Congressman Paul Ryan: Calling out Obama

IMO, President Obama's budget is a criminal act against hardworking Americans. Those of us Americans that still have a job are headed for crisis levels based on the budget Obama just proposed. The idea that any Democrat in the House or the Assembly that might actually step forward and challenge Obama is a joke. They will take his budget and expand on it, just like they did the stimulus.

Anyway- it is good to see another Republican calling out the President on his budget. My congressman, Paul Ryan, is featured again in the Wall Street Journal:

Inheriting countless challenges, Congress and the Obama administration have moved quickly on many fronts to implement their economic agenda. After two months of drastic interventions, has hope replaced fear, and confidence pushed aside uncertainty? Hardly.

The budget the president released last week, however, does provide some certainty about where we are headed: higher taxes on small businesses, work and capital investment.

Add to this the costly burdens of a cap-and-trade carbon emissions scheme and an effective nationalization of health care, and it is clear that the government is going to grow while the economy will shrink. In a nutshell, the president's budget seemingly seeks to replace the American political idea of equalizing opportunity with the European notion of equalizing results.

A constructive opposition party should be willing to call out the majority when it falls short. More important, Republicans must offer alternatives. In this spirit, here is what I would do differently:

- A pro-growth tax policy . Rather than raise the top marginal income tax rate to 39.6%, it should be dropped to 25%. The lower tax brackets should be collapsed to one 10% rate on the first $100,000 for couples. And the top corporate tax rate should be lowered to 25%. This modest reform would put American companies' tax liability more in line with the prevailing rates of our competitors.

We've seen 10 years of growth in our equity markets wiped out in recent months, while 401(k)s, IRAs and college savings plans are down by an average of 40%. The administration and congressional Democrats want to raise capital gains tax rates by a third. Instead, we should eliminate the capital gains tax. It supplies about 4% of federal revenues, yet it places a substantial drag on economic growth. Individuals already pay taxes on income when they earn it. They should not be socked again when they are saving and investing for their retirement and their children's education.

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You know what else is criminal? The media and the part they are playing in portraying Obama's policies as good economics.

The media is literally letting Obama get away with saying that he is saving America $2 trillion. Not only is it a lie, but the media are not even making Obama explain himself on this.