700 pages is a lot less than the 2000 page Obamacare. And he's going around explaining it. Where were representatives on Obamacare, afraid to face the people. And if Obama had any ideas, I wish he'd explain them not just campaign. We need more than his promises, promises. Heard that in 2008 and where are we now. His partisanship is dividing the country.

If Ryan and Walker win, our American democracy is gone. Our seniors have little hope of not starving to death, and our children will be uneducated followers of the "Pied Piper", leading us all to starvation, bondage, and the slowest most painful death anyone could imagine. The United States will no longer be the land of the free and the home of the brave.

thirdeye: And in 1989, the stock market took a real crap, the biggest in many years. And in that year, for awhile, it was predicted it could be as bad as the stock market crash of 1929. People lost a lot of money that year. So all of these years were not a boom.

Will all the discussion of budgets, taxes, wages, unions and greed…

Taxes won’t work
.
 No matter what our, the United States of American, sets its Corporate and/or personal taxes out it will remain cheaper to produce products in 3rd world countries. It is a joke to think that lower the taxes on someone will produce jobs. Trickle-down doesn’t work.
American Greatness
 It is our greatness that gives us a competitive disadvantage. Our greatness provides us with Child Labor Laws, Safety Laws, Environmental Regulations, Minimum Wage, Overtime, etc…
 Our greatness costs money.
 Other countries don’t require companies to treat their employees as humans.
 Many other countries watch and support “slave” labor practices.
.
Produce in USA will work
.
 The only way to complete with these other countries is to DEMAND American made products.
 There is NO EXCUSE for American owned companies to produce its goods outside of America. NO EXCUSE!
.
Buy USA products will work
.
 We must also step-up and as consumers. We must purchase MADE IN USA products.
 Search for them because they do exist.
.
UN American and UN Patriotic
.
 We have to let the CEO’s of these companies know that it is UN American and UN Patriotic to send our jobs overseas in the name of profit.
 It is UN American and UN Patriotic to buy products made outside of the USA to save a buck.
.
None of these items involve the government; they are non-partisan and relatively simple. It all starts with the demand of products made in the USA.

Maybe you have trouble reading but no one is BLAMING the wealthy, usaret. They can't help the fact they control government by controlling the purse strings of those who get elected as legislators. We all know the Republicans have been shedding tears at how EVERYONE must share the pain that goes with reducing the deficit. Nevermind that Republican tax policies eliminated and reduced taxes that benefited the wealthy most of all and led to a greater deficit. Republicans have emphasized that WE MUST ALL SHARE THE PAIN which is why it's so important to cut funds for education and the poor and elderly; so they too can share the pain. Republicans have said over and over that we simply can't afford to properly educate our children or care for our elderly and needy. Republicans like Ryan, insist that if we keep cutting taxes and cutting off funds for public radio and Planned Parenthood this country will thrive again. Look at all the success Reagan and Bush had with the trickle down economic theory. Truth is based on the Bureau of Economic Analysis data (a unit of the Dept. of Commerce) collected over a period of 80 years, the average growth of GDP was 5.1% with a Democrat in the White House while Republican Presidents averaged a GDP growth rate of 1.8%. But the great thing about Republicans is that they NEVER let some silly facts get in the way of their propaganda and the best thing about Ryan’s plan is that it DOES NOT reduce the deficit. In fact, Ryan’s plan, if enacted as is, would actually GROW the deficit but at least the top 1% to 5% of our population could educate and feed themselves. Gosh isn’t America great, as long as you’re part of the chosen few. I can’t wait for some wealthy person to start spending their money so I can have a job. Handouts from the government are bad but Republicans are staking my future on handouts from the wealthy. Yipee! But hey useret, feel free to post some Republican talking points like WE MUST ALL SHARE THE PAIN (unless you are in the upper income level).

peacenick: And that proves what?
.
916WI: I fear you are fighting a losing battle with mouse. He/She is a 'don't bother me with the facts, I've already made up my mind' type.

Mouse......The issues being discussed were FINANCIAL COSTS as part of our ongoing deficits. As I said, the money spent on the wars is a blip on the radar when compared to the entitlement programs. Nowhere did I say that "Americans soldiers lives are a blip on the radar". If you are unable to comprehend a comment, don't make a rash assumption, ask that it be explained to you...got it?

