GOP: $4 Trillion in Cuts

It's so simple to step on the necks of the downtrodden, isn't it?

Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program for the elderly, a move that will dramatically reshape the budget debate in Washington.

...The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills. Mr. Ryan and other conservatives say this is necessary because of the program's soaring costs.

Okay, can we now talk about something realistic because this is an obvious ploy, a joke. And yet, the Republican Party continues to be taken seriously somehow. I'll be waiting for the Tea Party to take the streets in droves chanting, "Keep your government hands of my Medicare!" Let's see them protest even the idea of considering Paul Ryan's "fuck you" to the poor and elderly.

And by the way, this is just a number that they put out there. There is nothing in the plan on how to get to this number without literally killing hundreds of thousands of people by denying them financial assistance with their day to day lives in terms of medical care. Remember "Repeal and Replace"? Whatever happened to that?

ADDING... Of course, they can't just say they're going to cut spending. They're going to cut taxes too!

Conservative activists who are familiar with the Ryan plan said they expect it to call for a fundamental overhaul of the tax system, with a 25% top rate for both individuals and corporations, compared to the current 35% top rate. It is expected to raise about the same amount of money as the current system, however. Lawmakers already are considering ways to accomplish that by reducing or eliminating some deductions and other tax breaks.

Cutting the top tax rate by 10% but bringing in the same amount as the current system? So you know what that last line actually means. Those of us "individuals" who actually pay 35% currently but are able to itemize some deductions and get a refund can kiss that goodbye. But corporations that currently pay LITTLE TO NO TAXES because of loopholes at a 35% rate, can continue to rape the US economy at the 25% rate. And those who are in lower tax brackets will probably wind up paying the same or maybe even a bit more. But that doesn't matter to the GOP - they know that the working class poor don't have a real voice in Washington, so who's going to know?