The reason why it's so easy to become frustrated with the Administration is because when the President's senior advisor, David Plouffe, goes on Meet The Press and says that "trust was built between the Speaker (John Boehner) and the President" through this last budget process, you wonder what reality they are living in. Is Mr. Plouffe saying that to lower the heat between the two sides? To reassure the American people that the government works? Or is he just not being forthright and insulting our intelligence? One has to wonder.
However, as Mr. Gregory duly noted, news was made when Mr. Plouffe announced that the President will be presenting is outline for a debt reduction plan. Not a moment too soon because, as was the round table consensus, the Republicans have been driving the fiscal debate throughout this process and will continue to do so if the President and the Democrats don't get their own plan together.
But before we get into the full budget discussion, we just want to address something that Mr. Gregory and Mr. Plouffe discussed, and that is the Guantanamo Military Prison. For us, at The Opinion, this is a very frustrating subject because by Guantanamo remaining open speaks poorly of America on so many levels. Starting at the same point as they did on today's program with a clip/statement from the President that we will close Guantanamo and adhere to the Geneva Conventions of war. Whereas now, in reality, we are not closing the prison and we're going to try Khalid Sheik Mohammad (KSM) through a military tribunal instead of in federal court.
First, as we all know, Guantanamo Bay is a great recruiting tool for Islamic extremists around the world. "Look what Americans do to Muslims," kind of thing. It's not even like The Hague where there will be a trial, however weighted for the desired outcome notwithstanding, at least it's a court. At Guantanamo, it's indefinitely detention without any charges. This reflects poorly on us throughout the entire rest of the world. Secondly, the President comes off as a hypocrite for first saying that we're going to close it, and then don't - his credibility is shot on the issue.
Not to mention that the prison existing costs a lot of money to operate and does nothing to make us safer here at home. And this is what really gets us: The reason we're not closing it is because politicians are unwilling to have these prisoners moved to the United States and tried here, and that speaks of weakness of character. That we keep these prisoners in Cuba, it keeps things out of sight, out of mind for the American collective instead of us owning this situation, bringing these people here and trying them. What also plays into this is the fact that we don't want to bring them here because there may be terrorist attacks as a result. This is America giving into fear - we're too scared of what might happen. For all of our tough talk sometimes, it really is just false bravado sometimes.
We say own the situation, close the prison, try the prisoners starting with KSM here, and take all the precautions necessary to prevent any repercussions (terror attacks) for doing so. Also, we're not against a military court, but why can't the military trial be here? That Guantanamo still exists is an illustration of the lack of collective courage among our politicians.
However, 'courage' has been the word used in the press to describe Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for putting forth a budget plan. We've really lowered the bar as to what qualifies as courage in this country, that's for sure. Whenever Mr. Ryan says that he wants to save Medicare and Medicaid, he means saving it in name only because under his plan, these two programs will cease to exist as we know them. Mr. Ryan wants to give seniors medicare vouchers and then they can use those vouchers to get whatever private insurance they want, competition will lower costs being the logic, and also seniors will get more choice.
The problem is putting control in the hands of private insurances, which is the prime cause of why health care in this country is so expensive. To play it out for a moment, a senior has his/her vouchers and goes to a private insurer. The insurance company says you have this much money, you can get this plan and you do. Then six months later, the private insurance company raises its rates, and then you can no longer afford the plan you originally signed on for through the voucher system so you start supplementing the increase with your social security check. Or you just take less coverage, but if you're sick, you can't afford to do that. Will the government then, up the amount of the voucher? The answer is no, they are controlling government costs. If you want that kind of system then Mr. Ryan's plan is to your liking. But it ain't safe.
And that's why there are so many critics on all sides and that's why David Plouffe said that it may pass the House (it will), but it won't become law. He said that the cost increase for seniors will be about $6,000 per year. That number may be a bit high, but there is no doubt that costs for seniors will go up and there will be less care for the amount of that dollar.
Tim Shriver said of the Tea Party Republicans that they are cutting cutting cutting but what are they building? The same should be asked of Mr. Ryan's budget plan. It eliminates the Affordable Health Care Act, but does nothing to get affordable health care to the uninsured. It eliminates financial security for future generations of people, which is another point that Mr. Shriver touched on where Americans right now don't feel they have the chance for a better life. Mr. Ryan's budget plan which also gives more tax breaks to the richest Americans doesn't help in the slightest in that regard.
Mr. Plouffe's talking point was that we can not balance the budget on the backs of seniors, to which Republicans would say that it does not do that at all. So does it? Yes and no. It doesn't do anything to seniors right now (short-term election gain), but for seniors to be - his plan is devastating.
And because Mr. Ryan's budget doesn't increase revenue for the government, the national debt, according the the Congressional Budget Office, would grow to $67 trillion dollars by 2035, an unspeakable number in any year. Additionally, there are no defense spending cuts in his budget. So when you take a cumulative look at Mr. Ryan's budget, it becomes the Republican wish list for corporatism. When Mr. Ryan says that his plan will create a debt-free nation, it's just not accurate. For twenty-five years we've seen how tax cuts for the wealthiest have not created new jobs, but his plan is more of the same so in that way, it's neither courageous nor ambitious.
Not to mention, as Chuck Todd pointed out, that this last budget fight was, in the end, not about the money but about cultural issues that the Republicans have been trying unilaterally shape for the past thirty years, which has caused deep distrust between the parties. More accurately, the Democrats have no reason to trust the Republican agenda because they have shown that they have ulterior motives when it comes to balancing the budget. Mr. Ryan called for an honest discussion when it comes to the budget. Beside the obvious problem of a politician calling for an honest discussion, he has to be honest about who really benefits from his plan. It's most certainly not seniors or, even more sadly, the middle class.
Roundtable: Chairman and CEO of the Special Olympics, Tim Shriver; host of CNBC's "Mad Money" Jim Cramer; the New York Times White House Corresopndent Helene Cooper; and NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and Political Director, Chuck Todd.
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