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Sunday, August 12, 2012

Paul Ryan Video: Hiding Spending Doesn't Reduce Spending

In my view, Paul Ryan is an excellent pick for as the 2012 GOP candidate for the Vice Presidency.

The video below was uploaded to YouTube in February 2010 and is worth your time:


Partial summary below the fold (emphases mine):
"I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits -- either now or in the future."
(Remarks by President Obama to a Joint Session of Congress, September 9, 2009)

This afternoon Budget Committee Ranking Member Ryan walked through why the bill put forward by Democrats FAILS the President's deficit test.
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The Majority Leader said the bill scores as reducing deficit by $131 billion over the next 10 years.

First a little bit about CBO: I work with them every single day; very good people; great professionals. They do their jobs well. But their job is to score what is placed in front of them. And what has been placed in front of them is a bill that is fill of gimmicks and smoke and mirrors.

Now what do I mean when I say that?

First off, the bill has ten years of tax increases and ten years of Medicare cuts to pay for six years of spending. The true ten year cost when subsidies kick-in? $2.3 trillion.

The bill is full of gimmicks that more than erase the false claim of deficit reduction:

- $52 billion of savings is claimed by counting increased Social Security payroll revenues. These dollars are already claimed for future Social Security beneficiaries, and claiming to offset the cost of this bill either means were double-counting or were not going to pay Social Security benefits.

- $72 billion in savings is claimed from the CLASS Act long-term care insurance. These so-called savings are not offsets, but rather premiums collected to pay for future benefits. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad has called these savings, A ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud.

Additionally, the nearly half-trillion dollars in Medicare cuts cannot be counted twice. Medicare is in dire need of reform in order to make certain that we can ensure health security for future seniors.

Using Medicare as a piggy bank, it raids a half trillion dollars from retirees health coverage to fund the creation of another open-ended health care entitlement.

The Presidents chief Medicare actuary says up to 20% of Medicare providers may go bankrupt or stop taking Medicare beneficiaries as a result. Millions of seniors who have chosen Medicare Advantage will lose the coverage they now enjoy.

Objections to the policy aside, you cannot use these savings twice to both extend the life of Medicare and to pay for other spending. The half-trillion dollars in Medicare cuts are either to extend the programs solvency or to reduce the cost of this deficit but not both as its authors claim.

When you strip away the double-counting of Medicare cuts, the so-called savings from Social Security payroll taxes and the CLASS Act, the deficit increases by $460 billion over first ten years and $1.4 trillion over second ten years.

Finally, one of the most expensive and most cynical of the gimmicks applies to Medicare physician payments, the so-called Doc Fix.


By your own estimate, the Doc Fix adds an additional $371 billion to the cost of health care reform.
With the price tag beyond what most Americans could handle, the Majority decided to simply remove this costly provision and deal with it in a stand-alone bill.

Ignoring this additional cost does not remove it from the backs of taxpayers. Hiding spending doesnt reduce spending.
Some reading:

1. Reliapundit of THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS on the advantages that Paul Ryan brings to the 2012 GOP ticket.

2. Debbie of Right Truth on the Democrats' anti-Ryan attacks

3. Paul Ryan's The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal

29 comments:

  1. Oops!

    Dated December 2011:

    Lie of the Year 2011: 'Republicans voted to end Medicare'


    Republicans muscled a budget through the House of Representatives in April that they said would take an important step toward reducing the federal deficit. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the plan kept Medicare intact for people 55 or older, but dramatically changed the program for everyone else by privatizing it and providing government subsidies.

    Democrats pounced. Just four days after the party-line vote, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a Web ad that said seniors will have to pay $12,500 more for health care "because Republicans voted to end Medicare."

    Rep. Steve Israel of New York, head of the DCCC, appeared on cable news shows and declared that Republicans voted to "terminate Medicare." A Web video from the Agenda Project, a liberal group, said the plan would leave the country "without Medicare" and showed a Ryan look-alike pushing an old woman in a wheelchair off a cliff. And just last month, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a fundraising appeal that said: "House Republicans’ vote to end Medicare is a shameful act of betrayal."

    After two years of being pounded by Republicans with often false charges about the 2010 health care law, the Democrats were turning the tables.

    PolitiFact debunked the Medicare charge in nine separate fact-checks rated False or Pants on Fire, most often in attacks leveled against Republican House members.

    Now, PolitiFact has chosen the Democrats’ claim as the 2011 Lie of the Year....


    Much more at the above link.

