare beneficiaries to spend significantly more than they do today to maintain coverage equivalent to today’s Medicare program.

This issue brief estimates the new costs that Americans with Medicare coverage will bear under Ryan’s budget proposal-- costs that will be largely borne by everyone under the age of 56.

...Ending Medicare as we know it would leave seniors facing significantly higher health care premiums. With a voucher that fails to keep up with increases in health care costs, Medicare beneficiaries would not be able to purchase coverage equivalent to today’s Medicare benefit. Their new premium-- the amount above the voucher they would have to pay to purchase that coverage-- would far exceed their expected Medicare premiums under current law.

Under current law, people with Medicare coverage can expect to pay $2,730 per year ($228 a month) in 2021 for total Part B and Part D premiums, which will provide them with full Medicare benefits. Under Rep. Ryan’s proposal, new Medicare enrollees will pay an average of $3,579 for equivalent coverage-- a 31 percent increase in their premium for this year. This “Roadmap” premium increase will grow over time, as the voucher’s value fails to keep up with increases in health care costs.

Indeed, the Ryan plan will mean that seniors and people with disabilities who receive the “Roadmap” voucher would face an average increase in premiums of almost $850 in 2021, which will grow to nearly $1,060 in 2025, to purchase a benefit package equivalent to today’s Medicare program.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party is finally focusing on Ryan. They have him by the scruff of the neck and they're snaking him up good. I hope it leads to a real challenge to him next year; it would be his first ever. They have their hands full with a Republican legislature and arguably the worst governor in America, but they made some time for Ryan as well yesterday:

Janesville Hypocrite Paul Ryan, who has voted to increase the size of the federal deficit by trillions, is doubling down on budget lies that were refuted last year.

Speaking out against President Obama's proposed budget, which makes tough choices but protects investments in America's modern economy, Ryan repeated claims that independent fact-checkers have refuted.

Among his debunked claims:

-That the Obama nearly budget doubled spending (he refuses to account for the successful stimulus, which he opposed, and which he incorrectly counts in 2010 when it passed in 2009).

-That President Obama gave America a $2 trillion tax increase. In fact, President Obama and the Democrats gave the middle class its biggest tax relief in history, without any help from Ryan.

- That the president's policies have benefited the public sector more than the private one. In fact, the private sector has seen 1.258 million jobs added in the past 11 months. The last day George W. Bush was in office, the economy was losing jobs at a rate of nearly 800,000 per month.

"As he preens for national exposure, Paul Ryan has a hard time covering his tracks when he voted to increase our budget deficit by trillions and supported the policies of greed and speculation that nearly ruined our economy to begin with," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Tuesday. "But for him to come out and repeat outright lies about President Obama's budget shows how ambition has corrupted what integrity he had left."

And Ryan has his perch because Boehner put him there, Boehner the orange twerp who told reporters yesterday that if hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost because of Ryan's road map, "so be it." What the hell is wrong with these Republicans? What are they trying to do to this country? Please help stop Ryan before it's too late. Wall Street has big plans for this puppet.

Rachel Maddow thinks John Boehner is very bad at his job. Ezra Klein says he may not be even nearly as good as Pelosi but he's not as bad as Maddow thinks. Watch this great clip from last night and decide for yourself: