The Republicans Have Numbers

After the press conference last week, the GOP finally shared some numbers with the people. I haven't read all 62 pages of the Republican Road to Recovery (PDF) provided by House Minority Leader Boehner, but I did peruse the Ven diagram pamphlet provided last week. From my limited reading, this "alternate" budget requires a freeze for nondefense related spending, numerous tax cuts for capital gains, abolishes the estate tax (the one thing I agree with), offers an insurance voucher that McCain babbled about during his pathetic run for President, and repeals the stimulus package. I just wonder if the newly Catholic Newt had his hand in the planning of this budget because it sounds vaguely like a Contract for America. And that only worked as a political tool. Silly me!

I find it funny that Rep. Paul Ryan writes in the Wall Street Journal:

Our plan halts the borrow-and-spend philosophy that brought about today's economic problems, and puts a stop to heaping ever-growing debt on future generations -- and it does so by controlling spending, not by raising taxes.

Gee... future generations are suddenly a concern? Did anyone watch Frontline? Borrow and spend had a great cheerleader leader with Bush. All of the sudden conservatives feign the principles they supposedly hold dear. Once they lost power, they simulate the illusion of conservative practice and spend too much time at the Ayn Rand altar. Such philosophies are as interesting as Rand's depictions of sex, predictable and trite.

I do think the Obama budget should be curtailed during this recession to avoid massive deficits that the CBO prognosticates, but this "new" GOP plan appears to be a regurgitation of the same old ideas that caused this crisis. I am not an economist nor do I claim to be. Hell, even renowned, influential economists can't make up their damn minds. All I know is that change and new ideas are fundamental. It seems to me no one has any new ideas.

I need to hit the decanters. All of this is gobbledygook that only makes sense at the bottom of a crystal highball.

(Cross-posted)