More Bad News For Wisconsin Doofus, Paul Ryan

It started going bad for Wall Street golden boy Paul Ryan when Paul Krugman let the whole world know that what was being passed off for an intellectual Republican was really nothing but an unserious flim flam man. It took a year but now even Republicans are realizing what a disastrous mistake they made in following this superficial Ayn Rand kook down in incoherent path strewn with ticking time bombs. They should have listened when Krugman dubbed his scheme "the audacity of dopes." Ryan's budget-- what he calls his "cause"-- isn't good for America, isn't good for the GOP, and certainly isn't good for the people living in southeast Wisconsin.

The Tax Policy Center finds that the Ryan plan would cut taxes on the richest 1 percent of the population in half, giving them 117 percent of the plan’s total tax cuts. That’s not a misprint. Even as it slashed taxes at the top, the plan would raise taxes for 95 percent of the population.

Finally, let’s talk about those spending cuts. In its first decade, most of the alleged savings in the Ryan plan come from assuming zero dollar growth in domestic discretionary spending, which includes everything from energy policy to education to the court system. This would amount to a 25 percent cut once you adjust for inflation and population growth. How would such a severe cut be achieved? What specific programs would be slashed? Mr. Ryan doesn’t say.

After 2020, the main alleged saving would come from sharp cuts in Medicare, achieved by dismantling Medicare as we know it, and instead giving seniors vouchers and telling them to buy their own insurance. Does this sound familiar? It should. It’s the same plan Newt Gingrich tried to sell in 1995.

And we already know, from experience with the Medicare Advantage program, that a voucher system would have higher, not lower, costs than our current system. The only way the Ryan plan could save money would be by making those vouchers too small to pay for adequate coverage. Wealthy older Americans would be able to supplement their vouchers, and get the care they need; everyone else would be out in the cold.

In practice, that probably wouldn’t happen: older Americans would be outraged-- and they vote. But this means that the supposed budget savings from the Ryan plan are a sham.

So why have so many in Washington, especially in the news media, been taken in by this flimflam? It’s not just inability to do the math, although that’s part of it. There’s also the unwillingness of self-styled centrists to face up to the realities of the modern Republican Party; they want to pretend, in the teeth of overwhelming evidence, that there are still people in the G.O.P. making sense. And last but not least, there’s deference to power-- the G.O.P. is a resurgent political force, so one mustn’t point out that its intellectual heroes have no clothes.

But they don’t. The Ryan plan is a fraud that makes no useful contribution to the debate over America’s fiscal future.

Yesterday this was a bad headline for an already beaten-down Ryan in the most read newspaper in his district: Millions Would Lose Medicare Coverage Under Ryan Budget Plan, Says New Report. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel traditionally gives Ryan a free ride. Looks like they're following the crowds away from him now.

Paul Ryan’s budget plan to convert Medicaid into a block grant and repeal the new health care law would leave at least 30 million more Americans without coverage, according to a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-partisan health care research group.

The proposal would result in deep cuts in Medicaid spending and significantly lower enrollment over the next decade compared to the levels projected under current law, the report said.

In state-by-estimates by Kaiser, federal Medicaid spending in Wisconsin would be about 33% lower over the next decade if the Ryan proposal went into effect. Medicaid enrollment in the state could be cut by more than 40% ten years from now, the report projected.

The Medicaid proposals would result in savings to the federal government of $1.4 trillion over ten years, according to the analysis, but substantially reduce the ability of states to cover low-income Americans.

It is good for the Democratic underdog who's running against Ryan, Kenosha County Supervisor Rob Zerban. Zerban has a far more progressive message he's trying to get out to the voters of WI-1. This morning he responded to the Journal-Sentinel's revelations about Ryan's callous disregard for the health of 30 million Americans with this statement:

"Budgets are about priorities and new research shows that at the same time Paul Ryan is fighting for tax breaks for his Wall Street cronies, he will be kicking at least 30 million Americans off health care coverage. Coupled with his plans to end Medicare, it is becoming clearer that Ryan's long time in Washington has warped his priorities at the expense of Wisconsin's working families."

But Rob's at a distinct disadvantage since Ryan is the most heavily-financed politician by Big Business in the history of Wisconsin. From Wall Street banksters to Big Oil fat-cats, Ryan has sucked up bigger "contributions" than anyone else in Wisconsin ever has. That's why Blue America is asking people to consider making regular donations to Rob's campaign. Even $10 and $20 contributions will help Rob get out the message in Racine, Muskego, Kenosha, Janesville and the Milwaukee suburbs that Paul Ryan's mask is slipping and what's underneath is not just very ugly, but very dangerous.