Rep Paul Ryan: Health Care Spending

Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), ranking minority member on the House budget committee, spoke at the recent Presidential summit on Healthcare.  Here is his 6 minute presentation at the White House:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/02/26/paul_ryan_hiding_spending_doesnt_reduce_spending.html

Or go to You Tube and look up Representative Ryan.     His message to the President: The proposed healthcare bill doesn't work, costs too much, allows for a government take over and it will run up the deficit.    

(c) 2010, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org  

Kudlow on Solving US Debt

Kudlow on Solving US Debt

Finally the gridlock in Washington is slowing down the Democrat majority and their spend, tax and debt raising ways.   The spending binge that Obama and his Democrat “bigger government is better” allies in Congress have been on since January 2009 is beginning to slow, as recent elections (GOP governors in New Jersey and Virginia, plus the upset US Senate race victory in Massachusetts by Scott Brown) have changed the political landscape.   The Tea Party Movement, quickly dismissed by the Main Street Media (MSM) and Democratic operatives, is gaining traction, as the American people sense something is very wrong with Washington DC:  President Obama is proposing US Government overspending with no end in sight.

Well know supply-sider Lawrence Kudlow makes his case for a make over of the approach the Democrats are taking in Washington: Cut the spending, bring the deficit down to 2% or 3% of the GDP and bring taxes into line with pro-growth policies.

Here's the real problem: The Obama budget would take federal spending as a fraction of the economy to 25 percent, roughly a $1 trillion additional spending increase in the out-years. Publicly held federal debt would climb about $18.5 trillion by 2020, more than double what Obama inherited, rising to almost 80 percent of the economy.   (FCM blogger note:  Greece is on verge of default with 90% debt to GDP ratio). 

Rather than tax hikes, I say stop the spending. Outside of defense and entitlements, why not roll back the discretionary budget to 2008?

Or take a look at Harvard professor Martin Feldstein's idea of putting an end to all the new Obama refundable tax credits, which really are nothing more than new spending and government-transfer programs. Feldstein estimates that putting an end to the new "tax expenditures" could save $1 trillion by 2020.

And I would add in the need for a congressional law that sets strict spending-limit rules based on population and inflation.  And how about flat-tax reform -- ending all the unnecessary flotsam-and-jetsam tax credits and subsidies -- to broaden the tax base? Why not slash the top tax rate to 20 percent or less for a true flat tax?

Why not stop the multiple taxes on all forms of saving and investing, including capital gains, dividends and inheritances? And why not eliminate the business tax on profits in favor of a sales tax on net revenues that would deduct all investment expenses? That would leave us with a single-rate consumption-based income tax that would grow this economy by 7 percent to 8 percent in the years ahead, just as the economy should grow after a deep recession.

Going back to the debt-to-GDP ratio, I want to grow the denominator (the economy) and reduce the demand for the numerator (spending and borrowing). That means a combination of supply-side tax cuts and firm spending limits.

And we should add in some monetary reform for a stable King Dollar linked to gold or a commodity basket, along with an expansion of free trade, which itself is a tax cut.

In other words, I'm proposing a growth solution to the debt problem. Lower spending is pro-growth. So are lower tax rates. A program like this could get yearly budget deficits down to a manageable 2 percent to 3 percent in a couple of years. And getting the debt ratio back down to something like 50 percent also would be quite manageable.   Lawrence Kudlow, 2.20.2010 in www.rasmussenreports.com    

Some quick info, via www.wikipedia.com   Just search:  Lawrence Kudlow.   

©  2010, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org   

Stop the Red Ink! GOP Alternative

Stop the Red Ink!  GOP Alternative

Here is the link to the GOP House members “budget page”, that may help in understanding there are more fiscally responsible ways to look at and manage the Federal budget: http://www.house.gov/budget_republicans  

Of note is the projected spending and Federal deficits proposed by the Democrats and President Obama.  Simply not sustainable, as US debt has passed 50% GDP.     

(c) 2010, Jasper Welch, Fours Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org