Paul Ryan's 'Roadmap for America's Future' would be a boon for the country's wealthiest people

[midnight]

Oops! Someone analyzed Paul Ryan's numbers
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Capital Times editorial | Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010 5:20 am | (65) Comments

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's 'Roadmap for America's Future' would be a boon for the country's wealthiest people.
Associated Press file photo
Instead of worrying about factory closings in Janesville, Beloit. Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan has spent recent months promoting what he calls his "Roadmap for America's Future."
It's a legislative package that so far has failed to attract significant support even from Ryan's fellow Republicans in the House.
That may be because even conservative Republicans recognize that it is economically, socially and politically irresponsible to scheme to dismantle Social Security and Medicare, as Ryan does.
But Ryan likes to claim that his roadmap, while unappealing, is necessary to restore fiscal responsibility.
If fact, it is only necessary for Ryan's wealthy campaign contributors, who would get a lot wealthier if Ryan got his way.
The Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which analyzed Ryan's plan, came to the conclusion that the Janesville Republican's legislation "calls for radical policy changes that would result in a massive transfer of resources from the broad majority of Americans to the nation's wealthiest individuals."
According to the CBPP, Ryan's approach would not restore fiscal responsibility. Rather, it would cause the federal debt to "soar to 175 percent of the gross domestic product by 2050."
Ryan counters that the CBPP analysts determined that Ryan's approach would raise the debt by "extrapolating data."
It is a little embarrassing to have to explain this to the congressman, who fancies himself as a fiscal whiz. But when economists analyze what the federal debt will be in the future, they do so by extrapolating data.

[undeterred]

1. Somewhere there must be "Billionaires for Ryan"

[sybylla]

2. He ain't even smart enough for that to hurt.

But it puts a smile on my face.