Paul Ryan and Robert Reich debate taxes, spending and the economy

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, and Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich talk taxes, spending, and the economy on CNBC's Kudlow Report.

Paul Ryan: "Raising taxes is not good for economic growth. That raises the barrier and the hurdle to risk-taking, investment, innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation. I think that is bad tax policy and that is bad economic growth policy.

"We have to get spending on the right trajectory. If want to have these kinds of investments in infrastructure and education, we have got to get a grip on entitlements because they're crowding everything out of the budget. I would argue that if we do real entitlement reform, which doesn't hurt people in and near retirement, but puts us on a better trajectory going forward, that is going to give us some breathing space in the credit markets, it is going to take pressure off of interest rates, and that is going to help in the economy right now."

For more from Paul Ryan:
http://budget.house.gov/republicans
http://www.americanroadmap.org/
http://www.house.gov/ryan/
http://www.facebook.com/reppaulryan
http://www.twitter.com/reppaulryan/
http://www.youtube.com/reppaulryan

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• paul-ryan
• budget
• taxes
• spending
• roadmap
• republican
• congress
• house
• wisconsin

[ArgentThug]

@DillonDee1 You give them a penny, they'll ask for a dollar, before you know, US is the new Greece.

[CaptainRidley]

@GOPkicksbutt Great idea! Slave labor in the US! I thought it was deregulation and greed that screwed the economy. Oh wait Fox News won't tell you that. It was "the LIBERULZ666!!" Medicare, SS, and unemployment wasteful? Give me a break. War is wasteful, oil subsidies are wasteful, bush tax cuts are wasteful. Remember Clinton was the last president in which we had a surplus. The Economy collapsed in 2008.

[DillonDee1]

PAUL RYAN WILL NOT RAISE TAXES ON THE SUPER-RICH BY A PENNY.

[Gtjg88]

Yes I did. If we don't fix Medicare, ALL Americans will be forced to ration their healthcare. So go ahead and do nothing and more people will be hurt

[AndroidPolitician]

Does anyone posting here realize Paul Ryan literally tried to turn Medicare into a voucher program which would have reduced benefits by astronomical proportions?

[critter505]

"But I just want a small tax hike.....then when that fails I'll ask for another, then when that policy fails I'll ask for some more."

[implicico]

both of these guys love their government jobs they have an incentive NOT to get things in order. less government means more prosperity.

RON PAUL 2012!!!

[GOPkicksbutt]

Thanks to liberal policy the world economy is crashing. We must do two things to stop the meltdown NOW!!! Firstly, we need to raise all payroll taxes 10% for one year. We also need to stop (right now) wasteful handout programs like medicare, social security, unemployment,, etc. and lower the minimum wage to $2/hr so we can compete with China. I will work with Boehner, Ryan and my other republican colleagues and take immediate action on these proposals. God bless the GOP!

[mollyTheDog510]

Ah, the good ole' days, when the Republicans were actually worried about reducing the GDP. After the debt limit fight, it's clear that they have NO CARE about the effect of their policies on GDP, since they demanded Trillions in spending cuts, which directly lowers GDP. Nor do they care about the stock market and the "15% correction" that "would occur if a tax on investments passes".

Ryan is selling more of the same: policies that make the rich, richer, and the poor, poorer. Buyer beware!

[Pinkybum]

@nprbiz Ha - the only thing Robert Reich agreed on was that there needed to be entitlement reform. However, it matters how you go about doing that. As Robert Reich said if history is our guide we should raise the rates on the wealthy and drive ourselves to prosperity by investing in our country - education and infrastructure. The only other things to address are medical costs and defense spending both which can be cut drastically if anybody had the political will to do it.