is the leading driver of negative commentary about Ryan, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee,

Everybody should be afraid of this arrogant Republican. He continues benefiting Big Oil with multimillion dollar subsidies, wants to change Rape to be "legal", so women can't have an abortion if they are raped, and he is the ultimate hypocrite that has been living off the Government all his adult life, saying that he will "shrink"government.

Kick him out of Washington!!!. Moron!!!

I love all the talk about Ayn Rand lately. Just imagine how many people out there have picked up a copy of Atlas Shrugged or The Fountain Head.

These are great inspirational books that champion the idea of rugged individualism, something that America has strayed far from. These days it seems that if you don't support a massive centralized government, central planning and anti free market ideas you are labeled a radical.

Ask yourself, are we better off moving the country in a direction of more dependancy on the government? Or should we encourage people to pursue their limitless potential unbound by government bureaucracy?

What you call radical today is what built the most powerful nation in the world in record time.

What you would call rational is what is crushing Europe and currently rotting our American values of Individualism, Civic virtue, anti-statism and entrepreneurialism.

America is hurting and we are on a pathway to serfdom.

Yank, I think you forgot that Ryan's plan (Which will not be implemented since he is supporting Romney's plan) allows all people of any age the choice to stay on medicare OR use the money the government would spend on you to find a private health insurer.

I'm surprised that you have failed to educate yourself on the issues.

Please do so before voting.

Ask yourself, are we better off moving the country in a direction of more dependancy on the government? Or should we encourage people to pursue their limitless potential unbound by government bureaucracy?

The only "small government" that the GOP wants, is that of destroying the barriers that prevent the Government from abusing people. Those like the EPA and Wall Street regulations-What are you going to do on your own against the machine of the GOP?

Are you really ready to do EVERYTHING BY YOURSELF? POLICEMAN, FIREMEN, POSTMAN, TEACHER, FIX YOUR OWN STREET, or do you really think that EVERYTHING SHOULD BE A BUSINESS FOR PROFIT?

Why don't you THINK about what it is that you are saying. Governments were created FOR A REASON.

Pathetic strawman argument. Nobody is saying stop all public goods and services.

However, If it is in the yellow pages, there is a damn good chance that the government has no business doing it.

As unbelievable as it is there are still plenty of weak-minded individuals who would vote for Romney/Ryan. They'll believe Ryan is a fiscal hawk when his record clearly shows that he voted for 2 unfunded trillion dollar wars and Medicare Part D. Ryan will have you believe he's a Capitalist, yet his record clearly shows that he voted for socializing prescription drug coverage for seniors and to bailout Wall Street, banks, and corporations for extremely bad, un-Christian behavior with the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 resulting in privatized profits and socialized losses. Ryan votes a socialist agenda. But Ryan wants to privatize Medicare and Social Security so that the party of Conservatives can bleed the average American's retirement funds dry in the casino Wall Street then make you pay for (socialize) the losses and performance bonuses for executive "talent." The conservatives will have you believe that a Romney/Ryan ticket will help them repeal "Obamacare," a law where the "individual mandate" was authored by conservatives and signed into law by Romney. Romney claims to want to replace Obamacare with "something better." "Obamacare" is more tangible than "something." The Conservatives will tell you that they believe in, and honor, women's rights while at the same time they tell you a rape victim's body "will shut that whole thing down" and that pregnancy is a rarity in those cases. The Conservatives will tell you that they believe in a free nation while outlawing the right to choose for one's self. The Conservative will put fear in voters about Sharia Law but then turn around and attempt their own Christian equivalent against abortion, marriage, and their hatefulness of the gays. The Conservatives will whine about paying for welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid while keeping subsidies for oil companies and other corporations making record profits or funding corporate executives that tank the economy, trash people's retirement, investments and earnings in the name of greed not God. Romney and Ryan want to make this an election about the jobs and the economy and Obama's record. But the Conservatives were empowered during the mid-terms of 2010 on the pretext of jobs, jobs, jobs. Where are the jobs they promised then? If tax cuts created jobs then where are all the jobs from the Bush tax cuts? What about their own records? Look carefully before you vote!

tjohn -- awesome post!

Elliott, that was just the latest (and his election year "nice, I-want-to-be elected" version ) of Ryan's plans that allows people the choice to stay on Medicare, which is what probably 90% of seniors would choose if they could afford it, but it will probably be priced too high for most to afford, and so will private insurance plans. Ryan has never proposed any controls to keep the prices of private insurance affordable for seniors in the future. Private insurance will not want to cover seniors again with much more inflated healthcare costs than back in the 1960s when private insurance had already priced most seniors out of the market due to the high liability of age-related diseases to insurance companies.

