Is Paul Ryan Insane?

I am going to reprint part of an article that recently appeared in The New York Times by Paul Krugman.  This article sheds light on what the House of Representatives did on Thursday, i.e., pass what was surely the most fraudulent budget in American history.

"The trouble with the budget devised by Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, isn't just its almost inconceivably cruel priorities, the way it slashes taxes for corporations and the rich while drastically cutting food and medical aid to the needy.  Even aside from all that, the Ryan budget purports to reduce the deficit -- but the alleged deficit reduction depends on the completely unsupported assertion that trillions of dollars in revenue can be found by closing tax loopholes.

And we're talking about a lot of loophole-closing.  As Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center points out, to make his numbers work, Mr. Ryan would, by 2022, have to close enough loopholes to yield an extra $700 billion in revenue every year.  That's a lot of money, even in an economy as big as ours.  So which specific loopholes has Mr. Ryan, who issued a 98 page manifesto on behalf of his budget, said he would close?

None.  Not one.  He has, however, categorically ruled out any move to close the major loophole that benefits the rich, namely the ultra-low tax rates on income from capital.  (That's the loophole that lets Mitt Romney pay only 14 percent of his income in taxes, a lower tax rate than that faced by many middle-class families.)"

As Mr. Krugman states, the Ryan budget is a fraud and it is the most fraudulent budget in American history.

And for those of us who live in Wisconsin, we continue to be appalled and horrified by Paul Ryan.  Underneath his veneer of good old clean cut squeaky shine of a politician, lies an incredibly ugly monster with a voracious appetite for you - Joe Citizen.  Run for your LIFE!