IBD: Ryan’s budget is hardly radical (Congress, democratic, premium)

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Investors Business Daily does what no other media outlet can apparently do, and actually reads Ryan’s budget plan, which is so super-secret that it’s part of the Congressional Record.

His proposed spending and revenue levels are above historic averages. His Medicare reform has strong bipartisan support. His tax reform plan is similar to one proposed by Obama’s own bipartisan debt reduction commission.
Ryan’s budget, which passed the House last March, would set the federal government on course to spend an average of 20% of GDP over the next decade. That’s slightly higher than the post-World War II average of 19.8%.
His tax plan would produce revenues averaging 18.3% of GDP. That, too, is somewhat higher than the 17.7% post-war average. What’s more, Ryan’s plan would set tax and spending rates higher than every Democratic president before Obama.

How does that compare to the Obama plan? IBD has that answer, too:

His last budget, issued in February, would set federal spending over the next decade at 22.5% of GDP, on average, according to the Congressional Budget Office.


For context, federal spending reached or exceeded that level in only seven years out of the past 65 — and three of those were under Obama.


And Obama wants federal revenues to average 19.4% of GDP. That’s higher than all but six of the past 65 years.

What about Medicare? Ryan wants to kill Medicare and toss Grandma to the tender mercies of — quelle horreur — insurance companies! Er, not really:

But under his plan, Medicare spending in the near term would track levels set by Obama. Unlike Obama, however, Ryan wouldn’t use any of those near-term savings to finance ObamaCare, but would direct all that to extending the Medicare Trust Fund.


And starting in 2023, Ryan would offer retirees — who are today 55 or younger — the ability to choose from a range of private insurance options, as well as traditional Medicare, with the government providing a fixed level of premium support.


The thinking is that this will unleash competitive insurance market forces, keeping costs down, while providing greater control over federal spending. But Ryan’s plan would let Medicare spending continue to climb over the long term, just not as fast as projected under current law.

So, if Ryan’s plan for budget reform is so terrible, the Obama administration must have an alternative, right? Right?





Elections are choices. This one’s really not to difficult to make: