{"65468":{"#nid":"65468","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Ryan Budget Plan is Right for America, Says Georgia Tech Economist","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EChristine Ries, professor of economics at Georgia Tech\u0027s Ivan Allen\nCollege of Liberal Arts, offers her views on why Representative Paul Ryan\u2019s\nbudget plan is moving the debate in the right direction.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe budget plan\noffered this week by Representative Paul Ryan and the Republican Party is a\nserious game changer. As we debate these budget issues over the next year or\ntwo, we will be forced to examine who we are as individuals and what we expect\nand are willing to tolerate from our government. The plan addresses not only\nthe budget, but also the processes and rules by which the budget is produced.\nThe debate will be about much more than numbers\u2014we will actually have to\nconfront issues of freedom and values.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESerious debate is\nessential because we face, as Erskine Bowl\u2019s put it,\u0026nbsp; \u2018the most predictable financial catastrophe\nin history.\u2019\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;We face a potentially devastating financial\nchallenge and the only way out is to \u003Cem\u003Einvest\u003C\/em\u003E and \u003Cem\u003Egrow\u003C\/em\u003E \u2026or leave\nthe burden to our children. The potential damage to our country is enormous.\nAnd a serious and effective response, as is provided by the Ryan plan, will be\nadopted only if the American voter can be brought to understand the gravity of\nthe situation. Everyone must come to understand that the entitlement future\neveryone expects to enjoy is a pipe dream. The government has made promises to\nall of us that it cannot possibly keep.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Ryan plan will\nnot destroy our social safety net. It will save it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are four\nessential parts of the Ryan plan that any workable plan should contain.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E1.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Cut\ngovernment spending.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E2.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Increase\nprivate investment.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E3.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Cut\ntaxes. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E4.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Reduce\nregulation.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe trick is to\naccomplish this without inflation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Ryan plan puts\ncaps on government spending that kick in automatically if Congress exceeds\nstatutory limits. The plan cuts overall spending by $6.2 trillion over ten\nyears. To put us back on a competitive footing with other countries, personal\nand corporate income taxes are cut from the current rates of 35 percent to 25\npercent. These cuts will boost our private sector investment and generate the\nsubstantial economic growth that is essential for any recovery. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe most\npolitically courageous part of the plan is a total reform of Medicare. Ryan\nsays his plan takes on Medicare reform because we must. Unless we solve the\nMedicare problem, we cannot begin to confront our financial crisis. And the\nnearly fifty-year-old program cannot survive unless deeply reformed. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe proposed\nreforms use markets, competition, and regionalized supervisory mechanisms to\ncut medical costs and prices significantly without actually making \u003Cem\u003Eany\u003C\/em\u003E\ncuts to the current Medicare spending. Government payments will not decline at\nall for anyone, but the projected future growth in the need for care will come\nfrom huge cost savings and innovation.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBasically, states\nare given block grants so that control over the system is closer to the\ntaxpayer and plans can be customized for state and regional preferences. The\nplan is a \u2018premium support\u2019 plan that transfers incentives and control over\ncost and quality back to the individual and the physician. It gives \u003Cem\u003Echoice\u003C\/em\u003E\nback to the client and his or her doctor.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWe will be having a\nnational conversation about this plan and these issues for years to come. The\nconversation is essential and our nation\u2019s health and strength depend on the\noutcome. This budget plan moves control of spending from the federal government\nback to the state and local governments and, more importantly, back to the\ncompanies and people who earned the money in the first place.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWe are currently\nwatching a media frenzy as stations hold broadcast time for news of the latest\ncomment of the latest meeting that will tell us whether the government will\npartially and temporarily slow down. Sentiment and opinion are shifting as to\nwhether this will happen. If so, who will be \u2018blamed\u2019? Which party gets a\nstrategic advantage by doing what? \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is a warm-up\nact for the behavior we will witness over the coming months and the next two or\nthree years. The tension being fed by the media is \u2018political marketing\u2019 that\ninforms and generates concern about this important problem. We are now hearing\nthe first arguments. The tension created by all the uncertainty and confusion\nis doing the important job of raising public consciousness of the seriousness\nof the problem.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth sides are\npositioning themselves to manage the momentum of their constituents. Who is \u2018on\na roll\u2019? Are we really all socialists now? Are the big government extensions of\nObamacare, regulatory cap and trade, financial regulation, government control,\nand industrial planning going to be locked in as a permanent part of our\neconomic landscape? Are the concerns that drove last November\u2019s election and\npropelled financial conservatives into the House and Senate picking up speed\nand pulling in even more independent voters?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe momentum\nmatters. A lot.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWho will come out\nthe victor? It really all depends on whether most Americans come to see the\nseriousness of our financial situation. Or, will most Americans continue to\nassume that the same energies that have kept the country strong and safe will\nsomehow rise up and take care of the problem for us?\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EChristine Ries, professor of economics at Georgia Tech\u0027s Ivan Allen\nCollege of Liberal Arts, offers her views on why Representative Paul Ryan\u2019s\nbudget plan is moving the debate in the right direction.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Christine Ries offers her views on why Representative Paul Ryan\u0027s budget plan is moving the debate in the right direction."}],"uid":"27310","created_gmt":"2011-04-08 14:00:56","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:30","author":"David Terraso","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-04-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-04-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"65466":{"id":"65466","type":"image","title":"Christine Ries","body":null,"created":"1449176831","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:07:11","changed":"1475894579","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:59","alt":"Christine Ries","file":{"fid":"193224","name":"final_portraits_mckitrick_001__main_public.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/final_portraits_mckitrick_001__main_public.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/final_portraits_mckitrick_001__main_public.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":8105653,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/final_portraits_mckitrick_001__main_public.jpg?itok=iS3dOKKL"}}},"media_ids":["65466"],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"4195","name":"budget"},{"id":"11161","name":"Christine Ries"},{"id":"290","name":"Economy"},{"id":"1616","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"167037","name":"school of economics"},{"id":"169350","name":"shutdown"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}