Ryan: Trillion-dollar deficits were inevitable

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN/The Hill

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says that trillion-dollar deficits could not have been avoided by the GOP-controlled Congress, responding to critics within his party who say that leaders have behaved irresponsibly.

"That was going to happen. The baby boomers retiring was going to do that," Ryan said on NBC's "Meet the Press" of projections that the country will start running trillion-dollar deficits as soon as 2020.

Ryan and other GOP leaders have come under fire for passing a $1.5 trillion tax cut last year, which may wind up costing more than expected, in addition to a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package in March.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has said voting for the tax package "could well be one of the worst votes I've made" and that the Trump administration is "on track to be one of the most fiscally irresponsible administrations in history."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ryan-trillion-dollar-deficits-were-inevitable/ar-AAvUpo2?li=BBnb7Kz

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For 20 years, Paul Ryan has been selling himself as a deficit guru. Remember the man of many graphs with the kitchy title of Pathway to Prosperity? Remember when Ryan was selling Americans on why they should give Republicans control of Congress:



Here is Ryan in one of his trademark GOP infomercials:

Well, where are we now?

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/15/17239576/paul-ryan-retirement-budget-deficit-tax-cuts

Paul Ryan has no good answers for the ballooning deficits that happened under his watch

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) sold himself as a policy wonk and budget hawk throughout his 20-year career in the House. Now Ryan is retiring at the age of 48, after less than three years as Speaker. He seems to have abandoned the principles he championed during his time in Congress — fiscal responsibility and budget austerity — leaving ballooning deficits and Republican infighting. (For reference, the Congressional Budget Office this week estimated that deficits are going to be about $1.85 trillion bigger over the net 10 years, primarily because of the $1.5 trillion tax cut passed by Republicans in December.)

[hibbing]

1. Corker..

Words fail me, I know he personally benefited from the massive cuts for the ruling class, but to now admit it was probably one of the worst votes he ever made?

Only the best the brightest.


Peace

[Ztolkins]

6. Fuck that guy. nt.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. There is nothing stopping them from repealing the tax cuts for the wealthy law

except their greed and hypocrisy.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. We're so screwed... if only.

[Marthe48]

4. lyin' ryan

he is a dolt, who can destroy, but doesn't know how to build. Doesn't know how to lead, but is led around by the nose. The deficit exploded because the 1% want even more than they already have. They have taken jobs, wages, health care, interest on savings, competition in the marketplace and investment opportunities, and ruined the real estate market. I can't think of a way the 1% hasn't connived to not only keep theirs, but get the little we have. lyin' ryan is just a rake they used to get further along.

All this crap about baby boomers. How many of us even live to be 65? My circle of friends just buried 6 people under 65 in the last 2 weeks. And I know of at least 2 more who might not make it to next week. And after the baby boomers, what? The GenXers, Millennials, etc, will be smaller generations, and there will be fewer people retiring. People like lyin' ryan can't see past his own little keyhole. He and his masters are so hellbent on having total control of every single life on the planet that if death and dying bothers them, it is only because some bit of life slipped away from their grasping greedy fingers.

[notdarkyet]

34. Not positive, but pretty sure the millennial are the largest generation now , bigger than the

Boomers. But I get tired of the boomers getting blamed. My husband died at 61. Lost most of my friends.

[Marthe48]

44. We're neck and neck :)

The government and number crunchers have known for years how many of us there are. Of course the 1% and ayn rand types don't want any plans made. And anything that might have worked has been dismantled, or getting pounded.

My husband passed away at 69. And many of the people we knew are gone also. Sorry for your losses.

[turbinetree]

5. Hey "ayn rand " asshole

do fucking understand that my generation paid not only my social security and medicare, but the generation before me, and the x and y generations social security and medicare, and your fucking social security and Medicare the tax rate went up from 3.5 to 7.6% and to really top it off asshole anyone making over, hold to your "any rand " asshole seat the following...........asshole.

Back in the day, when you made over $56,000 you stopped paying into social security and medicare tax, then when it went up to $75,000 you did not have to pay anymore, then it went up to $118,000 and you didn't have pay one fucking cent, but everyone making less than those figures had to pay for all of the assholes that made over the above amounts, plus there own social security and medicare, it became free, a free tax, just like the traitor in the white house now, he gets more because his kid is less than eighteen and he's fucking over 70 .........you really are a fucking asshole................

FUCK YOU


November 2018 cannot get here fast enough

[notdarkyet]

35. +1000000

[BootinUp]

7. Scum nt

[Marie Marie]

8. How dare the Baby Boomers live long enough to collect their Social Security!

[Botany]

39. Paul Ryan took social security and other government benefits ....

... as a young man.

[dalton99a]

9. Traitor and thief.

[JohnnyRingo]

10. I guess it's too late to blame Obama.

So blame revenue shortages on baby boomers.

