Ryan's "YouCut" pretty "YouseLess"

by folkbum

Another big, wet kiss to Paul Ryan (R-Galt's Gulch) from the daily paper this morning:

Instead of voting for your favorite "American Idol" or "Dancing with the Stars" contestants, you can now vote on your favorite federal spending cut - courtesy of the GOP.

House Republicans say their new "YouCut" program will give voters the chance to suggest budget-slashing proposals directly to members of Congress and see lawmakers act on their ideas. Republicans say they will try to force colleagues to vote on the cuts every week on the House floor.

"The majority of Americans would like to see less spending," said Rep. Paul Ryan, a Janesville Republican. "We want to give them the opportunity to convey that sense."

That's the same Paul Ryan, remember, who happily voted for the war in Iraq, every Iraq-funding supplemental (i.e., off-budget) spending bill, and Medicare Part D, which contained trillions in spending with no funding mechanism whatsoever.

But what's remarkable is not the naked hypocrisy--we are used to that by now from Ryan--it's that the options to vote for at this ridiculous "YouCut" site amount to, essentially, a sliver:

For example, participants in this little exercise can eliminate the Presidential Election Fund, saving $260 million over five years--but in the process making national candidates more dependent on outside fundraising. Folks can also vote to eliminate $200,000 a year in HUD grants for doctoral research on housing policy.

What's especially interesting, though, is that all of the proposals don't amount to much given the larger budget picture. Merit aside, if officials were to scrap every penny of the spending on [the] list, it would save taxpayers about $1.1 billion a year.

Remember, that's out of a budget of $4 trillion. $1.1 billion is less than the budget of the Milwaukee Public Schools alone. And at the link, Steve Benen goes on to remind us that last year, after President Obama offered a package of spending cuts that Republicans called laughable, Obama called their bluff and asked for their proposal. It came in at less than 10% of the cuts per year than the laughable Obama proposal.

It's clear that Republicans like Ryan are not actually serious about trying to govern responsibly. Stunts like "YouCut" are so dumb that even the rubes at RedState have caught on: "How stupid do they think we are?" that diarist wonders. Very, apparently.

Hey Big Spenders

Keith R. Schmitz

This week and since spring we have been entertained by the spectacular sight of angry white people taking the time to assemble in parks, capitol squares and town halls to rail, scream and threaten because of oh, a number of reasons. One of these that gets mentioned a lot is "all that government spending."

That spending, of course, by our current President.

We say, "ahem, where were you all when money, YOUR money, was being blown on Iraq, tax cuts for millionaires and drug 'reform' for seniors"...to the deaf.

Turns out that we were right. According to these calculations, 82% of our federal debt was racked up by GOP Presidents.

No one protests the right of people to protest, yell, scream, make derisive photo shops of their President, just so long as they know what the hell they are talking about.

Magical Misery Tour

By Keith Schmitz

The Fiscal Wake Up Tour hits Milwaukee today at Discovery World. The group, which includes the sagely Ann Rivlin who was former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, will be bringing dire warnings about the condition of our economy.

What they will be talking about before the members of the MMAC and any one else who cares to show up is that we are in sorry shape.

It is sort of Animal Farm in reverse. This time, instead of the piggy proletariat leaders selling out their followers to the other side, we are being offered up by those of the right wing.

Think of it. A major portion of our debt is being held by the "Red" Chinese. You know. Those evil folks that we have been taught to fear and loathe since 1949 mainly by Republicans.

It's not all Bush's fault, but certainly the trillions of dollars of debt built up by this administration over the past eight years has put us in the spot where the "Red" Chinese might be able to call the shots.

The Wake Up Tour will be telling us that who ever takes over after this election will have to make some tough choices. Of course one that seems totally inappropriate will be extending the tax cuts for those making high incomes who would feel the pain the least. At least John McCain thinks this would be wonderful.

If the US does not bite the bullet, we could have China, Saudi Arabia and other countries dictating our internal policy just like the World Bank does with any other third world country run by a tin horn dictator.

When Bush said he wanted to create an ownership society in this country, this is not what some of us had in mind.