Paul Ryan Fails to Defend His Indefensible Plan

Which is What Happens When You Try to Defend the Indefensible

Thanks to the Incidental Economist we have the text of Paul Ryan defending Paul Ryan.

http://budget.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=241595

Now this is not an easy speech to get through, because the political spin overwhelms any substance that can be gleaned from the speech.  But that may be too harsh a criticism.  It may be that no substance can be gleaned from the speech because there is not substance in the speech.

Here are some salient quotes, along with what the truth is.

He says: There is plenty of blame to go around

The Truth:  Obama inherited a massive problem from the previous Republican Administration.

He says:  If you look at what’s driving our debt, the explosive growth in spending is the result of health care costs spiraling out of control.

The Truth:  Tax Cuts, mainly for the wealthy have driven down revenues, creating huge deficits.

He says:  To begin with, chasing ever-higher spending with ever-higher tax rates will decrease the number of makers in society and increase the number of takers. Able-bodied Americans will be discouraged from working and lulled into lives of complacency and dependency

The Truth:  There are millions of able bodied Americans looking for work but cannot find jobs.

He Says:  The President’s plan . . . relies on a plan to control costs in Medicare that would give a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats in Washington the power to deeply ration care.

The Truth:  Ryan’s Plan would give insurance companies the power to ration care and deny coverage.

He Says:  we have to refocus the Federal Reserve on price stability, instead of using monetary stimulus to bail out Washington’s failures.

The Truth:  The Fed has a mandate to promote growth and unemployment, and inflation is and has been very low.

He Says:  The economics profession has been really clear about this – higher marginal tax rates create a drag on economic growth.

The Truth:  Higher marginal rates in the 1990’s produced the longest, most sustained period of U. S. growth in history.  A huge number of prominent economists support a return to Clinton era marginal tax rates.

He Says:  The House-passed budget does that by making the tax code simpler… flatter… fairer… more globally competitive… and less burdensome for working families and small businesses

The Truth:  Maybe, but since we are not going share any details with  Americans, they will just have to take our word for it.