I’ve thought about it in a number of ways, and this is really the only conclusion that I can draw. The proposals in this so called "alternate budget" are precisely what got republicans voted out of office by 2 straight ass-kickings. The first "budget" offered last week had pretty pictures and no numbers – that was the perfect set up for what was actually released yesterday.
Think about it – and it seems like the House republicans pulled a fast one on the corporate media, us progressives and much of America. Their "leader" (no, not Rush Limbaugh, the other leader) said that republicans should be more unpredictable. And if you look through what is actually being proposed in this budget, you can only think that House republicans have a great sense of humor and planned one of the greatest April Fools’ Day jokes in recent memory.
Because the privatization of social security went over so well a few years ago, there is a plan to "radically overhaul Medicare" (those are the AP’s own words, but I refuse to link to an AP article if I can help it) and essentially privatize the program. And per TPM, guess who really benefits:
This is an idea that's been kicking around in conservative circles for some time, and it's an expensive one. Well, it's expensive unless you're an insurance company, in which case it's extremely lucrative. The goal is to phase out Medicare over time by providing new seniors with the same health insurance options available under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The FEHBP provides relatively high quality care, and most working-aged people would probably prefer its options over the ones provided by their employers. But Medicare provides similar quality of care while containing the costs of administration, and those costs are much higher at private insurance companies.
But the joke doesn’t stop there. Not by a long shot, as there is a triple whammy here of major giveaways to Big Oil, a cut in corporate tax rates and more tax cuts for the rich, including a complete suspension of the capital gains tax rates for the next 2 years:
Indeed, many of the tax ideas show no effort to temper those tax breaks — under the Bush Administration—which most benefit upper income families. And Ryan would add on top of this a cut in the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent and temporarily suspend all capital gains taxes for 2009 and 2010.
Even in the case of oil companies, he shields the industry from an estimated $31 billion to $80 billion in tax increases backed by the president and dismisses any idea of a cap-and-trade system to cope with climate change and global warming.
Frozen for five years are all spending programs other than defense. Randomly drawn "stupid" lines drawn to project 70 years into the future. Programs for the poor and elderly would be slashed and the programs in the stimulus package would be reversed. And here is my favorite: assumptions that wealthy taxpayers would choose to pay at a higher 35% tax rate than the proposed 25% tax rate, while substantially increasing personal income taxes on the middle class (those earning between $50,000 and $100,000) from the non-budget budget released last week:
The Republican plan unveiled today by ranking budget committee Republican Paul Ryan (Wisc.) clears the bar they set for themselves in two ways. First, it sets the 10 percent rate for families making $100,000 or less and for individuals at $50,000, thus more than doubling taxes on individuals making between $50,000 and $100,000 -- at least as compared as to the original offer.
You can’t make this up. And after losing around a dozen Senate seats, the White House and around 60 House seats since 2006, the republicans had to know that nobody outside of their ever narrowing base was going to seriously approve of these proposals. Hence, this was to show that they are, as Michael Steele wanted, "unpredictable".
Who knew they had this good of a sense of humor?