When I heard that Mitt Romney had chosen Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan to be his vice-presidential running mate, I thought, “Wow. It could have been worse.”
I like Paul Ryan. You know, for a politician.
Rep. Ryan, at least, appears to be serious about our country’s 16 trillion debt and the fact that yearly we’re still credit-carding a trillion more onto that tab. Ryan has crunched the numbers and written a budget blueprint that offers a more-or-less responsible way to restructure in-the-red programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that drive the government’s debt.
The “professional left” will argue that Paul Ryan wants to throw grandma off a cliff by slashing Medicare, but I think the problem is that his budget doesn’t go far enough. Under Ryan’s own optimistic predictions of economic growth, his balanced budget is still a decade away. According to analyses by the Congressional Budget Office and others, the Ryan “Path to Prosperity” won’t bring the federal budget into balance for many decades – 30 to 50 years.
Which, the way Washington works, means never.
And that’s even before the plan goes through Congress, where far too few share Ryan’s hawkishness on budgetary matters.
Paul Ryan is a breath of fresh air compared to mealy-mouthed politicians such as Obama and Biden … and Romney. But even if the Romney-Ryan ticket wins, Ryan will only occupy what John Adams called “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.”
Sounds like we’re still somewhere short of salvation.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
10 replies on “Somewhere Short of Salvation”
Paul, are you losing it? In the land of the blind, a one eyed man can be a king.
“Paul Ryan is a breath of fresh air compared to mealy-mouthed politicians such as Obama and Biden”.
Now all I need is for my priest to tell me that Jesus was a fake and I am done.
You’re forgetting how fast this economy can turn around just with the certainty of outcomes. This is AMERICA. The day Romney and Ryan win will see the biggest upturn of confidence and economic activity we’ve seen in a long time. Obama will still be in office, and will probably take credit for it (like he blames Bush for the uptick in unemployment the day after he was confirmed to be elected). This is the time frame that scares me, the lame duck 2 months Obama is still in office knowing America rejected him. How would a normal megalomanic/narcissist react?
Romney and Ryan are MEN. Imperfect but they seem to love this country. How could it not get better immediately after booting the America-hating Marxist from office?
Come on, Paul, don’t be a killjoy. Getting Ryan on the ticket was the best thing Romney could have done. He’ll energize the Republicans. And, how can you downplay Ryan, when staring you in the face is 4 more years of Obama and Biden. You ought to be turning cartwheels over Ryan’s addition to Romney’s Team!
Just holding the rate of increasing in spending to 2% would get us back to balance within 10 years. Not doing it intentionally, and we will end up with the same result as if we had elected Ron Paul, except that it will be unintentional and much more dramatic.
It’s good to have one Conservative on the Republican ticket.
Paul,
You quote Adams thus, “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived” and then complain that “we’re still somewhere short of salvation.” So which is it? Do you think the Vice President matters and someone ELSE might have met your definition of “salvation” or does it really not matter? Sounds like you are trying to have it both ways.
Ryan may not go far enough, but we have to start somewhere. Would you rather have someone with a clear view of what needs to be done or four more years of VP Joe Biden?
Ryan isn’t perfect but please don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Amen, Paul. We’ve once again been told to hold our noses and vote RINO. Ryan might have some good qualities but his idea of budget cutting includes screwing veterans, you know, those folks who fight insane wars for leaders in both parties, only to be totally screwed on their return home.
I’ll go with Johnson this time.
To those who like Ryan, don’t you realize it increases spending by 3.1% every year on average? Ryan’s budget enshrines big government. It increases tax revenues from 15.5% to 19% of GDP — and how will that happen (expect a VAT tax as neither has ruled it out when questioned about it).
See table 10 on pg. 141 of the budget here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-112hrpt421/pdf/CRPT-112hrpt421.pdf
You won’t find clear spending numbers either (Ryan doesn’t want people to know he increases spending) and instead just see spending as a % of GDP which he assumes will grow more than in reality.
After all Ryan did vote for TARP, all the wars (and to stay in Iraq), the stimulus, the bailouts, No Child Left Behind, the prescription drug benefit, the Patriot Act, etc. He’s a big government RINO, just like Romney.
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/danieljmitchell/2012/08/17/explaining_ryans_budget_in_the_wall_street_journal/page/full/
anyone but oboma please