This article in New York Magazine discusses Ryan’s fiscal vision:
In 2001, Ryan led a coterie of conservatives who complained that George W. Bush’s $1.2 trillion tax cut was too small, and too focused on the middle class. In 2003, he lobbied Republicans to pass Bush’s deficit-financed prescription-drug benefit, which bestowed huge profits on the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. In 2005, when Bush campaigned to introduce private accounts into Social Security, Ryan fervently crusaded for the concept. He was the sponsor in the House of a bill to create new private accounts funded entirely by borrowing, with no benefit cuts. Ryan’s plan was so staggeringly profligate, entailing more than $2 trillion in new debt over the first decade alone, that even the Bush administration opposed it as “irresponsible.”
Even Romney doesn’t support Ryan’s budget. One of its big problems is that it’s revenue-neutral: every dollar of cuts to social programs goes directly to tax cuts for rich folks and big corporations, rather than to reducing the deficit.
But I’ve figured out why Romney refers to those rich folks and big corporations as “job creators.” To guys like Romney, “creating jobs” means walking in with your fat wallet, buying up a company that has *already created jobs*, firing all the employees, hiring half of them back at lower wages, and sending the remaining work to China. Then, you pat yourself on the back for “creating” all the jobs in the company. And, see, none of that is possible without a fat wallet to start with, so you need more money and more tax cuts…because actually creating *new* jobs isn’t part of their “job creation” process.
Oh, and speaking of Paul Ryan…how did he get to be a multimillionaire having spent his entire career as a relatively unknown Washington politician? Well, it seems he and his ancestors all got rich from government contracts. See http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/14/688761/paul-ryans-family-business-built-on-government-contracts/. It’s like Romney claiming he saved the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics — he conveniently omits mentioning that his first step was to beg the government for money. See http://www.democrats.org/news/blog/mitt_romney_and_the_olympic_bailout/. Apparently, being a Republican means gorging yourself on taxpayer dollars, then, when those taxpayers dollars have elevated you into a top tax bracket, complaining about the taxes that got you there.
Grumpy: How apropos that Ayn Rand did it all with her own money, well, except for that money she took from Social Security.