Last week the pundits from both political parties were full speed ahead on the rumor that Republican Paul Ryan of WI was seriously thinking about running for President. And while I believe Ryan probably has a better working knowledge of budgeting, deficits and the mess America is in than anyone else in Washington, I'm not sure he's a candidate I could support for president. I am looking for a True Conservative, small government, cut spending and do-it-now candidate. Ryan may not qualify.
Ryan proposed a budget plan to return the government to fiscal sanity - Maybe. Ryan is a passionate advocate for Conservative principles - Sometimes. Ryan's "Path To Prosperity" budget plan that came out in April was seen as a plan to return the federal government to fiscal sanity - Or was it?
When the plan came out it was trashed by Conservatives because it provided for spending to increase $4 trillion over the next five years. It reduces deficits but does not eliminate them until 2040, 29 years from now. This analysis is from the CBO. Ryan's budget projects the public debt increasing every year from 2011 to 2021. It shows the debt increasing to $16.2 trillion in 2012 and rising every year after that, going to $23.1 trillion by 2021. The plan does not address interest on the national debt. No credible proposal can ignore such a huge obligation. Forget eliminating deficits by 2040. It is financial and economic suicide to wait that long to solve our fiscal mess. And the main thing the elite media focused on was, "Oh, my gosh, Ryan wants to take away Medicare," which is a total lie and distortion of his proposal.
The other problem Ryan has is that he supported TARP, supported the debt-ceiling deal, supported Bush's spending binge, supported the auto bailout, supported big AIG bonuses. He has shown by his votes that he may have a problem understanding what Americans really want - an end to the spending, deficits and debt that led to the need to raise the debt ceiling.
The real crisis hanging over the American economy and our way of life, is not whether the debt ceiling was raised, but rather that we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend. Everyone knows this can't continue, yet no one in Washington has proposed a surefire way to end this slow national suicide. The deals being concocted in smoke-filled rooms and in the dead of night behind closed doors on Capital Hill are intended to get politicians past the 2012 election, and none of the deals solves the real crises. The so-called Super Panel as mandated in the "Debt Deal" is just another joke panel that will come up with nothing. Why isn't the House of Reps doing this work? That's THEIR job, not some hastily thrown together Super Panel. And our economy continues to BURN.
And while Ryan gets some points for proposing a plan to reform federal spending, which is way more than Obama and his henchmen have done (Dems haven't passed a budget in over 800 days), the Ryan plan doesn't cut it. It doesn't go far enough and it doesn't do it fast enough.
But I suppose it's better than nothing, "nothing" is what the Dems have proposed, and yet there it sits in the Senate. It was passed by the House and has languished in the Senate because the Democrat controlled Senate hasn't passed any of the 3 budgets the Republican controlled House passed. Ah, the nuances of politics.
The Republican establishment elites are making a colossal mistake if they think grass-roots conservatives don't understand the difference between a deal to raise the debt ceiling and a solution to the spending and deficit crisis. They are not one and the same. I'm not sure Paul Ryan gets it.
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