Last year, senior citizens were among the loudest opponents of the president’s health care overhaul. But, with the Medicare reforms included in the Paul Ryan’s budget proposals, Democrats are optimistic the president could “regain lost ground in key battleground states and narrow the generation gap“:
But Ryan’s plan, embraced by most Republicans, gives Obama a big opportunity in 2012 to regain lost ground in key battleground states and narrow the generation gap. “It finally gives us an argument to make with seniors… It’s a godsend,” said a Democratic operative allied with Obama who sees the issue as a way to make up lost ground with seniors in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Florida.
Citing actual polling data, Don Surber (who alerted me to the above article) disagrees: “People 65 and older like Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s plans for the budget and Medicare.” In fact, as this chart from Gallup shows, they prefer Ryan’s plan to the president’s:
“Only those whippersnappers,” Surber quips, “who still . . . think Obama is the Justin Bieber of politics dislike Paul Ryan’s plan.” Looking at the same poll, Ed Morrissey finds that it gives “Ryan an edge in the debate, although a thin one to be sure“:
Obama’s attempt to frighten seniors into panic at the idea of choice and self-management doesn’t seem to be working terribly well, and Ryan has a wide opening to argue for the American values of individual choice as a means for reform.
For two days now I’ve gotten e-mails from the DCCC (for some reason) orgasming over the fraudulent, manufactured “backlash” against the Ryan plan. They want us to believe that Seasoned Citizens, whom Chairman Obama has shat on over and over, are raising hell at Republicans at town halls across the country.
Problem is, there’s only been a few instances where liberal plants have made asses of themselves (every time they open their cake holes) and have even been arrested in FLL. The DCCC also shares the video of their idiotic, fear-mongering commercial that Politifact declared as bullshit.
http://tinyurl.com/3rwqwsm
It’s just sad.
It is sad, but all this is just infighting over who is going to be stuck with the bar tab on the Titanic.
The longer the U.S. puts off entitlement reform, the more financially doomed it is. If the Democrats succeed – and let’s grant that they might – then THEY will be captaining the Titanic when it goes down. (Thus their efforts have a self-defeating quality.) If instead Ryan succeeds, well the Titanic might not go down, but it will still be stuck in the water for a few years with a giant gash in the hull. I know, the latter outcome is better.
Strangely relevant – Keynes vs. Hayek 2.0: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/315396.php
I’ve published the attached plan on several blogs. It is aproposal to replace our tax code and all the entitlements. I’m posting it here because I think the Gay community might find the first section particularly interesting as it treats ALL Americans equally. Beyond that, I hope you’ll consider it and send comments to tbeebe6535@yahoo.com
1. All persons residing in the U.S. shall come together in “tax units”. Members need not be related, need not reside together, and a tax unit may consist of as few as one person.
2. Each year congress shall set a “minimum wage” and a “tax rate”.
3. The following shall not be subject to taxation:
• An amount equal to a year’s earnings at the minimum wage, for each adult (age 20-65), decreasing 10% per year to 50% at age 15, and increasing 10% per year to 150% at age 70.
• All payments for necessary health care including medical care, pharmaceuticals prescribed by a health care professional, vision and hearing aids, and fees for health-enhancing entities such as gyms. Health care insurance premiums may be deducted but not health care expense paid for by such insurance.
• All educational expenses including day care for children or legally incompetent persons, the portion of state and local taxes used for education, that portion of parochial school tuition and other expenses going for non-sectarian education, and tuition, fees and educational materials for private school education.
• All income saved into an account for investments; withdrawals from this account for the benefit of any member of the tax unit shall be reported as income.
4. The “tax rate” shall be applied to any income greater than the deductions listed above, regardless of amount.
5. Any municipality having greater than 100,000 inhabitants or any state may impose on their citizens a surtax which shall be applied the same as the Federal tax.
6. Tax units whose deductions exceed income, shall be paid a sum equal to the tax rate multiplied by the shortfall in income.
7. There shall be no federal tax on corporations or other business entities.
8. The Office of Management and Budget shall compute revenues to be expected using the newly set tax rate and minimum wage, applied to the previous year’s reported incomes. No expenses in excess of that amount may be made without approval by 75% of each house of Congress.
What’s not to like about more collective groupings?