What are the primary causes of the budget deficit everyone is screaming about?
1. The Bush tax cuts, which were supposed to "pay for themselves" but didn't. Prior to this, the budget was actually in surplus. After, not so much. Who voted in favor? Paul Ryan.
2. The War in Afghanistan, launched "off budget" and without a tax increase to support the costs, which now approach a trillion dollars. Who voted in favor? Paul Ryan.
3. The War in Iraq. A follow-on to the not-yet-completed war in Afghanistan, also launched without tax support to carry the costs. Who voted in favor? Paul Ryan
4. Medicare Part "D". The largest single enhancement to the Medicare program since its inception almost 50 years ago. A political boondoggle to sway the senior vote, unfunded by tax receipts. At the time the budget was already in severe deficit. Who voted in favor? Paul Ryan
5. The Social Security Personal Savings Guarantee and Prosperity Act of 2005 proposes allowing people to stop paying into Social Security, while continuing to pay benefits to those already retired. The programs actuaries calculated that would cost $2.5 trillion (with a "T") over the first 10 years, and even George Bush called it "irresponsible." Who proposed it? Paul Ryan
6. The budget proposal in such vogue promises to make everything government does, except for social Security and Medicare, less than 3.75% of the total budget by 2050. At the moment, defense spending alone is 4%, and things like the FBI, national parks, energy research, infrastructure, food safety regulation and more is over 12.5%. This is a ridiculously unattainable goal, while promising that defense spending won't be cut, since it is already larger than the goal itself. Who proposed this? Paul Ryan.
Paul Ryan's deficit hawk reputation has only come about since Obama has been President. Prior to that he was as free spending as anyone in Congress, often moreso, since he had an almost perfect record of voting in favor of spending bills during the Bush administration, whether they were funded or not. His "deficit hawk" is a partisan, ideologue position, unsupported by most of his history, and his budget is a sham, as every mainstream economist and budget analysis amply demonstrates.
This is all you need to know about Paul Ryan. It's a fraud. All of it. Every stitch. End. Full stop.
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