This chart shows that Ryans' ridiculous plan to privatize Medicare would result in more dollars coming out of the pockets of the elderly. But this assumes that all of the elderly would be able to purchase private insurance with the government provided vouchers, and that is very doubtful. Many of those who depend only on a small Social Security check to live will not be able to afford any insurance at all. Ryan is just throwing the elderly under the bus so the rich and corporations don't have to pay their fair share in taxes.
Regarding President Obama's budget speech on Wednesday, you said the following:
ReplyDelete"He also said cuts of some kind would have to be made to Medicare and Social Security, but again was vague on just how this was to be done."
I hope you understand that the President was being deliberately vague. It's impossible to criticize the specifics of a debt reduction plan when there are no specifics to criticize.
Whether you love or hate the Ryan Plan, at least he took the debt crisis seriously enough to devise a detailed strategy for dealing with it. Ironically, I've heard there are some in the GOP who don't even want to wait until 2022 to privitize Medicare; they'd rather privitize it right away. So in that regard, Ryan's plan is a compromise of sorts. You realize, of course, that that Alice Rivlin, President Clinton's OMB Director, was also instrumental in devising the Medicare plan.
Maybe if the Democrats actually came up with a budget plan equally as detailed as Ryan's, there might be room for at least some compromise. But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
After all, this is the same party that wouldn't even pass an annual budget resolution last year, much less a budget. I'm afraid details aren't the Democrats' strong suit when it comes to budgets.
There's an old Chinese proverb that says, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." But if you light a candle, you leave yourself open to criticism that it isn't bright enough, or that it doesn't illuminate enough people, or that it sheds light on some, but not others. It's a whole lot easier to just curse the darkness.
I doubt if there's enough courage within the Democratic Party to leave themselves that wide open to criticism, especially so close to a presidential election year.
Since the Republicans have a majority in the House it was incumbent on them to produce a plan. But just because they produced one doesn't make it a good one - or even one worthy of consideration.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you read my post on the Obama "plan", then you'll know that I also criticized him for being far too vague.
ReplyDeleteSince the Democrats had a majority in the House last year it was incumbent on them to produce a plan, too. Too bad they didn't.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course I read your post on the Obama "plan." Did you not read the very beginning of my comment?
I was trying to give a reason for the lack of a plan in both cases:
The numbers won't add up, as long as entitlements aren't touched, even if you confiscated 100% of all assets of millionaires and billionaires in this country.