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Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the budget proposed by The world's saddest tangerine:
To secure $1.5 trillion in entitlement savings over the next ten years would require draconian policy changes. Policymakers would essentially have three choices: 1) cut Social Security and Medicare benefits heavily for current retirees, something that all budget plans from both parties (including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan) have ruled out; 2) repeal the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions while retaining its measures that cut Medicare payments and raise tax revenues, even though Republicans seek to repeal many of those measures as well; or 3) eviscerate the safety net for low-income children, parents, senior citizens, and people with disabilities. There is no other plausible way to get $1.5 trillion in entitlement cuts in the next ten years.
But not to worry, fellow citizens of this great republic: people like former Indiana rep Count Chocula (R-Hypocrisy) and other conservatives in the GOP don't think that this plan is Draconic enough. OTOH, the usual public suspects opposing the Boehner plan were present at a rally in numbers that would've made the current attendance figures at a Cubs game seem robust in comparison, so maybe there's hope that some Villager will do a proper headcount and realize that some of those guys have gone back to fetishistically cleaning their rifles while listening to their new copies of Glenn Beck sings the great Apocalyptic Mormon Hymns in Esperanto or whatever else they do with their spare time.
To secure $1.5 trillion in entitlement savings over the next ten years would require draconian policy changes. Policymakers would essentially have three choices: 1) cut Social Security and Medicare benefits heavily for current retirees, something that all budget plans from both parties (including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan) have ruled out; 2) repeal the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions while retaining its measures that cut Medicare payments and raise tax revenues, even though Republicans seek to repeal many of those measures as well; or 3) eviscerate the safety net for low-income children, parents, senior citizens, and people with disabilities. There is no other plausible way to get $1.5 trillion in entitlement cuts in the next ten years.
But not to worry, fellow citizens of this great republic: people like former Indiana rep Count Chocula (R-Hypocrisy) and other conservatives in the GOP don't think that this plan is Draconic enough. OTOH, the usual public suspects opposing the Boehner plan were present at a rally in numbers that would've made the current attendance figures at a Cubs game seem robust in comparison, so maybe there's hope that some Villager will do a proper headcount and realize that some of those guys have gone back to fetishistically cleaning their rifles while listening to their new copies of Glenn Beck sings the great Apocalyptic Mormon Hymns in Esperanto or whatever else they do with their spare time.
