This blog will be written by students in a Political Parties, Elections and Interest Groups course. Students are expected to post to the blog as part of their course requirements. The public is welcome to post, but must follow the rules set for the course.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Congressman Paul Ryan calls for a $6.2 Trillion Spending Cut
The GOP budget Chief, Congressman Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, proposed a radical overhaul of the federal government's budget. His plan would save $6.2 trillion dollars over the next ten years. Doing this would completely gut Medicare and Medicaid. The federal work would be cut by 10%. The tax code would also be modified by lowering the tax rate for wealthy Americans and business to 25% while eliminating loopholes in the tax code. This plan would drop federal spending to under 20% of the economy instead of President Obama's plan which would be at least 23%. If this plan was to be implemented and unaltered there would be a surplus by 2040. Everyone wants to see an end to our debt problem and Paul Ryan's plan is a good step in making drastic cuts but his proposal fails in several aspects. My biggest criticism is that this plan is based on the "Trickle Down" Theory which has been proven ineffective time and time again. Instead of lowering the tax rates like Congressman Ryan suggests the tax rate should be increased for the wealthiest Americans and for companies. Currently companies are not spending the $1.4 trillion they're holding on to. Instead of trying to stimulate the economy they are hording money. General Electric a company that had a profit of $14 billion did not spend a single dime in taxes. Companies and the rich will never be willing to risk their money for the benefit of the country. Also Paul Ryan fails to realize that by cutting the federal work force people will not have jobs to pay taxes to the government and the government will have to spend more for unemployment and welfare. Medicare and Medicaid should have some limited cut backs but to completely gut those programs will have great reprercussions. If these programs are cut the enormous costs of medicine will bankrupt many Americans. Like most politicians Paul Ryan never suggests cuts to the military. Though military spending should not be overly reduced for defensive and economic reasons (providing jobs to militray personal and manufacturers) thee is still plenty of room to make cut backs. Advanced military technoloy like the F-22 Raptor costs $150 million per figher plane, but it has never been used in combat even though the United States is currently engaged in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. In recent decades our enemies have given up on conventional means of fighting us due to our overwhelming strength, and instead uses guerilla tactics and terrorism. Our F-22's may give us a huge advantage in air combat but our enemies don't have planes. I do appreciate a politican willing to propose a drastic reduction of federal spending but Congressman Paul Ryan's plan plan to is extreme and narrow minded.
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4 comments:
I agree with you that politicians could make cuts in the defense budget and still get along, but i don't believe that any elected offical has any plan of doing something like that
The defense budget is easily the most apt department to cut. I don't see why the US needs to maintain military bases around the world in a world police sort of way. Dwight Eisenhower predicted the military industrial complex, and even he fell prey to it. The other main measure to take would be to revert the Bush era tax cuts which follow the same trickle down economics mentioned. In a day and age where the gap between the rich and poor is ever expanding you'd think the rich would be satisfied at some point. Human greed knows no boundaries.
Why people fear social programs in the U.S and are in favor of the large corporations tax loopholes is beyond me. Why should we lower the tax rate when all of these companies are over seas. These corporations are not creating jobs for Americans, they are creating jobs for countries with lax environmental regulations who do not pay mind to human rights abuses in labor laws. I completely agree with the OP who says that the "trickle down" theory is ineffective.
Abuse of military spending is at its finest, fighter planes and this advanced military technology is just unnecessary. Why we choose to continue have exorbitant amounts of military spending over the education of our population is absurd. Most individuals join the military in the first place in order to obtain a four year degree that otherwise they would not be able to afford because high tuition prices. Yet the cycle continues and the American population is too busy to care or too apathetic about politics to realize this wasteful spending.
I'd like to respond to SPENSIR's comment: Although I am a staunch supporter of the military as well as the strength of the military, I think you may be right in that it is not necessary to affect our economics so drastically with our military spending. I think I may have a reason as to why it is this way however: I think what they are doing is hoping to get more people to join the military so more bases can be made, therefore creating more jobs in the US. On top of that, a defense budget that employs high spending could create jobs in the production of military equipment as well (keep in mind it is not my opinion that this is right or wrong, it's just speculation).
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