Secondly, I'm not an economist by any stretch of imagination. I just have a keen interest in it and I tend to read up about news and analysis on macroeconomics as comes up in the news and blogosphere especially relating to the US, the UK and the EU.
Third, I'm not American and nor do I live in the US.
Disclaimers done, over the last week I've been watching what can only be called the most satisfying internet smackdown of Paul Ryan's "bold" and "courageous" proposal to convert Medicare and Medicaid into some bastardised scheme of vouchers and tax credits. Some of the gems include the Heritage Foundation (who else) basing their assumptions on the theory that unemployment would go as low as 2.8% (last seen in the Korean War) and defence spending go down to Calvin Fucking Coolidge days. Oh, and when pointed out they completely removed these numbers from their report without explanation. So not just incompetent, but just outright dastardly.
My favourite, though, is Ryan wanting to slash top marginal rates to 25%. TWENTY FUCKING FIVE? Seriously? I pay more than that in the UK. I'm in the LOWEST bracket. And according to the idiots at the Heritage Foundation, this will result in an 'explosive boom'. This level of fellation of the rich is something incredible, IMO. Not only this involves a belief in Randian-influenced* 'trickle down' theories, but also in the widely-disproved Laffer Curve. Even if a curve like that actually exists, it involves believing we're on the wrong slope.
The smackdown has been delicious.
Paul Krugman:
How ridiculous is it? Let me count the ways — or rather a few of the ways, because there are more howlers in the plan than I can cover in one column.
The Ryan plan sharply cuts taxes on top income, yet if you look at the last page you’ll see that tax receipts are supposed to go up by almost $600 billion.
Brad Delong:At this point, the absence of any independent verification of the claim that he will collect 19 percent of GDP in revenue clearly reflects a deliberate evasive strategy: Ryan and his colleagues don’t want anyone looking at their numbers independently.
Even people on the right of the American center are pissed. Bruce Bartlett:Can We Please Just Shut the Heritage Foundation Down Now?
We really do not need it.
Americans do not need it.
Liberals do not need it.
Conservatives do not need it. Its existence is simply offensive to all of us who actually want good public policies and sane political discourse.
David Frum (who I think now is probably to the left of Obama)Distributionally, the Ryan plan is a monstrosity. The rich would receive huge tax cuts while the social safety net would be shredded to pay for them. Even as an opening bid to begin budget negotiations with the Democrats, the Ryan plan cannot be taken seriously. It is less of a wish list than a fairy tale utterly disconnected from the real world, backed up by make-believe numbers and unreasonable assumptions. Ryan’s plan isn’t even an act of courage; it’s just pandering to the Tea Party. A real act of courage would have been for him to admit, as all serious budget analysts know, that revenues will have to rise well above 19 percent of GDP to stabilize the debt.
The only worrying thing about all if this is that I have absolutely no faith in Obama and the Democrats. They will probably bend over and take it up the arse (ass for you Yanks) and low-and-middle-income-earners in the US will continue to get pillaged by the so-called 'conservatives'.But notice what Ryan's plan does not do. It does not credibly address the number one concern of Americans: jobs.... [It] actually increases the debt over the medium term — by even more President Obama’s budget would.... The real message of the Ryan plan is: Upper-income tax cuts now; spending cuts for the poor now; more deficits now; spending cuts for middle-income people much later; spending cuts for today's elderly, never....
Good Luck.
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*Source
"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead."
