This an example of press bias. For 99% of the article it is blasting Ryan by painting him as a legislator who says one thing and does the other. Only in the last sentence is Ryan's rationale mentioned.
He fought against the stimulus, said it was wasteful but then when the funds are available, he must represent his state, his constituents and try to obtain dollars from the bad program. That is what a representative should do.
For a second let's say that Ryan told his people, "I do not believe in the program and will not help you get money." The press would be jumping on him for not "representing his constituents. He is in a no win position with the press.
In our opinion he did what he should have done. We support him.
Do you?
We are interested in your opinions, let us know and we will post your comments.
Conservative Tom
Ryan called stimulus wasteful, then sought funds
Ryan pursued federal economic stimulus money, though calling President Obama's plan wasteful
By | Associated Press – 6 minutes ago
Look at all the trillions of dollars added to the national debt through deficit spending that Ryan voted for…
ReplyDelete1. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
2. The Bush tax cuts.
3. Bush's prescription drug bill.
4. The auto industry bailout.
5. TARP
6. Banking deregulation -- worse fiscal disaster than all of the above combined.
Even Ryan's budget is weak of deficit reduction. It is more a plan cut tax rates for the the 1% at the expense of the bottom two or three quintiles. Even as it reduces the federal deficit, I think it does it by cost shifting to the states and individuals rather than reducing the systemic costs of health care (as does the ACA). The CBO was asked by Ryan to make some unrealistic assumptions when scoring his budget, and still -- with all his optimistic assumptions about economic growth rates, etc. -- he doesn't get to balanced budget until 2030-40. As I told you, the CPC budget gets to balance in just 10 years. So, if you truly want fiscal conservatism, it is considerably more fiscally conservative than Ryan's budget. Of course, no Republican can vote for it because it increases tax revenue. Personally, I believe the economy and the society would function best with a balanced budget with revenue and spending both around 20% of GDP. Historically, economic growth has been greatest when revenue and spending are both around 20%. Good luck getting that through this Congress!
--David
what is your opinion on the lame stream press as your comment did not address the issue about which we wrote?
ReplyDeleteI would agree that 20% would be great, however, the Senate has not passed a budget in over 3 years and yet the lame stream media does not even consider talking about that fact.
Ryan doesn't have much credibility calling the Recovery Act a "wasteful spending spree" in light of all the wasteful spending sprees he voted for which I listed. As far as mainstream media, they are only stating the obvious here: Almost all politicians -- Republicans and Democrats -- are happy to take federal money for projects in their own districts. It is only spending in other districts that they call "pork."
ReplyDelete--David
The Senate can't pass a budget because Democrats want some revenue increases, and no Republican will vote for that. The gridlock will continue until one party gets 60+ majority in the Senate or the next banking crisis forces them to do something -- whichever comes first. Agree?
ReplyDelete--David
A couple more notes about Ryan and "wasteful spending sprees." Back when the The Recovery Act was happening, Republicans came out with their own stimulus package. It put the spending in a few different places but was still $715 billion and totally financed by borrowing. Ryan voted for it. He also voted in 2002 for Bush's $120 billion stimulus (unfunded also) and even gave a long speech on the floor of the House February 14, 2002 that sounds very Keynesian. As in his letters to get money from The Recovery Act, he said that that Bush stimulus package (expending unemployment payments, healthcare, etc.) would aid economic recovery. You never heard anything like that from Ron Paul and he never voted for any of this stuff. Call Ryan whatever you want, but he has never been a fiscal conservative where the rubber meets the proverbial road.
ReplyDelete--David