Yes the unemployment rate was low but the Gross Domestic Product, consumption, net worth, non-residential investment, wages and salaries, and employment all grew less rapidly than during other comparable expansionary periods--the only score that outperformed during this period was corporate profits. (http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=...)

concernedperson, Apr 11, 2011 at 8:45 p.m.
From the mid 80's to around 1992 there was a boom. The stock market went up a substantial amount and unemployment was around 4-5%.
In the mid to late 90's the tecnology boom boosted the econmomy and in 1998-2001 there was a shortage of workers.
Sept. 11, 2001 slowed the economy, however after the Bush tax cuts took hold there was full employment from 2003-2007. during that time the stock market went as high as $14,000 on the Dow. There was also a shortage of workers during many of those years.
You can look it up!

ladystardust: Agreed.

ladystardust: Agreed.

ThirdEye: What boom? I never saw any such a boom. Can you tell me what planet that was on?

this article should be re-named ryans heap

True to form, those on the left rip and tear apart but offer nothing but blame the rich. Blame Bush. Blame, Blame, Blame. Sad that their little world is so narrow that they can't see what is going to happen if changes aren't made. They refuse to see that costs keep going up regardless of what the Left says it is going to do to stem it since the Left is the only side that has the correct answers and people on the Right are just basically idiots. They are afraid of change so they lash out with venom. They use fear and hate and scorn to get their point across. The Left loves its talking points since that is all they have left.

Mouse.......Please show me where I said the lives of American soldiers are a blip on the radar. For the most part, I have come to terms with the fact that you are an idiot and need everything explained to you, so please provide me with the quote and I will walk you though it's meaning.....Thanks!

Wonderful article, I think that Paul Ryan is a horrible person and has no real leadership skills. It is time to say what most have been thinking and he won't let us do that. I am really tired of the people who are scared to say anything or act on anything ethical or moral because the fear of losing your job or killing your career. These people are elected to do what we can't or won't. Understanding that is nearly impossible for the majority of people that vote for him. Paul Ryan only cares about himself and his rich buddies in big Pharma -to get what they get out of us. They are LITERALLY pulling the plug on us and will kill us IF YOU KEEP LISTENING TO mr. won't even look at a universal health care for all house resolution # 676 Ryan ! KICK HIM OUT AND LETS FIGHT TOGETHER FOR WHATs RIGHT! Not For what RYAN CLAIMS IS RIGHT FOR HIM AND HIS RIGHT WING NUT BAR BUDDIES

Paul Ryan is a nazi. Stop drinking the water you people! Get him the out of OFFICE!

third eye many countries have a higher tax rate and a higher standard of living than the us.. belgium, germany, finland for just a few. And how did the last bush tax cut pan out with a huge loss of jobs and the worst recession since the 30's.

Minan: Do you mean the Reagan tax cuts that spurred a boom that lasted unil the early 90's and was slowed by.... you guessed it... A tax increase.
When you say we don't have a spending problem that goes against not only logic but current political opinion from both sides of the aisle.
Here's a challenge; Name one country that has taxed itself to prosperity.

Minan......No insurance company could keep their doors open absorbing the $68 billion in fraud that is attributed to Medicare every year--but when you don't have shareholders holding you accountable and also have an endless supply of taxpayer dollars to pull from, waste like that doesn't really matter now, does it?

Conservatives:
Keep up the fight, polls are showing that we are changing public opinion. It is a grassroots effort like posting on these boards that will expose the lies of the liberals.

concernedperson......considering you two are operating with the same amount of intelligence(or lack of intelligence as the case may be) the fact that you blame Bush for the problems with Medicare and Social Security does not surprise me at all........

I'm with mouse. I blame it on Bush too.

I'm with mouse. I blame it on Bush too.

The Ryan plan is nasty. Unfortunately, the Democratic plan of running deficits until the country collapses is worse.

A country is doomed to fail when people begin voting benefits for themselves without considering whether the country (state) as a whole can afford to pay for them.
Nothing can change until you take control of your own destiny and create a better life for yourself. Govt handouts only create more dependency on them. Entitlements need to be scaled back.

youkillme: Great post. I agree with you. And to the rest of you, like youkillme said:
WAKE UP PEOPLE.