Using his reasoning, it's inevitable that I'm going to die, so I should tighten a noose around my neck to restrict air intake. He'll be a supply side prick til his death, making excuses why his tax cuts don't work.

[Honeycombe8]

11. That's a creative spin. Gotta hand it to him. He's got an answer for everything.

It's called "talking point" or "giving the supporters something to respond with, when challenged on it."

[jmowreader]

12. I have two good answers for those same deficits

Tax cuts and increased spending. That's it and that's what we're dealing with.

I realize you were absent the day they discussed economics in your college career, but it's pretty simple.

Everyone, whether it's a five-year-old kid who gets a quarter a week as his allowance or a government that receives billions in tax revenues, receives money and spends money.

If you receive money faster than you spend it, your supply of money gets bigger.

If you spend it faster than you receive it, your supply of money gets smaller.

Anyone who tells you that you can receive less money than you did last year, spend more than you did last year, and not get into trouble needs to have an act of senseless violence inflicted upon his empty head. Preferably with a large blunt object. But...that's exactly what the Republicans do.

[SergeStorms]

16. Sooner or later someone is going to have to address the 800 lb. Gorilla in the room.

Defense spending. Every year they're given carte blanch. Every year they develop weapons no one wants or needs. They waste money like we actually have it to spend. The "Guns or Butter" argument is someday going to have to come down on the "butter" side. It's always been stuck on "guns", and that shit has to change if we're ever going to have a more robust, equitable society.

[airplaneman]

17. On time and on que republicans never fail.

Tax cuts for the rich and increase military and other spending - but never the spending that benefits society as a whole.
Reagan did it, Bush did it, Trump is the biggest and most irresponsible of all.
The real irony is that;
Democrats are tax and spend - the republicans are correct but it is really the only proper way to do it - generate the revenue you intend to spend and don't spend more than that
- too bad its been turned into a negative - it should be something we are proud of.
Republicans are borrow and spend - you point out the obvious outcome.
Oh the irony.
-Airplane

[Eyeball_Kid]

19. Dems: tax and spend;

GOPers: borrow and spend.

[Bengus81]

45. I've always said borrow and blow........

[jmowreader]

20. There is one way to reduce the deficit and the GOP will not accept it

Each dollar in new spending must be offset with one dollar in new taxes.

If Trump wants to spend $20 billion, or $50 or $100 or whatever it is on his useless wall, that's disgusting. If he really wants it, it MUST be offset by a dollar-for-dollar concomitant tax increase. If they won't raise taxes to have the things they want, they don't need them.

[roamer65]

13. Id balance the budget on the backs of the wealthy...

and if they try to move their money out of US, I’d confiscate every damn cent of it.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. Tom, I would like to see a redraw of that Ryan graph....

that includes the current tax cut and projected spending. Label it Trumponomics 2018.

After watching the Raygun, Shrub Bush and now tRumps's economic packages, I'm firmly convinced this is the GOP's planned and executed cycle:
1. Lie and buy your way into power.
2. Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, thereby starving the government of revenue.
3. Spend you ass off to increase deficits, with military spending and/or a new war being the easiest "patriotic" recipients.
4. Along the way, deregulate and privatize everything possible.
5. Wash, rinse, and repeat until the government is essentially dead and plutocracy reigns.

PS: Take a break every 10 years or so. Democrats will win every few cycles, so the GOP can project and blame them for all the failures.
------
This is the grand plan that's being funded by corporate profits that we gave them from our purchases of goods and services over many years.

We must permanently stop this cycle or it will destroy us. GOTV.

[JI7]

15. Ignorant asshole

[BlueMTexpat]

18. Ryan is definitely bottom-of-the-barrel.

But the GOP has proven that bottom-of-the-barrel is STILL not low enough.

[Midnight Writer]

21. If I had a dollar for every time I heard Ryan described as a "Policy Wonk' or "Budget Guru",

Then I would have just got a big tax break.

[Cha]

22. STFU Whiny pants. Would even paul ryan be stupid enough to say this..?

[TomVilmer]

23. If something sounds too good to be true...

Although Ryan did say “we’re not going to give up on destroying the healthcare system for the American people,” this was merely a gaffe, not a statement of intent. Ryan was referring to the Affordable Care Act and his efforts to not let that law destroy the health care system. This is made clearer in a slightly longer version of the clip, which gives more context to Ryan’s comment.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/paul-ryan-destroy-health-care/

[Cha]

24. uh huh.. That's what they were doing whether it

was a "gaffe" or not.

[TomVilmer]

25. Fake stuff like this is fun for brain dead supporters...

... but would last zero seconds in any real debate. With valid arguments there might be a chance for a decent dialogue. Paul Ryan have said plenty of real stupid things to pick from. Make a difference - please leave all use of fake arguments to Trump & Friends!

