LA Times - "Doyle McManus: The choice between low taxes vs. Medicare benefits" - Great Article

[TomCADem]

I know some assert that we should be afraid to discuss the deficit in reference to medicare and social security. I disagree. I think we need to talk about both, as well as taxes. Democrats need to call out Republicans on the simple fact that they are proposing to pay for tax cuts to the rich by slashing programs that benefit the poor, middle class, and elderly. We need to tie any discussion of tax cuts to the fact that every tax cut will mean less money to fund education, social security and Medicare.

With Paul Ryan's budget plan, even though it engages in accounting gimmickry, it does reveal the trade-off that Republicans are proposing. Low taxes versus Medicare and Social Security? This needs to be our mantra going into 2012.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-ryan-budget-20110407,0,679456.column

Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, won praise from his fellow Republicans this week for proposing a federal budget that would reduce the deficit by slashing spending in almost every domestic program.

Some of the praise was exaggerated; Ryan's plan has holes in it, just like President Obama's budget. Ryan proposes an overhaul of the tax code, but doesn't offer any specifics except for lower tax rates. It doesn't suggest any fixes for Social Security, even though he says fixes are needed.

But on one major point, Ryan has done a great service. He has made it clear that if you're serious about cutting the federal deficit, you have to make a choice: low taxes or guaranteed Medicare coverage. You can't have both.

* * *

His biggest cuts come from programs that serve the poor, including nutrition, student loans and especially healthcare. His plan argues that those cuts aren't intended merely to shrink the deficit, but also "to ensure that America's safety net does not become a hammock that lulls able-bodied citizens into lives of complacency and dependency."

[msongs]

1. a better choice is keep Medicare/SS and RAISE taxes on the rich nt

[dkf]

3. Medicare and SS are payroll taxes.

Those mainly fall on working people.

[eShirl]

4. tax the rich to pay back the IOUs on the SS surplus

[dkf]

5. Then that is simply raising taxes to pay down the debt.

Which was what Clinton was trying to do.

[The Magistrate]

6. Yes, Ma'am: That Is The Proper Policy

[Mojeoux]

2. The enviroment of people left to die in poverty and diseases,

will eventually become a vast laboratory dish that will evolve new and even more deadly diseases. Sorry 1%'ers, you'll still lose.