Mouse......Still on the "Blame it on Bush" kick huh? Maybe you should throw the Koch brothers in there for good measure, although the last time I checked neither had anything to do with implementing the ponzi schemes of social security and Medicare. The wars are a blip on the radar when compared to the entitlement programs. Attached is a report with numbers drawn directly from the CBO about the sustainability of these programs.......pretty sobering. Granted you might have a difficult time wrapping what's left of your little brain around them:)
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archi...

Westorbust.......Instead of simply throwing out hourly wage amounts without placing them into any sort of context, why don't you do a little investigating into tax rates and cost of living comparisons between the US and Sweden. With a little bit of research on your end, you'll come to see how weak your argument is.........

Obama is drifting for political reasons. Some re-adjusting is necessary but not the wholesale carpet bombing of the programs. However, you don't strenghten the programs by defunding them, which is what Ryan wants to do. The gap between the rich and poor has grown wider with each passing year, we need those programs more now than ever. It's obvious that Ryan's solution is ideologically driven. It's also ironic how the tea party GOP/Ryan mantra is against collective bargaining, but they think single individuals can somehow collectively bargain for health care insurance with a government voucher. This is a cruel joke. I know this sounds condescending but "WAKE UP PEOPLE!!"

This is social medicine vs. private insurance...in the end, if Ryan gets his way, it will make it bad enough that socialized medicine will be put in place.
Be careful what you ask for...

youkillme, Obama himself is saying entitlements need to be cut in order to slow the deficit. Medicare-medicaid-SS. I think he is finally learning something about governing and balancing that he missed his first 2 yrs in office.

westorbust if you don't like the wages they pay don't purchase their products...pretty simple.

Interested in what Rep. Paul Ryan wants Wisconsin to look like? No unions? Right to work? Read this:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ik...
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Ikea, a company known for wonderful working environments and excellent benefits in Sweden builds a plant in Virginia a union unfriendly, right-to-work state. Ikea pays $19 an hour in Sweden, $8 an hour in Virginia. This is what Republican progress looks like.

By ignoring entitlements, the largest portion of the budget, how do you fix it then?

Liking or not liking Ryan has nothing to do with it. There are no axes to grind. I want corporations to pay taxes and close all loopholes. Tell Ryan to write a law to do so and find some sponsors. But, don't include cuts to Social Security, MediCare, Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, NPR or tax cuts to rich in the law and then grandstand it as the path to prosperity. Get rid of the ideological calculator. I want jobs to come back to the US, but I don't want my taxes to be used for bribery or ransom or my legislator chosing the winners and the losers. I will support an industry with high paying jobs by buying their product and services - not by giving them tax credits and subsidies. I want seniors to have affordable health care, but I believe health care costs must come way down for everyone first. Medicare and Medicaid are victims of high health care costs. People complain about the government shorting health care bills all the time, but private health insurance companies deliberately change their bill-to addresses every week so hospitals don't know where to send the bill. After 60 days, the hospital has to eat it or rebill somebody else with higher charges. At least the government pays something. The health care industry is broken like a cuckoo clock run over by a Mack truck. And Ryan wants to give them cash vouchers!!

Please help me understand.

You don't like Paul Ryan, so therefore you will not support anything that he is proposing?

You want corporations to pay taxes, but you don't support his plan to close loopholes in the tax code?

You want jobs to come back to the US, but you won't support an industry that brings high paying jobs?

You want senior to have health care, but you won't support an idea to make medicare and medicaid solvent in the future?

I guess I just can't understand liberal thinking. Is there some magic in this somewhere?

I would love to hear alternate proposals, but nobody else is offering up anything.

great post youkillme. We are being sold down the river by so called conservatives who as long as you don't get into there pocket have no problem taking money from the elderly and working class. Why don't they put there massive defense spending up on the chopping block or the foreign aide they keep spending to make sure it's business as usual. How about a nice big paycut for all the politicians across the board. I'd like to see the vote count on that one.