Elliott, remember, if something would happen to the senior-citizen Romney, the country would be at the mercy of Ryan!!

Yankee Boy: Either you are simply reiterating the Democratic Obama) lies about the effect of Ryan's plan on those who are seniors or will become senior in the next ten years, which is nil or you have no idea what you are talking about.

Ryan is the scariest guy on the ticket. His 'final solution for seniors and the poor' is chilling. It's funny how no one is addressing his dedication to the philosophy of Ayn Rand... this is who he is. No, he is NOT a 'nice guy'. I think he's calculating and ruthless. If Romney wins, Ryan will be the real president.

elliot-3020456...lets not forget that Ryan altered his plan for that change. If he and Romney altered it once..what makes you and everyone else believe he will not change his mind again as he has many times so far in his debates within his own party ? So far...cutting taxes, his own, makes more headway than anything else. No one in the republican party has shown just what Romney has plans to do..I could care less about what he claims now..he had changed his mind way too many times. Plus...he and the republican party want to follow the same plan that Bush used..and look what we got from that.

Just what is Ryan for ? HIs claims of being a debt hawk are sure misleading since he voted for every billl that raised the huge debt Bush put this country into. He also voted for the cuts that came from a crooked congress that caused this counrty debt rating to be down graded...yet he says that was Obamas fault...for all his claims so far...he has voted the opposite .... he is no different from Romney..making lots of claims to different people to get elected...and explaining nothing of his own plan,,,,if he really has one.

Romney's the real Crook, Liar, and Tax-Cheat, but this thread is about his poor choice of an Extreme right-wing running mate, Paul Ryan.

I'm sure Mr. Ryan is a "nice-guy", definitely nicer than Romney, however it's well know that Mr. Ryan worships at the Altar of Ayn Ryan, the darling of the Extreme far-right and the author of the Republican's Bible "Atlas Shrugs", where Ayn Rand is quoted as saying the Poor are merely Insects and Parasites.

Doesn't sound very Christian to me, now does it?

Plus did you know that the $77,000 that Mitt Romney took off his Taxes, not Income mind you, but off his Taxes as his phony Tax write-off of his Wife's Olympic "dressage" Show Horse, by telling his Tax accountant that it was a "Therapy Horse", that $77,000 write-off if more than what half of Americans earn. Shameful.

Romney liked all the Democratic Party speeches so much Romney the king of flip flopping is going to flip flop again...and vote for Obama/Biden 2012!

Hard to pick out a highlight of the speech. Maybe calling out Ryan and Romney stealing the 716 billion from Medicare and giving it to the greedy rich......instead of putting it back into health care like Obama plan entails.....Yeah...I think that lie repubs push and the Ryan plan that takes that money from health care and gives it to the rich for more tax breaks....Yeah that one was the highlight.

Arithmetic.....Romney knows how to make money, he simply wants to pass laws to take YOURS!

Obama/Biden 2012

Ryan twice had asked for stimulus money because it was good for his state, good for the people and made him look good, yet, when asked if he did, he had to lie and say he didn't take any. Repubs know the stimulus money helped, but the repub plan is to say it didn't . So Romney's moneymate..Paul Ryan... was lying to EVERYONE saying he did not take the money. When caught he still denied, then finally admitted it. Then he tried to blame a staffer saying a staffer signed the bill...really...he let staffers sign documents asking for over 20 million of stim money?...Who was that illegally signing documents?

Paul Ryan lies so much even fox news called him a liar!

A little bird told me that Rove vetted Ryan for Romney.

Don, according to what I have read about Romney and Ryan they do have differences as to some of their positions. He selected Ryan because Ryan said yes.

Susie

Ryan's positions are clear from his voting record. Romney picked Ryan. That is the best information we have for determining Romney's real positions since what he says depends on the nature of his audience. He has been on all sides of virtually every issue.

WHY DOES PAUL RYAN DELIBERATELY VOTE TO MAKE THE NATION FAIL?

The night President Obama took office Paul Ryan pledged against America economy recovery. Pledged to vote against every bill that would help make Obam look good. Ryan and repubs pledged to vote against the nation just to make Obama a one term president. The whiner weinermobile boy complains that the economy wasn't good enough......WELL DUHHHHH!!!! Repubs block removing tax breaks for companies taking businesses off shore, Repubs block bill to give tax breaks for jobs to come back to America. Repubs even blocked health care for 911 responders, repubs blocked removing subsidies from big oil when execs said they did not need them.........Welll DUHHHH! RYAN.........Point the finger at yourself .....whiner!

Believe it or not, neither do the bishops. "The Ryan budget does not meet our moral criteria."

And the Democrats blocked a GOP initiative, for God knows what reason, which would have prevented Obamacare from paying for drugs for male sexual dysfunction (Viagara, etc) for pedophiles, rapists and sex offenders.

