The hidden bipartisan agenda in Paul Ryan’s budget
by digby
This piece by George Zornick should scare the hell out of everyone. He’s looked at Paul Ryan’s budget and sees three main areas where, if enacted, it would set the stage for another financial crisis:
It is easy to make the case that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer under Ryan’s so-called “Path to Prosperity” plan: one needs only to look at the literally trillions cut from Medicaid and food stamps while the rich pay much less in taxes.
But it’s important to refine that point and note that the financial sector in particular gets many special favors in the Ryan plan. After all, it is one of Ryan’s leading benefactors and he can even be spotted sipping $350 bottles of wine with industry leaders from time to time. And his budget is no doubt a path to prosperity for them.
Moreover, in three crucial ways Ryan’s budget not only gives Wall Street more leeway to act recklessly, but makes it more likely that average Americans face the consequences.
You can read the piece to see what he’s specifically talking about. What sent chills down my spine is that I could easily see Democrats signing on to it. Doing the bidding of Wall Street is the path of least resistance in a political world awash in money. In fact, you can’t really blame them. This is an arms race now.
I wish I knew what was going to fix this but I honestly don’t. If the last financial crisis didn’t wise these guys up — and it didn’t — I don’t know what will.
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