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  2. Thanks for sharing. Ryan really is great, but as my hubby reminded us, none are perfect:

    "Let us not forget that Paul Ryan voted to raise the debt ceiling a year ago and gave Obama another 2 trillion dollars to waste...."

    Debbie
    Right Truth
    http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

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  3. Democrats want Medicare to fail because it will ensure reliance upon Obama Care, which if considered carefully, could qualify as an oxymoron.

    I want to believe that Mr. Obama is earnest in his desire to do the right thing for the American people. I have seen NO evidence that this is even remotely the case.

    Obama may not be an enemy of the state, given the fact that it is moving toward Marxism, but he is very clearly an enemy of the people.

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  4. Please listen to what this Priest states immediately after his opening prayer.
    Then you will know why this is being shared and hope is that you will share with your friends.
    Stick with this thru the first few comments……you will be PLEASANTLY surprised... (some of you will anyway!).


    http://www.stthomasmore.org/parish-clergy/video/invocation

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  5. Please listen to what this Priest states immediately after his opening prayer.
    Then you will know why this is being shared and hope is that you will share with your friends.
    Stick with this thru the first few comments……you will be PLEASANTLY surprised... (some of you will anyway!).


    http://www.stthomasmore.org/parish-clergy/video/invocation

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  6. Debbie,
    I realize that Paul Ryan isn't perfect is several respects.

    But there were concerns about Reagan as well -- and I'm not referring to age.

    We need to decide our priorities: more years of Obama or something different. I'm opting for the latter.

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  7. Concervitive,
    Thank you for that link.

    Does that ever happen in the U.S. Congress?

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  8. It's spelled "conservative"...

    No, I'm not going to copy/paste that url into my browser, but if anyone goes for it, be sure to tell us if you got had or not.

    Paul Ryan, IMHO, is the new GOP pin-up. People vote for the best combination of BS and looks, and Ryan has both down good. In the coming election, a vote for Romney is a vote for Ryan.

    That was an interesting video. Ryan had his facts and figures set in cement and Obama was stone-faced to match.

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  9. Conservative ... excellent invocation. I wish more clergy would stand up for America the way this man did. Apparently, he is not falling for this "Jesus was a Socialist" crap.

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  10. Black Sheep,
    The video is of a Catholic priest who states that socialism is the enemy of freedom. It's quite powerful.

    Is the material religious? In some respects.

    Toward the end:

    "Socialism is a foreign threat to our democracy. I am tired of this experiment...."

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  11. Jack,
    Democrats want Medicare to fail because it will ensure reliance upon Obama Care.

    I think that you're absolutely correct.

    "From cradle to grave"!

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  12. Black Sheep,
    Ryan had his facts and figures set in cement and Obama was stone-faced to match.

    Obama looked a bit ambushed.

    Obama finds facts abhorrent, IMO.

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  13. I broke down and listened to the last 2 mins of that sermon. I hate fat priests more than skinny ones, even, but what he said about Catholics being against socialism was heartening. I hope Papa Munster is behind that, too, and says so.

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  14. I don't see much BS with Paul Ryan; you don't need BS when you have the facts in order.

    Party hacks usually speak to those who require no convincing. Candidates for high office are required to persuade others that his (or her) position is the right one. The problem is that the economy is complex and the elderly are easily scared—and thus, manipulated by the communist left. If Ryan can induce the elderly to support Romney/Ryan, then I feel confident he can persuade moderates as well.

    We’ll see.

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  15. Well, BS was shorthand for ability to rap, not necessarily to lie. When Ryan spins out his financial data he seems completely sincere and I think he is, too.

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  16. Ooops. Yeah, that was me.

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  17. This decision by Romney addressing my #1 concern about him. I was voting for Romney either way because I would vote for a ham sandwich over the occupier in the WH. However, I was concerned that Romney would be another one of those Republican establishment types who just goes along to get along.

    As to Ryan every vote is not going to align perfectly with everything we want because sometimes bills are put before Congress that mean representatives have to weigh priorities. There is hardly ever a vote on the single point presented.

    I have little doubt that he will wipe the floor, ceiling, parking lot, and zip code with the moronic Biden in a debate. I realize VP isnt the main attraction but this guy is going to be bringing some heat. He is not afraid to lay the facts out (I submit this video as evidence) and we need more than Hope and Change fairy tales.

    It also tells those idependents who are more concerned about business than politics that Romney is serious.

    Look at the polling data...the various services are out polling Republicans by almost 10% just to keep the numbers close. The wave has already begun ans its ahead of schedule. THe media types have to get it interesting long enough to sell some add dollars.

    and keep in mind Barry already blew most of his campaign dough but Romney hasnt even gotten started buring through the records donations that are rolling in.