The Paul Ryan I know voted for a stunning amount of debt in his first twelve years in office. Just consider that he voted for the Iraq War ($1.2+ trillion through 2012), the GOP's Medicare Part D boondoggle ($200B+ 2004 through 2008) ($725B+ 2009 through 2018), and the recent tax cut ransom package ($858B). Throw in TARP (originally pegged at 700B) and the first round of the Bush tax cuts ($2.3 trillion over 10 years). All in all, just those few pieces of legislation OUTSIDE of the annual budgets resulted in adding $5.98 TRILLION to the national debt. This doesn’t include the first stimulus or other major incidentals. Ryan voted for all of it and played a significant role in adding almost the same amount to the nation’s debt that it previously took over 200 years to accumulate. Not one single democrat in congress can boast voting for the same string of spending bills and as much debt as Paul Ryan has during the Bush presidency. Why? Because most them voted against those bills. Ryan refused to extend unemployment comp as a stand alone no strings attached bill in the House. He said its a hammock and the country can't afford the $34 billion, but restrung the hammock and voted for it only when the Bush tax cuts to the top 2% were extended, kicking the can to another $858 billion in future debt instead. He is a fraud.

Concernedperson, why is it ok for the environment to let 8 other countries including China to drill for oil in the gulf, but not the USA?
As far as the deficit, I do not see anyone else showing much concern for the hole we have been dug by the Dems since2007. Go Paul Ryan.

Youkillme: You are right. Ryan's numbers don't add up. I don't trust him anymore than I trust Walker.

heidib93, Several items here. #1. Ryan has not produced a budget for 2012. He issued a ideological report and projections from his "Roadmap" that involves dismantling Medicare and MediCaid. #2, Ryan intends on plugging "loopholes" like every politician has wanted to do for decades. It's nothing new. #3, if $53 billion in subsidies is enough to pay for oil exploration, which is about 1/10th of their profits for 5 years, why can't they pay for them themselves? Are they going to let their business go extinct because they were too stingy to explore for the product they sell despite those record profits? I'm used to Ryan supporters dodging his voting record and deflect to Obama, but I can't believe anybody would have the gall to defend Ryan and Repubs on welfare for billionaires, but are okay stripping mom and pop and eventually themselves of affordable healthcare in their senior years. I've listened to Ryan over and over again, and his rhetoric and numbers don't add up. We need level headed folks who are courageous enough to seek common ground with simple math calculators to start balancing a budget, not empty suits who want to solve everything based on their ideology. Ryan is a fraud.

Ryan is not closing any tax loopholes. He is giving big tax breaks to corporations, etc.

Go to the governor's website and you can see for yourself what Walker did his first week in office.

Walker, Ryan, Prosser, and the Koch Bros. all sleep in the same bed together.

Shrek: Because of what it will do to the environment. Our environment is bad enough as it is.

packolies: Well it certainly isn't the money trickling down, that's for sure. Reagan said back in the 80's that it would trickle down. Well, it hasn't tricked down yet. We are still waiting.

Ryan hasn't done one thing for Janesville. Ryan hasn't done one thing for the state of Wisconsin. Ryan hasn't done one thing for our nation. Tell me, what has he done? Nothing. His bill is ridiculous. It will end up with seniors who need medicare not being able to afford some of their own necessities. BAD BILL. BAD POLITICS. BAD FOR OUR NATION.

Excuse me, but I think he is on the side of special interests. That is his voting pattern. Nothing has changed with him.
Why does he keep on giving big corporations all those tax breaks?

Exactly, oil industry jobs are some of the best paying, why won't we create those jobs here?

The subsidies for big oil as you state are to encourage domestic exploration, which will help to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. You may not agree with it, but we are oil dependent for the foreseeable future. I think that we should drill here to provide good paying jobs in this country.

My point about GE is that they are the best at dodging taxes, yet Obama appoints Jeffrey Immelt to an advisory position in his administration. He shouldn't be praising the guy, he should be holding him up as an example of what is wrong.

You guess that Ryan would vote for the GE tax cuts and credits, but he put forward a budget plan that eliminates them. If you would actually listen to what he has to say, he makes alot of sense.

westorbust so glad you want to ignore analogies. Interestingly with all your points you failed to mention the most relevant ones. Throughout our nations history our country has received ~19-20% of GDP in the form of revenue. During the past 2 years spending has been ~25% of GDP...this is unsustainable. Printing money does not change the equation in the least since printing only devalues what is outstanding.