I guess that was a part of their pro-abortion, woman's rights campaign !!

Are you being sarcastic or are you daring to bring religion into this debate. The Article does mention it, so I guess it is fair game, but the Article fails to mention that Obama has not attended a single church service since being elected and I doubt that he has attended one since public rage forced him to distance himself from Reverend Wright.

So what is Obama? An atheist? A Muslim, afraid to be seen entering a mosque? A fanatic, who believes in Reverend Wright's disdain for Christian principals by preaching for radical, racial (even violent) change. Or something else.

Why does he not tell us? I hear of those who question Romney because he is a Mormon. True, but his religion, not unlike JFK's (Catholic), teaches a sense of values compatible with our society.

I think it if fair to know where Obama's values fare. On the subject all I have ever heard from him is "God bless America". That tells us a lot.

What is he hiding?

Gil @3.3: "...but the Article fails to mention that Obama has not attended a single church service since being elected..."

I read your post to see if Poe's Law was at play, but have come to the conclusion that your words are an outright lie:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ramadan.asp

Quit feasting on rightwing conspiracy tripe and we won't have to point out the obvious bull@!$%# stuck on your tooth.

And what if he is an atheist? No law against that, is there?

Atheists are the most discriminated against group of people in the U.S.

Oh yes, Atheists are also the most educated people in the US too

Fred the evil, according to public information, Obama has attended church 9 times in the 45 Sundays since he was elected. He has played golf over 110 times. He has hosted two Ramaden dinners in the White House, on our dime. He has never attended a Congressional Prayer Breakfast - the only president to not do so. He has never had a Christmas dinner, or a Jewish dinner , or a Buddist (sp.) dinner, but two Muslim dinners. A third one was cancelled because he was on vacation - one of 16.

Pretty bad for Romney and Ryan when even Fox news makes fun of Ryan for being such a liar at the convention the other night! Guess we see why people like Mikey like to make up things when they glorify liars like Romney and Ryan.!

From Huffington post 8-30-12

According to Fox News columnist Sally Kohn, vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday "was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech."

sypdr, your lack of knowledge is showing. Romney's taxes are at 13% because almost all of his income is from capital gains - taxed at a top rate of 15%. His income is about 20 million dollars. His total is reduced, due to donating 3.6 million dollars to charity. He also is able to deduct his wife's business expenses, since they file jointly. Mitt has offshore accounts in the same countries as Debbie Wasserman- Shultz. Debbie is the head of the Democratic National Comittee. Ask to see her tax returns and see what answer you get.

oldman.........Romney has not shown a completed 2010 tax document and 2011 was only an estimate. Mormon church is his charity, you know, donate money to his church of investments, how christian is that? Set up so the more money you give to the Mormons the more you get to touch the secret underpants. The more you get to touch the secret underpants, the better afterlife you have. One question, is someone wearing the underpants they pay to touch? If so, I call that prostitution....

Ilk? Cute.

Yeah, Elliot -ilk.

Three characters, one syllable: "ilk."

Except those "job creators" where all the tax breaks are going are creating jobs for communist China!

Sure. Quit your job, and invest all your money in the stock market. If your strategy results in net gains at the end of the year, you will likely pay a very low tax rate, similar to Romney (actually probably lower, since lower-income people get more initial deductions and credits). You can even donate much of your money to charitable causes, and you will likely even pay lower taxes!

It's that simple....the low rates on capital gains aren't only given to rich white people (as Democrats may have you believe). Anyone can take advantage of them. It just requires you to RISK your own money and INVEST it in other companies.

I just wish that people educated themselves a little bit more before establishing their opinons.

The reason why rich people often pay lower average tax rates is b/c a much higher proportion of their income is constituted by capital gains, which is taxed much more favourably than employment income.

- The reason why capital gains are taxed at lower rates is to encourage investment in other companies. The idea is that people wouldn't want to risk their savings when half the potential gains will go to the government anyways. As well, the lower rates are an incentive to save in the first place.

- I don't want to argue or comment about whether lower rates on gains is a good idea or not. Truth is, I'm not sure, and nobody is 100% sure.

Just understand why rich people are paying 'lower average tax rates'. It has nothing to do with being them treated favourably...the tax system is still progressive in every sense (there is not one part of the tax system that is regressive in reality...).

We understand why the capital gains tax is like it is. We just don't think its working.

Invest, yes, they invest in wordlwide assets (money flows to were it can have the highest rate of return (usually not the US)). This i sunlike money from taxations which is mostly spent in the US.

The theory that money trickling down from the rich wise men into productive US assets has failed times so many times it is not even funny, yet its a motto for the republicans. Also, when a country gives tax custs (which capital gains exceptions are), while they have to borrow money to do so, these fax cut must be very highly productive. There is no proof that this is the case AT ALL.