[CentralMass]

26. He's a scumbag

[duforsure]

27. Ryan's a lying scumbag

Working for the wealthy interests for personal gains like they're tax scam giving them billions while taking trillions out of our economy , and then to use to destroy Medicare, and Social Security with, Only a corrupt and disgusting person could do that to the American people, especially to the old, and poor, then claiming he did something good, it was clearly good for only the rich, and will hurt us and the economy. Ryan's a total representative for the rich, not the rest of us. That's another reason the GOP will be swamped out of office from the waves coming, that's why they're running away in record numbers.

[dsc]

28. Actually Baby Boomers and those after them paid for those benefits

with increased Social Security Taxes. It went up from 6.65 to 7.51. It had increased repeatedly over the working life of baby boomers until it got to 7.65. This was done to pay for their retirement. That is the entire reason for the increase.

[modrepub]

29. Takes A Special Kind Of Stupid

to generate a $1T deficit with and expanding economy and falling unemployment rates.

[Sherman A1]

30. Pardon me for a moment.

I will now go talk with the wall as it will do as much good as responding to the GOP logic.

[DetlefK]

31. If trillion-dollar-deficits are unavoidable, how would a balanced-budget agreement avoid them?

It's weird how Republicans demand balanced budgets but don't pass them when given the chance.

[paleotn]

33. Stop with the logic...

You'll only confuse the Rethugs.

[Igel]

42. The CBO budget projection from late last spring

said 2022 would be the year we hit trillion-dollar deficits. That was before the tax cut from December was factored in. Before, in fact, nearly any Trump-mandated spending. Nobody noticed because it might say something unpleasant.

Such deficits aren't inevitable; they were inevitable, given the factors that held about a year ago. If there's a balanced budget amendment with teeth, then all kinds of things (but not OASDI and some Medicare parts with dedicated funding) would be cut really bad.

[Vinca]

32. Paul "The Wonk" believes in an Ayn Rand world. His solution for solving the financial problems

in the country is cutting of grandma, poor people, sick people and anyone else who can't pull their own weight. (Then he grins, flashes his baby blues and hurries off to church.)

[padfun]

36. Isn't Social Security OFF budget?

Meaning it is it's own separate issue. I though that when they do the budget that it doesn't include SSN,

Am I wrong?

[Igel]

43. Depends on what you're doing.

It's part of the budget. But it's not part of the discretionary budget because, well, it's mandated.

It's not funded by general revenue streams because it has dedicated funding. And while it's self-sufficient, it has pretty much zero effect on the deficit at present. It's not really socking away excess money, it's not really drawing from the trust fund. Much of that status is because of the interest it earns on the trust fund, though.

If you consider the trust fund, then in a sense when the trust fund is liquidated to provide cash for paying OASDI, it won't increase the deficit. It's already debt, after all. On the other hand, currently the money is held in the form of special issue treasury notes that can only be held by the government, and pay an interest rate that doesn't affect the t-bill market--their borrowing doesn't affect the interest rates or demand for general-issue treasury notes. When the trust fund is drawn down, the special issue treasury securities will be bought using general revenues--but since we're running a deficit, that money will be promptly borrowed on the open market. In other words, as we redeem the trust fund, we will have larger sales of general-issue treasury bills, which may drive up the interest rate for those bills. And that would increase the deficit, because that interest increase wouldn't be for just the new debt, but for all outstanding debt that's redeemed and reissued.

[ProfessorGAC]

37. Um, Paulie!

Then raise taxes you dummy.

Balancing the budget also includes raising revenues, not just cutting spending, you 2 dimensional cartoon character.

What a dolt.

[marble falls]

38. Its called 'self-fulfilling prophecy'.

[IronLionZion]

40. Inevitable while the conservative party is in charge of things

racking up trillions for wars and tax cuts while cutting funding for social programs. Still no infrastructure plan as our roads and bridges and tunnels are crumbling. But a few rich assholes made out like bandits.

Corker, Ryan, and others knew it was bad when they voted for it. And they knew they would retire and not have to face the voters again.

[Vogon_Glory]

41. Republican Myth Of Fiscal Responsibilty Put To The Lie

Most of us gray-haired Democrats are old enough to remember the Republicans’ claims that they were the party of fiscal responsibility, an oft-repeated meme that might have last been close to plausible while Gerry Ford was in the White House (Over 40 years ago!!!), but has been disproven multiple times in the decades since.

Ryan’s tax cut was the latest slap in the face not only to the struggling, the aged, the ailing, and the handicapped but to folks across the ideological spectrum who believed in Honest, responsible governance.

There is a kernel of truth in Ryan’s statement, though. Trillion-dollar deficits ARE inevitable—IF YOU ELECT REPUBLICANS!!!

[scarytomcat]

46. Inevitable my ass

if the rich paid their income and social security taxes like they should there would be no deficit and SS would be good for ever
it is all about greed and keeping workers down