Neglecting the cause of the problem will never fix it.

heidib93, Why did Ryan vote to protect subsidies to Big Oil when they turned in record profits? If that isn't catering to special interests, I don't know what is. GE did not only pay no taxes, they picked up another $3 billion in tax credits. Under Obama or Bush, it doesn't matter. My guess is Ryan would vote for those GE tax credits. He has in the past, that's what Republicans do.

once again I hope that's just water trickling down on me.. I'm sure glad the rich are looking out for me.

No "RetiredAirForce", most of us grasp the number quite nicely. Corporate America and the American Government deal in dollar amounts that are astronomical.
*****
What you fail to understand is that a national budget is nothing like a household budget. Time and time again, folks try and boil it down to household budgets. They are nothing alike. Do you have a private bank that can print currency? The national budget is 222 years old if you date it to the Constitution.
*******
With ONE exception, the Federal Government has been in debt for every year since 1776, yet here we are, and some of it the most prosperous times of any Western Nation.
*******
The US has had 6 periods of depression. Nearly every one them followed a significant reduction in Debt. Fact.
*******
That doesn't mean there isn't danger in excessive debt, but lets leave the household budget analogies to the kids.

There is a corporation in this country that did not pay taxes last year and the leader of that corporation is a top level advisor to the current president. That would appear to be catering to special interests.

Paul Ryan is trying to close the tax loopholes that allow this, but he is accused of catering to special interests.

Maybe it is time to take off the blinders and put down the glass of Kool Aid.

Skippy31: If he runs for President, it will be the downfall of our nation. He is catering to the special interests.

Image that, self identified socialist bernie sanders is against stopping wasteful spending.

Take the challenge:
http://defendwisconsin.blogspot.com/2011...

Watch this speech by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont talk about what the Republicans and Paul Ryan want to do to us "common folks".....if they get their way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla......

Correction 3.8 trillion, the other numbers need to change with it as well.

It is apparent many people have no idea the extent of the real problem, most can’t grasp the numbers; million, billions, and trillions are meaningless.

The given. The president proposed spending 4.8T. The government must borrow ~1.6T, for one year, to make that happen. The dem party is complaining that 100B is too much to cut; 1/16th of what the president wants to borrow for one year.

To make this simpler and easier to understand try this: Your household will earn $32,000 this year. You want to spend $48,000, meaning you need to borrow $16,000. A member of your family suggests you borrow only $15,000; that is the equivalent reduction in spending currently being asked for...and deemed draconian by the left.

Ryan's flawed numbers and statistics:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/...

youkillme-I did and received 338,000 hits. Where did you get 25 million? How about instead of leaving care as a separate word, you use it in context like "healthcare?" Lawn care, furniture care etc... Still a lot of hits, though.

Try mainstreetradical.com in which Pelosi and Obama kept stating that there was $500 billion in waste in Medicare, which, when eliminated, would cut the 1 trillion Obama care in half. That's from a very nonconservative site, by the way.

” letting recipients choose among a menu of approved health-insurance plans"
Does he realize we are talking about the elderly? My grandparents couldn't figure out Part D even with my aunt and a social worker explaining it to them. Check out a nursing home near you and see how many of those patients would like to "choose from a menu of health insurance plans". I think he lives in a fantasy land. Especially if he thinks costs will come down due to the "market". Health care is not a TV and you can't just decide you can't afford it and choose not to buy it. Would you choose the cheapest surgeon to do you heart surgery???

Congressman Ryan's plan to have a "competitive market" will fail, unless he also mandates that hospitals list the price of all procedures. You can't shop if you can't compare.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/opinio...

Here is some reality about his numbers.

Turning a blind eye to the real problem (high health care costs) is a trait of both parties. Ryan does that well. In that regard you're right Kiesha.

The more I read this plan the better it looks. There's a lot here to chew but it does just what Charles says it does. If you turn a blind eye to his party offiliation, you might not know where this came from. It's that good. But it is also a reach to embrace these things en mass. But it is a really good plan.

Google "private health care waste and fraud"

* 25,300,000 articles *

By 2030 someone on medicare will be paying 68% of the cost. Ryan's vouchers are indexed to consumer price index, not health care inflation.

instructor, that's not good enough. There is waste and fraud EVERYWHERE. Point me to the page that breaks down and identifies the $500 billion in waste in Medicare. The person who made that phony claim should peruse those 3.8 million pages.

