fiscal affairs. This voice is a clarion call to lead the United
States back to a balanced budget, starting with some spending
cuts --- real cuts, not phony cuts entailing raising expenditures
X dollars instead of raising them Y. Not simply shaving a sliver
off of the budget and trying to pass it off as a slash to the bone.
Real cuts in federal spending. This is a most courageous voice.
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has crafted a budget plan that features
just these cuts. With both our national budget deficit and our
national debt at record levels, putting every man, woman, and
child in the hole at $200,000 each (at the present time), with
no letup in sight (not a good portent for the coming generations
of Americans), The Wisconsin congressman has formed a serious
means of addressing this growing threat to our nation's financial
well-being and its very survival. Rep. Ryan's plan will cut $5.8
trillion from current federal spending projections, and sustained
expenditure reduction at this pace would put us on the road to
a balanced budget.
On the matter of Medicare Ryan's plan would, starting in 2022,
give people vouchers worth what Medicare would then cost,
giving people the option to shop for their own insurance plan,
the plan being subject to government approval. Regarding
medicaid, the program would be turned over to the states,
allowing them to decide how to most effectively administer
the program. No spending for either program would be cut.
The health care industry, as your diligent Peasant has related
in a post on Obamacare a year ago, comprises about one-
sixth of our economy.
All forms of government assistance would be linked to the rise
in the CPI (Consumer Price Index), the prices of consumer
goods and services. These are just a few of the provisions in
Ryan's budget plan which would lighten the tax load for the
coming generations.
The Democrats claim, of course, that Ryan's budget plan
would not affect the wealthy, while burdening working families
and ignoring the poor; that it illustrates the conservatives' lack
of compassion for those who are struggling and how Ryan is
oh so cruel, and more such hogwash. They also want very
badly for us to believe that expanded consumer choice won't
work to reduce costs in the health care market. Uncle Sam
presently spends approximately 50 cents of every dollar spent
on health care; the Dems want even more such spending here,
as evidenced by Obamacare. But in every market where
consumer choice is allowed, competition grows and prices
shrink. Increasing quality while decreasing costs has been
successful in other markets; look at cars, computers, TVs,
calculators, and telephones for just a few examples! And
health care is a commodity not unlike those previously
mentioned, despite what liberals would have us believe.
The onus is upon the Democrats and their friends to make
the case for giving less scope to consumer choice and more
scope to government intervention in our health care. They
must explain why it is a bad thing for the people to have a
variety of health coverage options to choose from and why
government mandated plans, and the exorbitant expenditures
accompanying them, are beneficial. Next, they must also
explain why we must not only keep but grow existing
government assistance programs which displace fathers
as the main providers for families and dissolve people's
initiative and self-reliance for creating careers and rewarding
lives.
Your faithful Peasant says: let's give Rep. Paul Ryan's budget
plan a chance. No one else from either party has offered any
alternative, and we must act immediately. Our future gener-
ations, our society, and our country are at stake.
MEM
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