Paul Ryan has retreated even further into fantasy land. The mystery is, what are his motivations?
Good article.
The Ryan budget is about ideology, not finances | Jay Bookman
Again, lets be clear: The Ryan budget is not a response to our fiscal situation. It uses that situation as an excuse to continue a philosophical debate reaching back at least 80 years in this country, back to the founding of Social Security. The Republican Party fought Social Security back then, and since then it has tried repeatedly to kill the program, most recently with President Bushs effort to privatize it.
Never in the history of the world has any measure been brought here so insidiously designed as to prevent business recovery, to enslave workers and to prevent any possibility of the employers providing work for the people, one GOP congressman said in 1935, referring to Social Security. The partys basic message and rhetoric government enslavement, economic ruin, etc., hasnt changed much since.
Why should the message change? It is just as true today as it was back then. The difference is that we are much closer to the results predicted so long ago. Our leaders just continue to ignore economic reality.
American taxpayers are not only on the hook for the $1.7 trillion owed to the social security trust fund, but also for the $20.5 trillion in unfunded liability in the social security system. That is the current amount obligated to be paid out to present and future social security retirees above projected social security revenue.
In total, our unfunded obligation for all of these programs, including Medicare and Medicaid is around $86.8 trillion. Most of that will become due over the next 40 years.
Cox and Archer: Why $16 Trillion Only Hints at the True U.S. Debt - WSJ.com