Paul Ryan really likes this joke he keeps playing on us.
It's April Fool's Day and the day Rep. Paul Ryan
rolled out this year's Republican budget. Coincidence? Maybe. All too appropriate? Definitely. After all, in a day filled with mean-spirited pranks, a budget that privatizes Medicare and slashes food stamps while cutting taxes for the rich is the biggest and most mean-spirited of them all.
This isn't a first, either. Back in 2009, Ryan similarly chose April 1 to tout a joke of a budget:
The plan works to accomplish four main goals: 1) fulfill the mission of health and retirement security; 2) control our nation's debts; 3) put the economy on a path of growth and leadership in the global economy; and 4) preserve the American legacy of leaving the next generation better off.
He can't believe this stuff, right? This has to be consciously intended as a years-long prank on the American people. I mean, voucherizing Medicare undermines health and retirement security. Talking about debt without talking seriously about revenue is ... just an excuse to slash the safety net, not a real approach to debt. Austerity shrinks economies, which is sort of the opposite of growth. And preserving "the American legacy of leaving the next generation better off"? Hahahahahaha. Except for the part where, even if privately Ryan realizes this is a total joke of a statement as applied to his budget, he's really trying to convince the American people that he's doing something other than impoverishing them. Which makes it a little less funny.
It's a different April 1, but the trick the Republican Party is trying to play on us is the same. It's still not funny, and it shows that they think voters are fools every day of the year.
