Michael Ramirez’s Aug. 16 editorial cartoon showing Paul Ryan’s budget proposal as a bottle of strong medicine, compared to a blank panel for President Obama’s plan, is right about what’s on the label of the Ryan offering: “fiscal responsibility.” But the question is: What’s inside the bottle?
The Ryan plan involves devastating cuts for the poor and vulnerable, and tax cuts for the rich. That siphons wealth upward, but how does that reduce the deficit? Deficit reduction would supposedly be accomplished by closing unspecified tax loopholes. Can anyone say with a straight face that tax cuts for the rich represent “fiscal responsibility” in these times?
If Ramirez is right that the choice is between Ryan’s plan to bleed the poor, enrich the wealthy, and leave the deficit unchanged, and Obama’s absence of a plan, I'll take the blank panel, thank you.