Is a Ryan budget economics or poligimics?

[RandomVariable]

(policy/politics) + gimics = poligimics

Everyone's favorite time of the year, tomorrow is the House Budget Committee's markup of Ryan's, The Path to Prosperity. The Committee's site is Committee on the Budget. I expect they will update the site tomorrow to reflect the big, bold declaration of the Draconian.

Live streaming video at: House Committee on the Budget Live Stream - THOMAS (Library of Congress)
I hope to catch it live as stuff backlogged gets hard to get back to.

The Mark Up of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2015

Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Time: 10:30 AM

Location: 210 Cannon House Office Building

 

[Stephanie]

just what we need, dumb new labels

they don't care about Obama trillion dollars budgets busting our backs...no, it's cute names on a Republicans budgets

 

[RandomVariable]

just what we need, dumb new labels

they don't care about Obama trillion dollars budgets busting our backs...no, it's cute names on a Republicans budgets

Some day I am going to think up a cute label/name for you, Stephanie. I have gone over several in my head so far. It is just every time I read one of your posts I come up with a new one.

I was thinking our your comment on the size of Obama's budget. There are several aspects of a budget. To analogize to something I am more familiar with, the natural world, looking at a stream and pool of water one can visualize how the budget works. When I say stream without specifying in or out I mean the whole system. There is a stream that flows in, the pool, and the stream that flows out. For the federal budget analogy there are many streams that flow in and many streams that flow out but they are flow in at one point and all flow out at another. The federal budget states how large the pool should be and how much should be flowing in and how much should be flowing out. With a balanced budget approach there is no pool, simply a specification of how large the stream should be. With a Tea Party stream there is a trickle in, a very small pool, if any, and a trickle out. With a big government stream a flood comes in to a pond and river flows out. At least those are the general models. Needless to say there is some disagreement as to what is best water management policy.

The reason I present this concept now rather than actually thinking through it much is the thread yesterday about a company which avoided paying $2.4B in taxes. Some say, "So what? Their money let them keep it if they can." When the federal government makes a budget it says how much water should come in and how much money should go out. When the budget says 100 gpm (gallons per minute) should come in and someone figures out how not hold back 24 gallons from their particular stream then others will have to make up that difference. When people say, "So what?", it is because the company was not able to change how much water was going into the pool, just how much they would contribute. The missing flow is going to come out of your glass. Yes Stephanie, drink less water today. Maybe it will be a hot day today, maybe not. For the company that pulled the water out they have plenty to drink but they wanted to water their lawns or wash their car for a little longer.

Sorry if I missed a little editing. It is 10:21 and the popcorn is just about ready.

 

[RandomVariable]

Intro statements done. Notes later. Questions for staff. Director Smythe in the hot seat. If it goes like last time, which I am sure it will at least be, he looks more and more ridiculous as questions are asked. This is where the real "Die Hard with a Vengeance" Budget shows its true colors.

 

[RandomVariable]

Completely, undeniably ridiculous statement #1. I will not bother to keep a running total. Hollen's question on how to complete repeal ACA and keep the budget benefits. Slide presented:

 

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(dang that smilie takes forever to find. "So where is the missing 32%." "Don't know." One can not do a budget that does not know where 32% of a large chuck of the budget is. Or many one can if one is a Ryan budget.)

 

[RandomVariable]

From questions of the staff to the presentation of amendments. The Democrats have 29 to present. This is where the hearing goes from ridiculous to pathetic and disguising. Anyone who doubts the difference between Democrats and Republicans now is the time to be disillusioned. It is in here I find myself at a lose of words for the inhumanity and total disregard for human suffering.

 

[RandomVariable]

OK, here is one I don't get. Chairman Ryan just said that because of Obamacare 2 1/2 jobs will go unfilled and because of that people are making less money and that is taking money from families.

The bottom line is that, to what Ryan is referring to, that 2.3 million people will chose not to work because they will do not need to. If they are taking money away from their family it is because they chose to, not because Obamacare forced them to. This is not just an isolated case of misstatement. Ryan spent almost 9 minutes stating contradictions and falsehoods. Does he not know the difference? Does he not care what the difference is? Is it the ends over the means? Is there something he wants beside the stated ends? I just don't get it.