N-529, no one should be treated unfairly with taxes. It is just we have this monstrous, disastrous federal deficit, 2 very recent unfunded wars, high unemployment, and many very low income citizens. It is imperative that the federal debt gets paid on, and the wealthy can afford to do the most. If the wealthy have an ounce of patriotism and love of America and respect for the sacrifice that our most honorable citizens (our soldiers) have made, they should be happy to pay more taxes just to pay off the wars. The freedoms of America have contributed greatly to their wealth after all. And why after 10 years of the Bush tax cuts with more and more jobs sent to foreign countries by some of the wealthy should those tax cuts be sustained anyway?

N,

You're right in the sense that the capital gains rate is what allows the wealthy to pay lower rates than the middle class. The issue is that, for a country that claims to value hard work, why do we reward those that make money simply by having money to invest, while punishing those who actually earn their money through labor?

As for your statement that we don't have regressive taxes, it is false. The payroll taxes, which fund 40% of the government, are extremely regressive. They apply from nearly the first dollar earned, at 7.65%. Social Security is capped, so individuals earning more than about $110,000 don't pay any on earnings over that amount, hence the regression.

And as t-squared said, individuals earning less than $110,000 a year pay on 100% of their income to social security--extremely regressive, but why do the republican heads say there will be a 23% across the board CUT in benefits in 2036 when the fund runs out. It should be based on the model you that you paid in on--WHEN THE FUNDING RUNS OUT IN 2036 OR WHENEVER, IF YOU PAID SOCIAL SECURITY BASED ON 100% ON ALL YOUR WORKING YEARS YOU SHOULD GET 100% OF THAT PROMISED BACK, AND, FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU PAID INTO SS ON AN AVERAGE OF 75% OF YOUR INCOME, WHEN THE FUND RUNS OUT, YOU SHOULD GET 75% OF YOUR PROMISED; IF YOU PAID ON 50% OF YOUR INCOME AVERAGE, 50% PROMISED BACK; PAID ON 1% OF YOUR INCOME AVERAGE, 1% PROMISED BACK, AND SO ON; THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO DO THIS WITHOUT KILLING THE LOW INCOME, HARDWORKING CITIZENS.

lie about your income.

hey carol you have two unfunded wars;med.part.d and bush tax cuts to pay for.just work harder

dude that would be killer! then we all can pay 13%!...water ski party!

spydr

If we don't stop the treasonous Republican-T-Party neo-Confederacy...

...we may all be...

...on food stamps...

...America can't afford Willard "Tax Cheat, Serial Perjurer" Romney...

...and his pal...

...Paul "I Voted For Bush-Cheney Disastrous Budget, Forcible/Legitimate Rapist" Ryan...

...the slave masters/ plantation owners...

...of the 21st Century...

They want you to work for food...

4 MORE YEARS OF BALANCED, BENEVOLENT LEADERSHIP!

Obama-Biden 2012!

I'm from Wisconsin, we have lost some jobs in the last few months, but our unemployment rate is far below the national level. and as far as the senate goes the winner of that seat will have to run again in November. He only won the seat until the original term ends in December,and senate will not reconvene until 2013

kandihar

The right wing anti-American, union-hating terrorists in WI...

...lost their minds, and their self-respect...

...voting a low life scumbag like Scott Walker...

...into power the first time...

...but they lost any empathy or credibility one might have afforded them...

...when they voted against his ouster...

...WI is a state with too many demented, old, right wing Obama-hating , neo-Confederate traitors...

That is right, Ryan's plan for private insurance to cover seniors failed long before he was born. Private insurance priced seniors out of the market back then due to the high liability of age-related diseases, and they will do it again--no controls in Ryan's plans to prevent that!

LOL can't handle losing?

R.I.C.O. laws that is how we fix these self-righteous politician who believe they are above the law they made,treason is what they teter on,but all the sheep let them continue.its gotta stop somewhere or we will look like the ruins of the middle east.with our own soldiers shooting us.

It seems our current President is not kowtowing to the weathly elite as a good majority of them are funding GOP superpacs in the hopes of putting someone more sympathetic to their needs in office. Mittens anyone?

This President has called them on their greed and their immorality and generally tried to embarrass them for it. I like that in my President. Apparently they don't. Obama/Biden 2012.

One of the most important ways for us to compete globally is to make sure CEO pay is more like the rest of the worlds CEOs. You don't see these crazy salaries in China, Japan or even in Europe. If we were not paying such ridiculous salaries, golden parachutes, golden caskets, and every other stupid perk we would be better able to compete. That was the beginning of the great wealth transfer. Think about it.