The Unkindest Cuts

Paul Ryan put out his proposed budget in his capacity as House Budget Committee chairman, leaving a lot of folks wishing he were incapacitated.  It cuts food stamps and college student loans, ends support for Amtrak and public broadcasting, and radically alters Medicare benefits in order to, as Ryan puts it, stop spending money the government doesn't have.

Oh yeah, it increases "defense" spending.

The budget also factors in savings from the Affordable Care Act even as Ryan urges its repeal.  And, speaking of the Affordable Care Act, 7.1 million people have signed up for it.  Republicans remain defiant, pointing out - kind of accurately, when you think about it - that no one knows yet the demographics of the enrollees (have enough young people signed up, for example?) or whether or not any of these insurance plans have actually been paid for yet . . . and how much money these new plans will generate.  Even PBS's Judy Woodruff pointed out how such information is needed to better gauge the progress of the health care law as it's being rolled out.     

As for the Ryan budget, it will not become law. There are too many people in the House and the Senate against it.  But Democrats would be wrong - dead wrong - to think they can use it against the Republicans in the midterm elections, when the electorate tends to be older, whiter, and more affluent and the voters most affected by Ryan's proposals are being suppressed and gerrymandered into silence.

I'll say it again: If you thought American governance was politically arch-conservative before, you ain't seen nothing yet.  The good news is, you'll have a job.  The bad news is, you'll be working in the salt mines.