This is what happens more and more in this country-Men and women who try to stand up and do the right thing are ridiculed, ideas distorted and insulted by the very people who need help the most. It's no wonder NOTHING gets done anymore. Who in their right mind would want to go thru that? Thankfully enough do, like Paul Ryan, otherwise we could just flush the country down the toilet.

instructor, try google "insurance fraud" and peruse the 5.3 million links. I'm sure those are all leftist conspiracy articles.

I love how politicians are slowly removing entitlements from those of us who were born after 1960. Next it'll be Social Security.

As far as comparing Ryan's tax reform to Reagan-Bill Bradley 1986 tax reform, let's look at the facts. Reagan - Bradley reduced the top rate from 70% to 39%. Ryan wants to reduce the top rate from 35% to 25%. It seems to me that the 39% top rate was working just fine. Also, I'd like to see more details on the loop holes and exemptions he is proposing to remove.

youkillme-Try typing medicare waste & fraud into Google. You may then peruse the 3.8 million articles, although you will probably say that they're all lies spread by the right wing conspiracy.

As usual, the same old comments with the same old complaints and insults. Nothing new here.

youkillme is right. Nobody answered his/her question. Why do we have to have insurance at all, and why can't it be affordable enough to pay out of pocket. Until you address the costs associated with the racket that is private health care/public health care, you get no where. Ryan's budget does absolutely nothing to address this.
*****
As point out below, when administrative costs for Medicare/medicaid are CURRENTLY less than what private insurance cost. On what planet do you have to live on to think that simply privatizing these programs makes them more affordable? Ryan's plan fails. Even the Dems/Obama's plan does not attack core problem. COST.
*****
What his plan is a a shot off the bow and what hardline conservatives have always wanted. It's ideology over facts, and fantasy over numbers.

The private health care industry's insatiable greed and insurance largesse is infringing on our country's capacity to remain economically strong. That's the bottom line. Even employers don't want any part of their employees private health care plans - and that's out of the MediCare loop. They knew the costs were out of control 20 years ago.

Speaking of entitlements and responsibilies, whzbng, who's the other "co" in your "pay" in your health care plan?

youkillme, a little entilement mentality thinking are we? Everyone who is able bodied should be responsible for themself. I will help those that truly need it but those who feel entiltled to govt largess are bound to be doomed when we run out of other peoples money.

916WI, point to a web link that breaks down and identifies the $500 billion in waste. If you can't. Please shut up.

Medicare has about a 3% administration cost while private insurance has about 14% administration cost. So how is privatizing Medicare going to cost less? It isn't. It is going to shift the expense onto the elderly who won't be able to afford it as the costs skyrocket. The COST of healthcare and private insurance are a huge burden for the taxpayers AND for business. I'm sure that the cost of healthcare is also a reason that Unions get blamed for being "greedy" since keeping good healthcare has made pay "packages" more and more expensive. Obama's plan and Ryan's plan FAIL in that they don't adequately address cutting the costs. So when all those old and sick people get kicked out of the hospitals and nursing homes because they can't afford it, I hope they all die on Paul Ryan's doorstep...maybe he will understand then.
*
There is another way to fix the budget. It's called raising taxes on the millionaires and it's called closing corporate loopholes. If money is made in the US, it should be taxed in the US. The corporate share of the tax burden has dropped about 20% since the 80's and THAT is why we are broke. The bail outs of the "too big to fail" corporations, in 2008-09, DOUBLED our national debt. And there have been almost no consequences for the reckless destruction of our economy by the top multi-nationals. Explain again why we are blaming poor people and unions for this crisis that was NOT created by them?

Ryan is an idiot!

Youkillme.....LOL!!! Only a liberal would describe a government program drowning in $500 billion in waste and fraud as being "cost effective and efficient"!:) And Ryan is the one who is incompetent?

The first sign that an industry has priced itself out of existence is not when the average person cannot afford to purchase it's products and services directly - it's when the average person cannot even afford highly regulated insurance to cover just the basic needs. ohh. Things have to stay this way because that's reality and we have to maintain the status quo. Let's blame Medicare and Medicaid instead. It's time to get real and get serious!

