Listened to a bit of the Ryan speech. Interesting in the fact that it seems to be the same spin that is easily debunked.
Is consistency in being loosey goosey with the facts in fact a winning strategy?
http://factcheck.org/2012/08/ryans-vp-spin/
Is consistency in being loosey goosey with the facts in fact a winning strategy?
http://factcheck.org/2012/08/ryans-vp-spin/
Ryans VP Spin
TAMPA, Fla. Paul Ryans acceptance speech at the Republican convention contained several false claims and misleading statements. Delegates cheered as the vice presidential nominee:
-Accused President Obamas health care law of funneling money away from Medicare at the expense of the elderly. In fact, Medicares chief actuary says the law substantially improves the systems finances, and Ryan himself has embraced the same savings.
-Accused Obama of doing exactly nothing about recommendations of a bipartisan deficit commission which Ryan himself helped scuttle.
Claimed the American people were cut out of stimulus spending. Actually, more than a quarter of all stimulus dollars went for tax relief for workers.
-Faulted Obama for failing to deliver a 2008 campaign promise to keep a Wisconsin plant open. It closed less than a month before Obama took office.
-Blamed Obama for the loss of a AAA credit rating for the U.S. Actually, Standard & Poors blamed the downgrade on the uncompromising stands of both Republicans and Democrats.
And when he wasnt attacking Obama, Ryan was puffing up the record of his running mate, Mitt Romney, on taxes and unemployment.
Taking Money from Medicare?
Ryan continued the campaigns false line of attack that Obama had funneled money out of Medicare to pay for the federal health care law at the expense of the elderly. But thats contradicted by Medicares chief actuary, in a statement at the end of the most recent report of the systems trustees (our emphasis added):
Medicare Actuary, April 23, 2012: [Obama's] Affordable Care Act makes important changes to the Medicare program and substantially improves its financial outlook
Medicares money isnt being taken away. The Affordable Care Act calls for slowing the growth in spending, a move that if successful would keep the hospital insurance trust fund solvent for longer than if the reductions didnt happen.
Ryan himself proposed keeping most of these same spending cuts in his most recent Path to Prosperity budget. Yet, Ryan criticized Obamas cuts as the biggest, coldest power play of all and suggested seniors would suffer as a result.
Ryan, Aug. 29: And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly. [T]hey just took it all away from Medicare, $716 billion funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.
The Affordable Care Act calls for a $716 billion reduction in the future growth of Medicare spending over 10 years, with most of that about $415 billion coming from a reduction in the future growth of payments to hospitals through Medicare Part A. And Medicare Part As trust fund, as weve explained before, is in trouble financially. Its set to be insolvent in 2024, even with these spending cuts. Without them, the trust fund wouldnt be able to fully pay projected benefits in 2016, the Medicare trustees estimate.
Deficit Commission
Ryan accused Obama of doing exactly nothing about recommendations from a bipartisan presidential commission to reduce the deficit. But Ryan himself was among a minority of commission members whose opposition scuttled the plan and prevented it from being sent automatically to Congress for action.
Ryan: He created a new bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanks them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing. Republicans stepped up with good-faith reforms and solutions equal to the problems. How did the president respond? By doing nothing nothing except to dodge and demagogue the issue.
The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reforms report proposed deep spending cuts in both domestic and military spending, and an overhaul of the tax code that would have lowered rates but raised revenues all in an attempt to slow the growth of government by $4 trillion over 10 years.
Many Republicans, including Ryan, opposed the military cuts and new tax revenue, while many Democrats opposed changes to Social Security that included raising the full retirement age.
The 18-member commission needed a super majority of 14 votes in order to bring the report to a vote in Congress. But it received the support of just 11 members. Seven members, including Ryan, opposed it, thus blocking congressional action.
In a statement on the final report, Ryan said he could not support the plan in its entirety, but said some elements of it were worthy of further pursuit.
Ryan opposed the commissions approach to paying for lower federal income tax rates by taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income (see footnote on page 29). In his own latest budget plan, Ryan proposed to keep the current capital gains tax rate, arguing that to do otherwise could precipitate a flight of capital away from job-creating businesses.
Like Ryan, Obama thanked the commission in a Dec. 3, 2010, statement that promised to study closely its proposals for possible inclusion in his own budget plans. Nine months later, Obama submitted a deficit reduction plan to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that was designed to reduce the deficit by $3.6 trillion over 10 years through a package of spending cuts and tax hikes.
Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, tried to work out a so-called Grand Bargain that would have reduced the deficit through a mix of tax hikes and spending cuts and even changes to Social Security. The New York Times reported that the Grand Bargain would have raised the retirement age and changed the formula for calculating benefits. But, as the Times reported, the deal fell through as members of Boehners caucus objected to raising taxes.
In short, both Ryan and Obama have proposed deficit-reduction plans and each opposed the others plan.