Paul Ryan and Dylan Ratigan on the need to fix fiscal crisis

[espo222]

Ryan/Christie 2012

[netster007z]

Damn Paul Ryan is solid!

[UsayWhateverIam]

Love Paul Ryan and agree with his ideas.

Dylan Ratigan looks like he's trying to be Glenn Beck with all his named buckets in that workshop! hahaha

[dj4monie]

@UsayWhateverIam You fool, he wants to eliminate SS... You love Ryan huh?

[Mitchapalooza23]

@dj4monie He wants to partially privatize SS to make it self funding once again. NOT eliminate. Many democrats and republicans have said his plan is the best anyone has put forth. Problem is SS is such a political dead zone 99% of congress is afraid to even speak of it.

[nutblast23]

@Mitchapalooza23 Why does everyone think social security is a real problem? Social security has a 2.6 trillion dollar surplus and the fact that the government spent it on the war doesn't make the program insolvent! It's like as if I had a piggie bank that was supposed to be used for my cell phone bill but instead used it for drugs! Does that mean my plan didn't work or the person responsible spent where it didn't belong? The government and the corporations don't give a DAMN about paying debts!!

[impratik]

@ Shank and Slipknot, I agree with Slipknot. First, America is not a warfare state, its a welfare state too. Second, history shows welfare doesnt work so good.

@ Shank, take this from a fellow Indian. The Americans are the authority on economics. No one understands economics better than Americans. But Im not talking about present day Americans, Im referring to the founding years, in the 1800s, before 1913. Thats when the real foundation for US's prosperity was laid down.

[3martijns]

Newspeople on msnbc almost All spout their personal Opinions, almost All Far Left.

Newspeople on Fox do Not tell their personal opinions.

[shankyxyz]

why do this conservatives never talk of the Pentagon's entitlement??? even adam smith said that the only way nation states go into deficit, is due military spending. social security is the target here.

[bigboss686]

@shankyxyz Um nope

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - I flat out reject that the only way Nations go into debt is due to Military Spending. Yes, it's a factor. However, if you look at the Deficit this year alone, it is DOUBLE the military budget including Iraq & Afghanistan supplemental. How can Military Spending alone cause a budget shortfall that large, mathematically? It's impossible. It is entitlements that cause this budget shortfall, growing at a rate 525% higher than inflation!

[shankyxyz]

@Slipknotyk06 well i am not talking about 1 specific year. there were specific years when u had surplus inspite of military.moreover its not my view, its adam smith's view based on history.remember also that 40 % of revenue is now spent on interest on debt,all of which would not be there.and whether u flat out reject out or not, the single largest component of spending for years far greater than entitlements is MILITARY.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz How can 40% of revenues be going to the interest when the interest is only 10% of the budget. You need to revise your figures, then get back with me. 67% of the budget is ENTITLEMENTS. Military is 21%, and can be reduced to the historical norm of 15% by withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan. Entitlement reform is mandatory for the US to keep from following Greece down the toilet.

[shankyxyz]

@Slipknotyk06 I agree,I made a typing mistake. this yr its projected about 4-5% becuz interest rates are near zero.but during bush years its been around 10%.what i am simply saying is that we know that a welfare system works.look at scandinavia.ok taxes are higer etc .but it works. a warfare state however i am not sure and more importantly its immoral.also ur medicare/medicaid costs can be slashed by half/capita if you make them universal and follow a european NHS model.

[shankyxyz]

@Slipknotyk06 its still possible to go into deficits without military for e.g. Greece, but in countries like greece they have abysmally low (effective) tax-to-GDP ratio compared to the social security net. If they implement stronger tax policies and stricter enforcement they will easily meet their revenue shortfall.u ppl on the right may not like it, but i feel scandinavian countries as an eg have much better quality of life than US.I have been to both places and am citizen of neither.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - I'm not going to accept your assertion that military is driving this country down more than the annual 21% growth of Medicaid/Medicare, and the fact that Social Security has been rendered bankrupt and we're paying Social Security via loans. Come on, you clearly have no clear grasp of the US's financial picture and are putting out fictional numbers! You have to come at me better than this.

[shankyxyz]

