Monday, August 06, 2012

Josh Mandel + Paul Ryan Budget


* Republican candidate Josh Mandel, Ohio's absent Treasurer, supports the Paul Ryan budget.  What do experts and religious leaders think of Paul Ryan's budget?  Here are a few reviews----

>  Paul Krugman at the NY Times (4/1/12):
...For on Thursday Republicans in the House of Representatives passed what was surely the most fraudulent budget in American history. 

And when I say fraudulent, I mean just that. The trouble with the budget devised by Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, isn’t just its almost inconceivably cruel priorities, the way it slashes taxes for corporations and the rich while drastically cutting food and medical aid to the needy. Even aside from all that, the Ryan budget purports to reduce the deficit — but the alleged deficit reduction depends on the completely unsupported assertion that trillions of dollars in revenue can be found by closing tax loopholes...

...So the Ryan budget is a fraud; Mr. Ryan talks loudly about the evils of debt and deficits, but his plan would actually make the deficit bigger even as it inflicted huge pain in the name of deficit reduction. But is his budget really the most fraudulent in American history? Yes, it is....

Politico (4/13/12):

Nearly 60 progressive Catholic leaders released a statement Friday, condemning Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s assertion that his budget proposal was shaped by his Catholic faith....

“If Rep. Ryan thinks a budget that takes food and health care away from millions of vulnerable people upholds Catholic values, then he also probably believes Jesus was a tea partier who lectured the poor to stop being so lazy and work harder,” said Gehring. “This budget turns centuries of Catholic social teaching on its head. These Catholic leaders and many Catholics in the pews are tired of faith being misused to bless an immoral agenda.”

....."....this budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good. A budget that turns its back on the hungry, the elderly and the sick while giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest few can’t be justified in Christian terms,” argue the signatories....
 
Paul Ryan claims his Catholic faith was his guide?????  Paul Ryan is a follower of Ayn Rand.
 
>  The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism had this review of the Paul Ryan budget.(3/21/12):

In response to the introduction of a 2013 budget resolution by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Mark J. Pelavin, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism issued the following statement:

As an affirmation of our national priorities, the budget is inherently and inescapably a moral document. We support, and have long supported, a federal budget that reflects  our solemn moral obligation to guard the most vulnerable in our society. House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), however, has chosen a different path. By ending the entitlement status of Medicaid and Medicare, fundamentally altering the tax system, and slashing spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and education programs, the Ryan plan would turn our backs on our obligation to care for all Americans.

We are commanded in Deuteronomy “Do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman.” From this teaching and so many others, the Reform Movement has long opposed block granting and privatization of entitlement programs. The Union for Reform Judaism’s 1981 resolution on the federal budget stated, “It is a pernicious idea that somehow the poor, or public assistance to the poor, is the cause of our economic problems and that solutions at their expense are permissible.” For the same reason, the Union for Reform Judaism in 2001 opposed “tax policies that unfairly and inequitably bestow their benefits on the wealthy” and that “restrict the government’s ability to address urgent needs.” As we said last year when Congressman Ryan released a similar plan, his budget resolution prioritizes the wealthy over the needy, and, therefore, does not reflect the values to which we aspire as Reform Jews and as Americans.

Under the 2013 Ryan plan, both Medicaid and Medicare as we know them would end...
 
That is a very strong statement.

Josh Mandel's support of the Paul Ryan budget proves that he has little respect for anyone other than his wealthy supporters.  Shame on Josh Mandel.

•••••  If Romney chooses former Bush budget director, Rob Portman, as his running mate, they could pay off part of the national debt.  Romney's wealth is well known.  Sen. Rob Portman (OH-R) is worth, by one estimate, $6.7 million (LINK).  Of course, Rob Portman's decisions as Bush's budget director helped create the financial disaster that started under Bush and exists today.

Here is what Politifact discovered about Rob Portman's time within the Bush administration as the director of the budget and trade czar:

....the cumulative trade deficit under Portman was about 21 percent higher than it was for the equivalent time period just before he took office....
 
...As for the deficit, we turned to OMB historical tables. As OMB director from May 26, 2006, to August 3, 2007, Portman was deeply involved in the fiscal year 2008 budget process. (The fiscal 2007 budget would have been handled by his predecessor.)

The fiscal 2008 deficit of nearly $459 billion was more than twice the fiscal 2007 deficit, which approached $161 billion....
 
By the way...... Has Romney released his income tax returns yet???