Since being named as Mitt Romney's running mate, much has been made
about Paul Ryan's plan to drastically alter the way Medicare works.
While
I think his plan is flawed, it is much better than the Democrats'
alternative which is to pretend there is no problem. Medicare is a major
driver of our national debt, and must be reformed if we want to restore
fiscal sanity to our nation, and preserve Medicare for future
generations.
At the same time, most of the gains in spending cuts
that Paul Ryan proposes in his budget are offset by tax cuts, many of
them to the wealthiest Americans. Despite being hailed a budget guru,
Ryan's plans are less about bringing spending in line with revenue, and
more about a conservative ideology which wants to starve government and
cut taxes.
He doesn’t propose any changes to Social Security, and
refuses to cut any military spending. He says his tax cuts are offset by
closing tax loopholes (something I wholeheartedly support), but won’t
venture to say which specific beloved loopholes need to go.
Most
economists would argue that we need both revenue increases and spending
cuts from just about every area, including the military to balance the
budget. But the budget is a medium term problem. Right now we are stuck
in a period of slow growth, and cuts like Ryan proposes, could damage
our fragile recovery. Many sensible economic thinkers believe we need
another period of government spending (stimulus) to jump start the
economy coupled with real plans to cut long term spending to control our
deficit.
Of course, no Democrat in government has been brave
enough to propose anything like this at the national level. They would
rather just attack Ryan’s budget.
Ryan’s plan might be flawed
right-wing ideology, but it’s better than nothing—which is precisely
what the Democrats are offering.
