Wednesday, January 26, 2011

PAUL RYAN'S MAKE BELIEVE WORLD

Where's Joe "you lie" Wilson when you need him?


Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) - who has had trouble with numbers before - was selected by the Republicans to respond to President Obama's State of the Union speech. Political Correction has the goods on his make believe world views here, while the Huffington Post and Paul Krugman also have commentary.

Below are some of the Ryan "you lie" lowlights.

*************************

PAUL RYAN: The facts are clear: Since taking office, President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25% for domestic government agencies - an 84% increase when you include the failed stimulus. All of this new government spending was sold as 'investment.' Yet after two years, the unemployment rate remains above 9% and government has added over $3 trillion to our debt.

THE SPENDING FACTS:
Imagine that you worked really hard, and saw your pay go up from $43,000 in 2008 to $47,000 in 2009. You got an additional set of "one-time" commissions and bonuses that added up to $25,000 for your hard work (for a yearly total of $72,000 in 2009). Simple enough, right?

Your hard work continues through the next year and you get a raise. You now earn $53,000. But you get no bonuses or commissions like you did in 2009 because the bonuses were one-time. Did your wages and compensation in 2010 go up 84% from 2008 - as Paul Ryan might claim - or did your 2010 income actually rise just 24% from 2008?

Well, in Paul Ryan's world you saw a wage increase of 84% in 2010 because you got a bonus in 2009 (I know, I know ... it's his math, I'm just trying to explain it).

Try using Paul Ryan's math methods the next time you go into a bank for a loan. Apply your bonuses from the previous year(s) and see what they say, and what they do with your loan request.


********************

THE JOB FACTS:
To date, President Obama can be held accountable for the net loss of 41,000 jobs, while the Republicans should be held responsible for the net losses of 7,796,000 jobs.
Here are the numbers in graph form.




In fact, since the Recovery Act (or Stimulus Money) was put into place, the Private Sector Has Added Jobs Every Month Since December 2009!

MORE JOB FACTS:
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the private sector shed 83,000 jobs in December 2009. Since then, the lowest monthly job gain was 16,000 in January 2010, and the highest was 241,000 in April 2010; private industries have added jobs for 12 straight months, the data show. Here's what the numbers look like in graph form.




But, wait. There's more ...

ECONOMY FACTS:
The non-partisan and highly respected Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the Stimulus Money (or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's policies) had the following effects in the third quarter of calendar year 2010. It ...

• Raised gross domestic product by between 1.4 percent and 4.1 percent,

• Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.8 percentage points and 2.0 percentage points,

• Increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.6 million, and

• Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 2.0 million to 5.2 million compared with what would have occurred otherwise.
 
But, wait, there's even more that refutes Congressman Ryan's make believe, fact free, world. Princeton and Moody's Economists argue that the government's response to the market crisis was not only "Highly Effective" but that it has saved 8.5 million jobs.
 
There's more. Much more (which you can read here, here, and here), but Political Correction's stuff on the debt is especially good.
 
Suffice it to say that Congressman Paul Ryan's State of the Union response was disingenuous at best but can be explained by the fact that he's probably a lying sociopath.
 
And, keep in mind, Ryan is one of the GOP's pathetically named "Young Guns" who's supposed to lead them to the Promise Land. It gets worse. Ryan's also Chairman of the House Budget Committee.  
 
- Mark 

No comments: