Paul Krugman today posted clips from the Congressional Budget's Office analysis showing that Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, along with his proposed tax cuts for the wealthy, does not specify how he is going to cut the deficit. Ryan simply instructed the CBO to assume that government spending as a percentage of GDP would reduce to certain, without explaining what would be cut. He has the CBO assume that government spending as a % of GDP would be 4.25% in 2040 and and 3.5% by 2050. Krugman points out that right now military spending alone is now 4% of GDP. I'm curious, does anyone see this as a serious proposal? Can the government really be cut that much? Or is Ryan just throwing numbers out there so his balance sheet works out? What would government reduction as a % of GDP do to the economy?
Adam Weiss blogs at politicalcreativity.net