Robert Parry: Paul Ryan's Free-Market 'Death Panels'

[marmar]

from Consortium News:




Rep. Ryan's Free-Market 'Death Panels'

By Robert Parry
April 7, 2011


The consequences of three decades of anti-government Reaganism and free-market extremism are now coming clearly into view, a cruel and brutish America split sharply between a few lucky haves and many desperate have-nots.

As Rep. Paul Ryan proudly declared in unveiling the Republican budget plan for fiscal 2012, “This is not a budget; this is a cause.”

It is the “cause” advanced in the modern era by President Ronald Reagan and economist Milton Friedman. It calls for further slashing the tax rate for the richest Americans by another ten percentage points, from 35 percent to 25 percent, while enacting a wide range of domestic spending cuts, including phasing out the Medicare health program for the elderly as it has existed since the 1960s.

Under Ryan’s plan, senior citizens in the future would have to select a private health insurance policy with the government paying “premium support” worth about $8,000 to the company, thus shifting a heavier, even crushing, financial burden onto the elderly. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/040711.html