    People are ready to send Obama and family on a really long vacation...

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  18. I would not begrudge Congress and the Administration from making spending priorities; I just don’t think they are doing that —at all. They act like a bunch of undisciplined, spoiled teenagers. They want everything, and they want it now. The amount of money spent has NO impact on them at all; it isn’t their money.

    Watch for this October surprise: Biden will drop out claiming illness, and Hillary will step in. Remember, FDR has 3-vice presidents and Obama has never hesitated to toss anyone under the nearest bus.

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  19. Robert,

    The "October suprise" that you speak of is certainly plausible and a great cause for concern.

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  20. I know nothing of the man and I hope that he simply sticks to his program and not sell out for votes.

    It is interesting reading some of the comments above and I feel a bit sad when people exagerate or use terms that they obviously have no knowledge of. I say this not to provoke an argument but out of a genuine desire for people to be a bit more accurate.

    The US Democratic platform and the Obama Administration are neither "Socialist" nor "Marxist", full stop. Though I am sure there are members of that party that are the first (not the latter), they would be considered so extreme that they are put in a corner and told to shut up.

    It is simple, the US political psychie based on history, type of government, politics and social make-up simply cannot tolerate real socialism, let alone marxism in any format. As someone who lives in a society that actually has to ensure real socialist governments, your world across the Atlantic would simply erupt in almost volcanic eruption if a real socialist platform was put in place.

    Over here, that has real socialism, your Democrat Party would be considered Centre-Left at best and in many cases would even be considered Centre-Right.

    I know using the terms is like evoking the boogey-man and thus you use it as an insult, like the word 'liberal' which in the rest of the world would mean "progressive" and considered actually to most a compliment. However, I want to point out that when you use the accusitory words "Socialist" and "Marixist" and you are referring to the current Administration or even the Democratic Party in the US, you are actually dead wrong.

    Now if you called the Administration foolish, corrupt, out-of-touch, illogical, conspiratorial, exclusive, inept, etc, etc, you may very well be correct and it would be a matter of offering reasons.

    With respect

    Damien Charles

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  21. addendum

    meant to say "that actually has to ENDURE real socialist governments"

    please excuse error

    DC

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  22. YEEHAW!

    10,000+ ROMNEYRYAN RALLY IN WI

    REPORT: Obama fundraiser in Chicago. 'Admission only $51, but room is half full'...


    May "the bounce" hold!

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  23. Damien Charles,
    The American and European designations of Left, Right, and Center differ. After all, we are "across the Pond."

    This election season is the ugliest that I've ever seen. Many reasons for that, of course.

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  24. What is "real socialism" if not SOCIALISM? Didn't the National Socialists or the Soviet Socialists consider themselves "real"? I await what is likley to be a condescending response.

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  25. Yeah, nice job. Cut the video before Obama responds and pwns Ryan.

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  26. JonBerg, no need to try to be condescending when you do it to yourself.

    My comment is based on what people consider Socialist in America to the existing forms of Socialism outside. I think my English was clear enough.

    As for what I think is actually a question on your part, I am more than happy to answer, even if it is blatantly simple. Anyone using a term in a political sense of the word will claim it and at the same time debate it to be more or more correct than others. There are many, for instance "national socialist" organisations of which say about half are actually related to that infamous German version. The same can be said with "Republican" or "Conservative" or "Democratic" or simply "Liberal" and "Socialist".

    Now it is correct to say that Communism and Socialism is related and yes the Soviet Union referred to itself as the Soviet Socialist Republics.

    Regardless, that has nothing to do with what I said as I was referring to what is real and what is mistaken by those on this blog. I give credit to most people here even understanding this, with "most" being now obvious.

    Damien Charles

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  27. AOW,

    I agree, the recent split over the last decade or so that has polarized American politics is amazing and very disturbing. A recent comment by a Spanish philosopher recently pointed out that in history exceptional polarization has lead to the collapse of every single society it has effected and thus wonders when America will have its coup? One can argue that the US is different in so many ways and that the polarization is just as much flaunted and pushed by media interests, but it does make one wonder.

    Damien Charles

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  28. To Charles:


    WHAT?????? Have you ever considered trying to communicate in 'plain language'? It seems that those of us here in the 'Colonies' can only recognize that you're very verbose with little in the way of clarity. With all of your BS you didn't even come close to answering my question(s)! Are you some kind of a lawyer? I wouldn't be a bit surprised if that's the case.

    ReplyDelete

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