For years people have accused the Republican Party of being the servants of the rich and powerful at the expense of the broader public. In the past, they would deny this charge and claim that they just had a different view of how the economy works.
Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan sought to eliminate any confusion on this point. He proposed, and last week the Republican House approved, a budget bill that will transfer tens of trillions (yes, that is "trillions" with a "T") of dollars from ordinary working people to the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and generic rich people from any industry. This money will come in the form of higher payments by seniors in their old age for health insurance and another round of tax breaks for the country's richest people.
The Medicare story is the bigger transfer here. Representative Ryan wants to replace the current Medicare system with a voucher system. The size of the voucher in Ryan's plan is held even with the overall rate of inflation. This means that it will not rise at anywhere near the rate of projected health care cost growth. As a result, a greater portion of the cost of health care will be shifted from the government to retirees.
However, this is the less important part of the story. The main reason that retiree health care costs will increase is that the private sector is less efficient at delivering care than the existing Medicare program. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that, under the Ryan plan, the increase in the cost of buying Medicare equivalent policies would be more than $30 trillion over Medicare's planning horizon.
This additional waste comes to almost $100,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. It is approximately equal to six times the size of the projected Social Security shortfall. This waste is a direct transfer from retirees to the insurance industry and the health care industry.
This is not the only way that Representative Ryan and the Republicans dip into the pockets of ordinary workers for the benefit of the obscenely rich. He also wants to give an additional $2.9 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthy over the next decade. These tax breaks would be paid for with cuts to Medicaid, Food Stamps and other programs that middle-income and poor people depend upon.
The tax breaks would be real money for the people who get them. For example, Representative Ryan's tax breaks could give Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, another $3 million a year based on his $20 million annual paycheck. That's the equivalent of more than 2,600 monthly Social Security checks.
Representative Ryan and the Republicans in Congress are likely to justify their budget by saying that they believe that their health care plan will hold down costs and their tax cuts will spur economic growth. While we can never know what politicians believe, we do know that these are not plausible stories.
We have already tested expanding the role of private insurers in the Medicare system. We did this in the 90s when the Gingrich Congress pushed through their Medicare Plus Choice plan. We did it again more recently with the Medicare Advantage program that was promoted by President Bush. These plans did not lower costs; they raised them. That is the basis for the non-partisan CBO's projections that the Ryan plan will raise costs.
Similarly, Representative Ryan and the Republicans claim that tax cuts for the wealthy will spur growth. We have also twice tested this one. The first time was when President Reagan gave us big tax breaks beginning in 1981. The 80s were the worst decade of growth since the Great Depression, prior to the 00s, when President Bush tested his tax cuts for the wealthy. Certainly the economy's bad performance during these decades cannot be blamed solely on the tax breaks for the wealthy, but it is a bit hard to maintain tax cuts to the wealthy gave a big boost to growth in these years.
While Representative Ryan and the Republicans may actually believe that giving private insurers more control over health care lowers costs and that cutting taxes for the rich increases growth, who cares? These people may believe that the moon is made of green cheese, but this does not make the green cheese theory true or even plausible.
We have extensively tested both parts of the Ryan transfer program to the wealthy, and they don't work as he claims. They redistribute money to the rich: end of story. Thanks to Representative Ryan we have the Republican Party on record as supporting these massive transfers to the wealthy. We just have to hope that the Democratic Party takes a different position.
At least they are on record. The CBO cannot accurately mark Obama’s budget, really just a broad plan not budget, because it is hazy on how it should be executed.
Obama can learn a lot from Representative Ryan. At least he is honest.
Kai
Open markets, cheaper healthcare. Singlepayer destroys quality.
Kai
To see what Republicans will do at the state level is obvious. Observe the new Republican dictatorial Governors forcing, over protests in the streets, their radical union busting and social agenda on their states. The Governors are intruding into lives of citizens in their states more, not getting out of their lives as they say they want from government. More government not less, hurting lives especially if you are poor, retiring, need health care, a teacher, in a union, benefiting from unions, government worker, or are a woman.. They are dismantling democratic governent. They do not want a strong federal government looking over their shoulders.
A government run by the private sector is not a democracy. If you work for a company in the private sector is it a democracy? Unions are an attempt to add a little democracy. The top few in the management team get a contract, bonuses and perks but not the majority of workers.
Where are the Jobs they promised.
The RepubliBillys think they have won because they have money and power, but they will not have the Lord on their sides because they do not follow him. He is only on their lips but not in their hearts.
Caught me off guard I had to smile at this one. I come to the forum with gread now a days. Who are these people these these republicans. Where did they come from with these strange stingy mean spirited policiesI ask myself. Who was asleep at the wheel and let them get in charge of anything.
I swear in 50 odd years of living I've never seen a group so responsible for the state of affairs we find ourselves in so willing to take it that one step further and crush any chance of us getting out it. I've never seen proponents of a failed economic and political ideology so willing to get in front of a camera and offer stay the course answers to systemic problems that need to be discarded not "fixed".
The Dems are the Party of the Rich, look at the top of the list: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29235.html
You make my point perfectly, thank you.
It doesn't take a genius to see this, but it takes a teabagging hyprocrite to put the blame on others for starting a class war...
Drop the insults and think...
See how that's useless feedback? Why bother?
Go look at the Pres. video from the week, a week of him charging $35K or so for a plate of food - ans see how many time he (again, we are talking about the most powerful man in the world) says (many insults) something about 'rich people' (whatever that is) having it easy or not paying their way.
He is provoking a class war and apparently doesn't realize who's actually paying most of the taxes now...
Next.
People will have to go to the polls en masse in 2012 to destroy this inane thinking of the Republican Party.
It is always a joke. And it always cost the middle class something, and gives the poor bare bones to suck on. They think they are doing the right thing, but seem like the gang that can't shoot straight with their fiscal cannons. Democrats on the other are the budget balancers, and gives everybody something in return, not take aways like the Republicans. Why cant the public, especially the Republican fence sitters see that?