Rand Paul's budget

Foreshadowing future legislative gridlock, tea party caucus leader Rand Paul declared any compromise is off the table. But you have to give him credit, he has proposed his own budget that would immediately cut spending enough to avoid raising taxes, and indeed proposes cutting them further. And to his greater credit, he’s honest about where he would make the cuts.

It’s instructional to see the real life consequences of those deep cuts:

Paul’s plan would: cut the average Social Security recipient’s benefits by nearly 40 percent, reduce defense spending by nearly $100 billion below a level the Pentagon calls “devastating,” and end the current Medicare program in two years — even for current recipients, according to the Senate Budget Committee staff. It would eliminate the education, energy, housing and commerce departments, decimate homeland security, eviscerate programs for the poor, and give the wealthy a bonanza by reducing tax rates to 17 percent and eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends.

When Republicans tell you we must balance the budget, this is what they mean. Make no mistake, Romney and Ryan don’t have the guts to be this honest about it, but the consequences of their plans won’t be much different.

This is your future under GOP economics. And keep in mind, these are just the direct consequences. Think about the indirect impact of millions of people losing their jobs and their incomes under these cuts. They won’t have any money to spend. They won’t be able to buy stuff. Which means more businesses won’t be able to sell stuff. Which means they will have to lay off workers. Who won’t have any money and so forth.

The promised shared wealth of the Bush tax cuts, that were signed 11 years ago today, hasn’t trickled down yet. Believe me when I tell you, the economic collapse that would ensue from these kinds of budgets will trickle down, and much faster than you think.