If the money seniors have paid into the medicare system had been invested and not raided for other things this program would be fully funded. The government could investigate the fraud in the system and the program would be healthy again. It's too bad that Washington can't use a little common sense to solve so many of our problems today. Both parties are equally guilty of raiding this system. Don't make the people who worked and paid taxes their whole life pay for Washington's greed and mismanagement!

Reality is that medical costs are high. With a $2000 deductible and a co pay I do pay most of my service out of pocket. When will the get it free mentality get it. It costs someone else if you are not paying for it yourelf.

You don't hear it put that way because most people refuse to acknowledge the truth. By claiming I'm wrong though - you're saying that private health costs are affordable or in line with other costs today. If that's the case, why have any insurance then? Why not just pay for health care costs out of the change in your pocket. I believe I'm stating a solid fact - bring down the costs in the private health care industry 30% to 50% across the board (like all the other industries) and MediCare and Medicaid will operate just as efficiently but will cost much less, shrink our deficits and make us more competitive.

youkillme-Ask any doctor or medical provider.

If seniors truly paid the cost of benefits received then it would be cost effective. As it is now with medicare payments around $100 a month the program is in the hole and unsustainable.

youkillme-Wow, I don't think I've ever heard anyone, conservative or liberal, refer to Medicare and Medicaid as very cost effective and successfully run programs. Why touch them at all then? Seriously?

Since you rant about private health insurance, ever considered making health insurance available across state lines? Currently, it's the only type of insurance where you can't do that. Imagine the cost of your car insurance if you were locked in to WI insurance carriers? No GEICO, Progressive, etc. to drive prices down if you didn't like your local options.

With words like "incompetent, unknowing amateur," you sound like you have the answers. Please save us all and help Ryan make the right changes.

whzbng, Ask any senior.

youkillme, show us how medicare and medicaid are cost effective. LOL

I was going to take the time to refute some of Kraut's points, but in the end he's a wealthy Repub wonk/talking head who thinks trickle down economics worked. It didn't. It won't. You want a path to prosperity? Good luck, there isn't one. In order to have wealthy, you need poor, and more than likely, it's going to be you. What they want you to believe is that they are trying to restore some kind of personal responsibility to American life. Apparently, that doesn't apply to billionaires and corporations who can hire an army of tax lawyers to evade all taxes and bring the global economy to it's knees BECAUSE of lax oversight and greed then get billion dollar bailouts.
*****
Stop the wars. Bring the troops home. That should be budget cut #1. Repubs won't do it, and neither will Dems that have military contracts in their home states. (Oshkosh anyone???)

Paul Ryan is an incompetent and an ideologue. His plan, like most plans coming out of Congress does not touch the real third rail of America, which is the private health care industry and its runaway costs. He's a coward. Medicare and MediCaid are very cost effective and successful programs that make health care more affordable for its participants. The private health care industry is crushing America in all areas of economic competitiveness with the rest of the world. Bring down those costs like people attack labor unions - down to the costs in the real world - and the health care burden on our deficits will disappear. But Ryan is not only an unknowing amateur, he is a tool for the redistributive wealth corporate interests.

Ryan wants to eliminate Medicare and require seniors to buy health insurance from health insurance companies; the same insurance companies who under the new Health Care reform, are banned from denying coverage to anyone. However, Republicans continue their efforts to repeal the health care reforms meaning insurance companies will then be able to deny coverage to seniors. So where are seniors supposed to get health insurance? What good is a subsidy to buy insurance if it’s not available? The cost of health care will continue to escalate unless reforms are enacted. What happens when seniors can’t buy or afford health care?
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Tax reform is long overdue. That's exactly why corporations complain that the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the world yet GE paid ZERO taxes on over $5 billion in earnings. Closing loopholes could easily increase tax revenue even if tax rates were reduced but I sure wouldn't take Ryan at his word. Like many politicians, he's in the pocket of special interest groups and an unquestionable ideologue.

This link sheds some light on Ryan's plan.
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/08/135232865/...

Wonderful article, I think that Paul Ryan is a great person and has a leadership skill. It is time to say what most have been thinking and he has done that. I am really tired of the people who are scared to say anything or act on anything ethical or moral because the fear of loosing your job or killing your career. These people are elected to do what we can't or won't. Understanding that is nearly impossible for the majority of people. They only care about themselves and what they get out of things. Kudoos to Paul Ryan, he will have my vote someday when he runs for prez.