Bipartisan Spending Cap Could Require Medicare Cuts Like Ryan’s

[Purveyor]

By Catherine Dodge and Brian Faler

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- A plan to cap U.S. government spending that’s gaining support in the Senate could require deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that parallel those proposed in House Republican Paul Ryan’s budget.

The Senate proposal by Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri aims to save $7.6 trillion over 10 years by capping federal spending at 20.6 percent of gross domestic product within a decade, down from 24.3 percent now.

Reaching that goal would require “enormous cuts” in Medicare and Medicaid and other programs, and likely force similar policy changes to the entitlement programs that Ryan has proposed, which opponents call extreme, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The budget written by Ryan, of Wisconsin, puts spending at 20.25 of GDP in 10 years, about the same as the bipartisan senators’ plan.

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http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a8qaE8Zu9yC4

[sakabatou]

1. Fuck no!

Is it too hard to tax the rich and fix the loopholes?

[dkf]

4. That won't work

The growth in health care costs is simply too much under the system we have now. We need to redo our health care model period.

Here's the treasury's citizens guide to the budget. See page xiii.

http://www.gao.gov/financial/fy2010/10guide.pdf

[boppers]

10. My wife is on a medication that costs $5,000 every three months.

For a single injection.

Unless we fix the medication costs, and service costs, nothing else is going to matter.

[dkf]

2. Single payer! Single payer!

[bluestateguy]

3. These long term spending plans are a sham and they always fall apart in a year or two

The budget has be enacted every year from scratch and nobody knows what the membership of Congress will look like every 2 years and how many unexpected things will inevitably come up that demand more spending or new taxes.

Remember Gramm Rudman in the late 1980's?

[bvar22]

5. ...and that is HOW they will do it.

No Democrat will vote FOR cutting Medicare or Social Security.
They will vote FOR a "package" that "Saves our Children".

Then, they will parade in front of the TV Cameras saying things like:
"I am on record as supporting Medicare & Social Security, and of course I would have liked to NOT cut benefits, but we had to do something."

"This is "historic" reform legislation, look at all the good (crumbs) we got!"

"We couldn't let the Perfect be the Enemy of the Good."

"This is the best we could do under the circumstances because we didn't have the votes."

"This is a Step Forward."

"Today, we saved our children from a crushing deficit."

"We need to get something done NOW. We will Fix it Later."



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
Lofty Rhetoric, Empty Promises, and Whiny Excuses mean NOTHING.
"By their WORKS you will know them,"

[TheKentuckian]

7. +1

[slipslidingaway]

6. knr nt

[Telly Savalas]

8. This is such a bullshit approach to addressing fiscal issues.

Rather than come up with concrete proposals to deal with the problem now, this plan establishes arbitrary constraints for people drawing up budgets in a decade thereby punting the responsibility to them. It's not a solution. It's bullshit.

[Mimosa]

9. Who needs old people? War toys are FUN!

http://costofwar.com/en/