The real kicker has not come yet. I have not looked ahead so I don't know but my guess is that Rep. Moore will introduce the amendment that will put every individual Republican on the line to state their morality.

 

[oldfart]

The real kicker has not come yet. I have not looked ahead so I don't know but my guess is that Rep. Moore will introduce the amendment that will put every individual Republican on the line to state their morality.

Personally I wait for the CBO scoring. Any bets on whether this Ryan budget will be the first to actually be capable of being scored? Paulie can say any absurd thing we wants, but CBO is tasked to use their models and baseline estimates to score.

 

[RandomVariable]

And there it is. They never fail to reconfirm.

 

[RandomVariable]

That $1.5 trillion in tax increases is bs. That was if all amendments were passed. As it was not one of them were. The Republicans had over two dozen chances to show a single priority was more important than what was in Ryan's budget and they chose not to. One Republican Representative said that they should prioritize the requests in the amendments. What is he getting paid to do? (rhetorical question) He said what his priorities are. Everyone of those Republicans made it unmistakably clear where their loyalties lie.

 

[RandomVariable]

Last Ryan budget! Let's see if they can get any worse.

 

[RandomVariable]

"I pledge allegiance to ...."

The Ryan budget has been called a document to rally the base. After listening to hour after hour of amendments and reasons not to support those amendments I really began to wonder exactly who this "base" was. There was the argument about not raising taxes, but the amendment was not about taxes. There was the argument that it would hurt small businesses but there was no connection between the argument and the amendment. There was the argument that the states wanted the "freedom" to make their own choices because apparently giving them no money gave them freedom. There was also the argument about taking other people's money and greed and envy.

In about the eighth hour of watching this defining of the Ryan Budget I figured out who the base was, the super rich and the mega large corporation. The Republican Representatives were swearing their allegiance to this group, the extremely wealthy, the almost infinitely powerful people (corporations are people too). It was a statement that the Ryan budget was a perfect document and the pledge to the elite. No immigrant, unemployed, underpaid, no man, woman, or child, no road, no deficit, or even small business would take priority over the perfect document that is the Ryan Budget. The Ryan budget is definitely not going to pass the Senate or get signed by the President so the document is a statement of commitment more than anything else.

Now the Ryan budget will go to the House floor, the People's House, where all the Republicans in the House will either swear their allegiance to the elite or face the wrath of those at the top.

The Republicans have a new pledge of allegiance:
"I pledge allegiance to the ultra rich person, the mega-wealthy corporation. I will do all exactly as commanded by those to whom I pledge allegiance. ..."
If one doubts what I say because they were not glued to their laptop for 12 hours yesterday then I encourage them to watch when the bill comes to the Floor for a vote. I know I will.

 

[RandomVariable]

A note I made during watching the day's hearing. In the beginning of the opening of Ryan's statement he said he wanted to repeal the ACA in its entirety and keep all 11 of the carrier groups. To me this says Republican budgeting is a no-questions-asked process. If you are a health care or related item you're cut. If you are a defense spending or related item you are kept. Our government can not be run by people who can only see in black and white.

 

[RandomVariable]

Ryan's budget moves to the House Floor this week. Today starts the debate before the full House. Might get heated, might be fun. Rep. Green (D-TX) is getting things warmed up the Floor now and it is still only Morning Hour. The full debate will start sometime after noon.

Eric Cantor || Majority Leader || Floor Schedule

 

[RandomVariable]

Noooo!!! Rep. Woodall is going is going to control the time for the Republican side of the debate. He is the most annoying Representative in the House second only to Rep. Kelley. Perhaps this is part of the Republican's strategy. Cruel, oh so cruel.

 

[RandomVariable]

Make him sttooopppp!!!

 

[RandomVariable]

Democrats going to get this figured out one way or another. This going to go down to the line sooner or later.

 

[RandomVariable]

Republicans are going to get upset by this. They will complain about this to the press loud and clear. I'll just stand here and hold by breath....

 

[RandomVariable]

Republican scumbags talking about how they care about the defense of America? Words escape me. I'll find some later.