image: Buzzfeed VP Newsletter

Gawker: Ryan’s budget plan inspires lists like this and in Paul Krugman’s case, descriptions like “inconceivably cruel.” His cuts to the top income tax rate and the corporate tax return $3 trillion in revenue to the top earners. Ezra Klein breaks it down thus: in addition to cutting the “$1.5 trillion that the Affordable Care Act uses to purchase health insurance for 30 million Americans… it cuts Medicaid and related health programs by $770 billion—which is to say, by about a third.” It then adds $200 billion in Medicare cuts. But that leaves out the Paul Ryan mathemagic.

Meet Paul Ryan: Climate Denier, Conspiracy Theorist, Koch Acolyte: “A favorite of the Koch brothers, Ryan has accused scientists of engaging in conspiracy to “intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” He has implied that snow invalidates global warming. Ryan has voted to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting greenhouse pollution, to eliminate White House climate advisers, to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture from preparing for climate disasters like the drought devastating his home state, and to eliminate the Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E).

“[...] Paul Ryan Budget Kept Big Oil Subsidies And Slashed Clean Energy Investment. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2013 budget resolution retained a decade’s worth of oil tax breaks worth $40 billion, while slashing funding for investments in clean energy research, development, deployment, and commercialization, along with other energy programs. The plan called for a $3 billion cut in energy programs in FY 2013 alone. [CAP,3/20/12]“ 

Ezra Klein explains what Romney’s choice of Ryan means in 10 points. Here’s three:

4. Romney’s original intention was to make the 2012 election a referendum on President Obama’s management of the economy. Ryan makes it a choice between two competing plans for deficit reduction. This election increasingly resembles the Obama campaign’s strategy rather than the Romney campaign’s strategy.

6. Consider the case for Romney until today: He’s a relatively moderate businessman running because his experience in the private-sector gives him crucial insight into how to manage the economy. Now consider Ryan: He’s worked in politics his entire life, beginning as an aide to Sen. Bob Kasten, then working for Sen. Sam Brownback and as a speechwriter to Rep. Jack Kemp. He’s known as a relatively ideological politician who has put forward a detailed policy plan to remake the federal government. It’s a rather different message about what’s important. And how does Romney say the problem with Barack Obama is that he’s “never spent a day in the private sector” and then put Ryan a heartbeat away from the presidency?

8. It’s not just that Romney now has to defend Ryan’s budget. To some degree, that was always going to be true. What he will now have to defend is everything else Ryan has proposed. Ryan was, for instance, the key House backer of Social Security privatization. His bill, The Social Security Personal Savings Guarantee and Prosperity Act of 2005, was so aggressive that it was rejected by the Bush administration. Now it’s Romney’s bill to defend. In Florida.

12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan

1. Ryan embraces the extreme philosophy of Ayn Rand

2. Ryan wants to raises taxes on the middle class, cuts them for millionaires.

3. Ryan wants to end Medicare, replace it with a voucher system.

4. Ryan thinks Social Security is a “ponzi scheme.”

5. Ryan’s budget would result in 4.1 million lost jobs in 2 years.

6. Ryan wants to eliminate Pell Grants for more more than 1 million students.

7. Ryan supports $40 billion in subsides for big oil.

Read the full list at ThinkProgress…

Paul Krugman: But the continuing defense of Paul Ryan is a remarkable phenomenon. He’s still being treated by many pundits as a man deeply concerned about deficits, when the fact is that his policy proposals are all about redistributing income upward, and make no serious effort to curb debt. He’s even given credit for advocating higher taxes on the rich when he has more or less specifically rejected the things for which he’s given credit.

When the following reports say “GOP / House / Republican” budget — they mean the Paul Ryan budget that has been embraced by the current GOP / House / Republican Party:

• WaPo: GOP budget plan goes completely against their earlier deal — are they hoping to shutdown the government prior to the election?
• Ben Armbruster: House GOP Budget Increases Military Spending
• ThinkProgress: Ryan Budget Pads Big Oil’s Pockets While Americans Pay At The Pump
• Travis Waldron: GOP Budget Plan To Reduce The Debt Actually Makes The Debt Worse
• Federal Times: Republican budget would extend pay freeze, cut 10% of workforce
• Kevin Drum: Can We Please Stop Making Excuses for Paul Ryan?

Romney-Ryan: Back to the failed top-down policies that crashed our economy:

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“Paul Ryan is the mastermind behind the extreme GOP budget plan. It’s a plan Mitt Romney endorses. But what does that budget mean for America? The GOP budget plan hurts seniors, it hurts middle-class families, and it hurts students. All to pay for tax cuts for those at the top…”