This is the visual representation of what Paul Ryan's budget proposal means. The questions is whether we choose to continue on the path we are on and create massive federal debt or whether we decide to stop the spending now--before it is too late. The chart is from a Wall Street Journal article written by Paul Ryan and posted today.
Mr. Ryan states in his article:
"The president's recent budget proposal would accelerate America's descent into a debt crisis. It doubles debt held by the public by the end of his first term and triples it by 2021. It imposes $1.5 trillion in new taxes, with spending that never falls below 23% of the economy. His budget permanently enlarges the size of government. It offers no reforms to save government health and retirement programs, and no leadership.
"Our budget, which we call The Path to Prosperity, is very different. For starters, it cuts $6.2 trillion in spending from the president's budget over the next 10 years, reduces the debt as a percentage of the economy, and puts the nation on a path to actually pay off our national debt. Our proposal brings federal spending to below 20% of gross domestic product (GDP), consistent with the postwar average, and reduces deficits by $4.4 trillion."
As the private sector has grown smaller in the recession, the government sector has grown larger, with salaries at about 140 percent of those in the private sector. Until we stop that trend, the nation will not return to prosperity.
One of the more interesting ideas in Paul Ryan's budget is to bring Medicare under the same sort of program used for Congress. It is a private program with government subsidies, but not directly funded by the government. Because it is a private program, it runs more efficiently and costs less. The plan also includes proposals for tax reform--making the tax code less complicated and lowering overall tax rates. Both of these ideas would be wonderful if put into practice, the question is whether or not they will be stopped by lobbyists and special interest groups in Washington. The time of catering to lobbyists and special interests is over--we can't affort it anymore. The suggestions in this budget proposal would be a good first step in bringing the country back to prosperity and back to the economic principles it was founded on. The budget Mr. Ryan has proposed needs to move forward.
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