Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has a scorcher on Rep. Paul Ryan, the alleged “intellectual” of the conservative movement.
Krugman’s not the first one to notice that the GOP’s Young Gun is shooting blanks.
But his column is a fun read anyway. (More details here.)
Krugman took aim at Ryan’s “Roadmap for America,” which other Republicans are treating like it's Kryptonite. Not quite sure why, since, as Krugman points out, it would do what Republicans have always done: Slash taxes for the wealthiest Americans by 117% while raising taxes on the 95% of the unwashed masses.
Ryan also pulls another stunt by claiming that his plan would cut the federal deficit. But, as Krugman points out, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that when you add in all of the decreased revenue that would result from Ryan’s Roadmap the deficit would not budge.
“All it would do is cut benefits for the middle class”by providing vouchers for Medicare that don’t cover the total cost of coverage“while slashing taxes on the rich,” Krugman writes.
The economist concludes: “The Ryan plan is a fraud that makes no useful contribution to the debate over America’s fiscal future.”
