In today’s opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, makes the case for an alternative to the Barack Obaminable budget plan.
He writes: “We will first consider President Barack Obama’s plan. To be clear, this is no ordinary budget. In a nutshell, the president and Democratic leaders in Congress are attempting to bring about the third and final great wave of progressivism, building on top of the New Deal and the Great Society. “
That’s why the House Republicans offer an alternative plan. He explains:
This too is no ordinary budget. As the opposition party, we believe this moment must be met by offering the American people a different way forward — one based on our belief that America is an exceptional nation, and we want to keep it that way. . . .
Instead of doubling the debt in five years, and tripling it in 10, the Republican budget curbs the explosion in spending called for by the president and his party. 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. The greatest difference lies in the size of government our budgets achieve over time (see nearby chart).
For the details of their plan and a good chart go here. Isn’t it weird how today the Bush deficits seem like a pretty good alternative to our current situation?