If Paul Ryan had merely proposed to keep federal taxes the same, rather than cutting them, and had proposed to reduce old age benefits for all Americans, not increase them for today’s seniors and cut them for those under 55, I might have something good to say about the Romney/Ryan ticket. But instead Ryan is little more than a panderer to Generation Greed, once again promising the better off lower taxes and the non-poor richer benefits with all the associated costs shifted to younger generations. He is another in a long line of careerist frauds.
So why doesn’t President Obama say so? Why doesn’t he highlight the Republican way of victory over the past 30-plus years, selling out the future and those who will live in it on behalf of the most selfish generations in American history? Why doesn’t he take this opportunity, win or lose, to ensure that no one under 55 (if they bother to show up) votes for a Republican at the national level ever again? Two words – Walter Mondale. Since he promised to raise taxes and cut spending to reduce the deficit, no Democrat has dared to stand up for the future of this country. Instead they have sought to get a few more of the benefits for their yuppie and public employee union constituents, at the expense of the people they pretend to represent, while hoping to avoid the blame in the end. If Obama would highlight the generational inequities not only of the Ryan plan but also of the past 30 years, I would vote for him enthusiastically. But he dares not, because he leads a Generation Greed-run party pandering to Generation Greed benefitting interests.
So, is anybody else running?
At one time Mayor Bloomberg was seeking to run as an independent. So what did he do? He agreed to a huge pension increase for older generations of New York City teachers, his generation. And then pushed for a huge cut in the pensions of future New York City teachers, to less than those cashing in and moving out had been promised to begin with. And argued it was fair because no one has to become a New York City teacher, but some will because younger generations are being made less and less well off across the board. Meaning Mayor Bloomberg is no different.
No one will talk about this.
They don’t want to hear it. The rich, who have sat on each other’s boards and vote each other higher and higher executive pay as a cabal, even as investment returns have been around zero, claim the liberals are engaging in a war on the rich. The public employee unions, who grabbed richer and richer retirement benefits to the point where it can’t even be called retirement anymore – it is exploitation of less powerful workers and a social injustice – claim there is a war against them. That’s right, those who have taken more and more at everyone else’s expense feel outrage, and threaten retaliation, if anyone dares to point it out.
And as the rich and the public employee unions and today’s seniors whine, nobody gives a damn about the future and the poor. They are the ones who have been told over and over that they need to straighten out and work hard and do what they are supposed to do, or else. And they still end up with the or else.
Where is the voice to point out the obvious, the elephant in the room? The public employee unions glommed on to Occupy Wall Street like flies on shit, pushing the propaganda that the young should be protesting with them instead of against them? The Tea Party? When it comes today’s seniors small government doesn’t apply, after infiltration by nut cases and the Koch brothers (whoever they are).
Do I understand what those over 55 have done? A little. Once my mother made a large batch of my favorite Christmas cookies. Some were for the family, but some she told us were for a little afternoon get together she planned to have with her friends. So she not only told us to leave them alone, but also hid them. But I came across them. If I took one, I said to myself, and spread the rest out, it wouldn’t really make a difference. So I took one and enjoyed it. Later than day I figured one more wouldn’t hurt either. I spread the rest out. Let’s just say my mother’s get together was several days after she had baked the cookies. And by that time there were just a few lonely cookies scattered around the plate.
Well, my mother was not amused, and felt bad about having done something that made someone else worse off, something unfair. So I didn’t repeat that kind of behavior. My children have just emerged from the asshole age, which wasn’t that bad for us, and have become more responsible, empathetic adults. But a few generations of Americans never did.
They demand not only to get what they want, but also to have the rationalizations provided for them. In politics, they vote for whoever gives it to them, and in the media that’s where they put their money. So we aren’t going to get the angry confrontation this country needs. The angry noise you are going to hear (if you are unfortunate enough to live in a swing state — I don’t – is just that, noise.
Per the Obama campaign:
“In naming Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy. The architect of the radical Republican House budget, Ryan, like Romney, proposed an additional $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, and deep cuts in education from Head Start to college aid. His plan also would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system, shifting thousands of dollars in health care costs to seniors. As a member of Congress, Ryan rubber-stamped the reckless Bush economic policies that exploded our deficit and crashed our economy. Now the Romney-Ryan ticket would take us back by repeating the same, catastrophic mistakes.”
So vote Democratic, so younger generations can experience the same consequences, particularly when they themselves are old, but it will be due to “circumstances beyond our control.”
The NY Observer headline is “Obama Campaign Calls Ryan Responsible For ‘Catastrophic’ Budget Mistakes.” There is Obama being generous again. They weren’t mistakes. It wasn’t just Ryan. It wasn’t just the Republicans. It wasn’t just the federal government. It wasn’t just government – it was business, the family, and even “non-profits” too.