@Slipknotyk06 you spend more than the rest of the world combined on military, andhigest among large countries as %age of GDP (5 %).moreover the wars are funded off budget. meanwhile your welfare system promises are nowhere near what the european countries have.that immediately tells me that between welfare vs warfare where ur priorities lie.i am not denying that a welfare society reuires high taxes.but once the taxes are there, u can run it.warfare society meanwhile has ever expanding expenses.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - You're turning this discussion on it's ear, and attempting to warp it. The current deficit is 1.5 trillion dollars. The annual military budget INCLUDING the 2 wars is 750 Billion. EVEN WITH that 750 billion dollar expense, the presidency 3 years ago only ran a 125 billion per year deficit. Everything needs to be cut, and pulling out of those 2 wars would instantly reduce the deficit by 350 billion annually. What has changed is the expenditures in our entitlement system.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - Since Barack Obama took office, unemployment has doubled, so we're spending more on welfare, medicaid, and unemployment as a natural result. We have also done a Keynesian injection of cash that has been an absolute abject failure in stabilizing the economy, creating jobs, or infrastructure. In the middle of this, we are raising taxes on business taking money out of the economy that could be used to hire people. by the way, the wars are unfunded, meaning loans are paying for them.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - I have to repeat that you clearly have no grasp whatsoever on the US budget. This is compounded by the fact that this could all be cleared up, if the Democrats would produce a budget this year. Rather than produce a budget, they want all of our spending to remain clouded in mystery. They know if the American public knows just how deeply we're running in the red (I estimate 2.25 trillion deficit, 14 Trillion debt by end of year, debt to gdp of 125%) no democrat will be elected!

[mcap52]

@Slipknotyk06 If you add into the debt all the unfunded liabilities it is well over 100 trillion.

[Slipknotyk06]

@mcap52 - True, but this is such for MOST Governments. You just made my point for me, true debt reduction relies on the reduction of spending. Also, we need to vastly cut our unfunded liabilities. Thus, why ending entitlements, as well as entire bureaucracies is the only way to get a handle on our spending crisis. Screw the depts of ag, energy, education, hhs, welfare, medicaid/medicare and soc sec. There, I eliminated 90% of our unfunded liabilities and trimmed the budget by 2/3!

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - Also, there is an other society with ever-expanding expenses, and that is a Socialist welfare state.

[shankyxyz]

@Slipknotyk06 the annual growth(20% projected) is due to private insurance in medicair/aid.u spend more than twice/person than any country with universal insurance and outcomes are hardly better.more importantly u have very low/nonexistant capital gains tax and fair/high taxes on labour.if u tax wall street activities properly u will make up all the revenues to fund social/medicair.wha about starting with a tobin tax.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - Your assertion that the reason for the rise in costs of medicaid and medicare is because of private sector insurance is flatly wrong. What happens is, when medicare is teamed up with private insurance, insurance pays out the expense for the care, and is reimbursed by medicare it's portion, which is far less than what private insurance pays out. It's not like these insurance companies can run up the bill, as everything is price controlled. So, the entities are separate.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - The reason that our system is so expensive is because of the red tape. Doctors struggle with the expense of Malpractice insurance just to keep their doors open, medicaid/medicare both vastly underpay doctors for their services (thus why many doctors refuse these patients) and there is no cap for liability for these doctors. In conclusion, insurance is expensive because doctors are expensive, and doctors are expensive because of regulation that causes an undue burden of expenses.

[Slipknotyk06]

@shankyxyz - Also, these entitlement programs don't have nearly enough fraud prevention measures in them. It is estimated that 33% of all medicaid/medicare claims are fraudulent. This costs the American taxpayer over 100 billion annually. This further adds to the inefficiency of an already aging entitlement that needs to go and that America cannot afford to continue to fund.

[Gallego3478]

You said it! I'm a Romney man, however I know Congressman Ryan will also one day end up in the White House.

[siasina]

@Gallego3478 How could you support Romney? The guy is an absolute hawk when it comes to foreign policy, and the same republican establishment when it comes to domestic policies. He's a neo-con. He's nothing compared to Ryan (at least on domestic policies and the economy). Romney is just trash.

[Slipknotyk06]

@Gallego3478 - Romney is the biggest liberal shithead to call himself a Republican in the last 50 years! Romney stands a snowball's chance in hell of reaching the whitehouse with the true conservative ascendency. He has a red dot in the middle of his forehead as he is a RINO and deserves to be hunted down and disposed of from ever occupying office again!

[thedaoofplus1]

i said it before and i'll say it again, this guy should be the minority leader in the house, and speaker if the republicans win the house the fall. this guy isnt a politician, he's an american.

[TheLegalImmigrant05]

@thedaoofplus1 "this guy isnt a politician, he's an american"

Right on. I hope you're right about him. He did vote for TARP, but I have some hope for him.

[thedaoofplus1]

@TheLegalImmigrant05 i feel you on the tarp vote. i will take him over John Boehner any day of the week. i've been watching him propose a balanced budget year after year since 06. hell he is even willing do admit that all defense spending isnt necissary. what republican besides ron paul says that?

[TheLegalImmigrant05]

@thedaoofplus1 Bottom line, we need him.

More people like him in the legislature, more people like Christie in the executive branch.

Do you think there is still hope for this Republic?

[thedaoofplus1]

@TheLegalImmigrant05 i honestly dont know, it feels like the tide is just beggining to turn in that direction, but we'll find out in november. i feel ya on gov. christie, he's the man. i hope nikki haley follows his lead.

[Slipknotyk06]

@TheLegalImmigrant05 - He admits tarp was a fuckup though, quite openly.