There are a lot of blogs that summarize the Sunday talk shows. Like many I find myself yelling at the TV (or in my case the computer). All you really learn from these shows are the current talking points for each party or group.
Meet the Press - Tom Coburn. Claims the President does not address Medicare in his talking points which appears to be one of the Republicans talking points to defend ending Medicare (I know, as we know it). If Mr. Coburn would listen, Obama's point always has been the same, the only way to deal with Medicare is to deal with health care costs which is what is killing Medicare and why the Republican plan is so draconian. Health care costs keep going up at rates well above inflation rates and this will not only kill Medicare but probably kill our entire health care system at some point. This is why the CBO said out of pocket costs to Seniors with the Republican voucher plan would skyrocket to more than half their income. Republicans clearly want to take the care out of Medicare instead of taking the cost out of health care.
During the round table David Gregory claims the Tea Party has won the day. Really. But David Brooks actually said something interesting. He claimed that the Ryan budget made people face the question of the day which we are told is, how much Government are the American people willing to pay for? Brooks correctly states that Ryan's plan asks us, is it moral for Seniors today to take money out of the pockets of the younger generation just to take care of their health care costs since they hardly pay in as much as they get out. Brooks claims with no reference to his numbers that the average Senior Citizen today only paid 150K into Medicare but will likely take about 450K out of it before they die. He then asks (I paraphrase) guess who is going to pay for this extra 300K and wonders how moral it is to expect our kids to be paying for all this extra healthcare. This is all Ryan asks. I do not think Ryan would put it this way.
Brooks is correct. Republicans think Medicare is immoral. How is that for a bumper sticker.
I like Eugene Robinson who is the first person I have heard to suggest a different interpretation of the poll numbers that suggest something like 75% of Americans do not want to cut Medicare. Mr. Gregory is convinced, as most in the Media are, that it is out of a selfishness, cut someone else's program, tax other people. Mr. Robinson suggests that maybe it is because most Americans want an America that takes care of it's elderly, takes care of it's poor. He then adds that they do not want to pay for it which is where he goes off track. His first sentiment however is correct.
I think most people would prefer to live in a society that takes care of those who can't take care of themselves. We do not want any corruption or people taking advantage of our good will but we want to believe we are people of good will. Republicans focus on the negative side of good will which is people taking advantage of it. I am not sure where all Democrats stand but in general Democrats have always argued that the positive was worth the negative which I think most people would agree with.
The budget is a moral document and at least Mr. Robinson and Mr. Brooks seem to agree. The rest of the show was just blah, blah, blah, Donald Trump.