Ryan's 25% top tax bracket impossible, proves he doesn't really know what he's doing.

Political Capital's Al Hunt knows his stuff, and easily exposed the real Paul Ryan plan. Although Hunt does let Ryan off the hook eventually, it's clear there's a lot Ryan doesn't want to tell us.

Hunt reminded Ryan that Republican Rep. Dave Camp's detailed austere budget plan could only safely bring the top tax rate down to 35%, or it wouldn't work. RYAN WAS STUMPED, so he said the House Ways and Means Committee can itemize their plans, but the budget committee "won't say, here's exactly how to do tax reform. But here's the goal of tax reform...!" What does that mean?

But if Ryan's goal in unrealistic, as exemplified by Camp's budget plan, then why did Ryan proposal the impossible? Because the truth is, Ryan really does have a Dickensian vision for America? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Ryan in one fell swoop lost all of his credibility, again. He crumbled under the questioning of someone smarter. Thank you Al Hunt:

House Republican Farm Bill Showcases Conservative Dickensian plans for US. Hail Scrooge!

What the Republicans did to the farm bill is so breathtakingly cruel, that it really is beyond words. Democrats tried to describe it and came close, but…

On the “promise” they would bring it up sometime in the future, Republicans could not promise what would be in the new standalone food stamp bill. That’s even worse. From Market to Market:

The Farmers Union released this statement:

Wisconsin Farmers Union denounced the deeply flawed and highly partisan Farm Bill that was passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday. The bill eliminated market stabilization for dairy, left out critical cost-saving and conservation measures, and failed to re-authorize nutrition programs for the food insecure. The bill also repealed the 1938 and 1949 permanent farm law, striking a blow to farmers’ leverage for seeking improvements in farm programs in the future.

“The Republican-dominated House of Representatives turned their back not on farm families all over this country but on seventy five years of good law. I am especially disappointed with the five members of the Wisconsin delegation who ignored the recommendation of nearly every major farm organization in the nation, which was to keep farm and nutrition programs together.” Congressmen Ryan, Ribble, Duffy, Sensenbrenner, and Petri all voted for the House Farm Bill that passed on Thursday. Earlier this month, a coalition of 532 farm and agriculture organizations signed a joint letter urging Congress to retain the nutrition title as part of the Farm Bill.

It should be mentioned the Democratic Party supports farmers. Voting against this assault on farmers and the poor: Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore.

Trust Foreign Food Importers? Republicans do: You want smaller government, than swallow this one:

WSJ: FOOD-SAFETY INSPECTIONS: Voting 198 for and 226 against, the House on Thursday defeated a bid by Democrats to require the Department of Agriculture to conduct annual food-safety inspections in countries that export egg products, meat and poultry to the U.S. A yes vote was to increase food inspections overseas.

Voting yes: Pocan, Kind, Moore. Voting no: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble

Entitlements Must Go, says former Wisconsin Physician and Legislator: “Women Entitled to Babies, the Elderly Entitled to Unlimited Medical Care…Entitlement Culture finally lost Allure.” Really?

Just mentioning the word “entitlements” is like sticking a knife in the heart of a conservative, and likewise, the heart of America. The word is so vilified, that conservatives are now trying to come up with other things they could pass off as “entitlements.”

You have to read this amazing point of view by Tom Patterson, a retired physician and former state senator, to get a clear idea of why we’re rapidly taking our society. East Valley Tribune: 

Wisconsin recall may be the turning point, 'where entitlement culture finally lost its allure.'

Usually in politics, concentrated special interests, like public unions, prevail. This election was the exception. We may someday look back at Wisconsin as the turning point, the time when the entitlement culture finally lost its allure.

Since the 1930s, Americans have evolved the belief that the modern welfare state could provide almost everything for everyone. Women were entitled to have babies without consequences. The poor and the elderly were entitled to unlimited medical care. Banks and ball teams were entitled to socialize their losses but keep their gains. Government employees were entitled to above-market compensation and job security.

Read how Patterson weaves into his Dickensian screed a defense of the middle class, the very target of his hatred:

You name it. Housing, food, college loans, business subsidies – all came from the bottomless riches of government. But the string has played out. As in Europe, our national economy is cracking under the strain and the middle class – really, anybody not on the taking side of government handouts – can’t handle much more.

Ryan wants to replace government safety nets with fund raising car washes and neighbor handouts. Feel good now?

I'll bet nothing warms the hearts of conservatives everywhere than to see a community pull together and hold a car wash to help pay for a child's cancer, or heart surgery. That's where true democracy belongs, at the local level, assisting those who need help, and keeping them out of the dependent clutches of big government. 

As screwy as that sounds, we've been hearing that for years from our Republican Dickensian's. If they say it enough, maybe someone will believe them...like every tea party and base conservative voter.

The video here show's Paul Ryan saying just that. Sen. Tom Coburn said as much to a woman with breast cancer at a town hall during the health care debate. Maybe they're onto something.

Ask your local pastors, see if they have the funds to take care of a lifetime of insulin, or months of chemotherapy, for one, two or ten residents in their community. Ask them also to help pay their mortgage, or buy food for their families when times get tough. That's what our local communities are all about aren't they?

The following high minded diatribe by Ryan is enough to make me sick. Get ready folks, for a world you've only read about in 19th century novels. Think freedom, think breaking the chains of big government dependence. That's Ryan's path.....

WP: “To me, the [Catholic] principle of subsidiarity, which is really federalism, meaning government closest to the people governs best, having a civil society of the principle of solidarity where we, through our civic organizations, through our churches, through our charities, through all of our different groups where we interact with people as a community, that’s how we advance the common good.

“By not having big government crowd out civic society, but by having enough space in our communities so that we can interact with each other, and take care of people who are down and out in our communities. Those principles are very very important, and the preferential option for the poor, which is one of the primary tenets of Catholic social teaching, means don’t keep people poor, don’t make people dependent on government so that they stay stuck at their station in life. Help people get out of poverty out into a life of independence.”
Rep. Paul Ryan, in an interview with the CBN on how his Catholic beliefs influenced his budget plan.

GOP threatens W-2 Families with 6 month ban from program for one offense. The Kids? Who Cares.

Our authoritarian leaders and “father figures” must be our disciplinarians. They must watch over us, keep us in line with a firm hand. The Walker aristocracy and royal Fitzgerald court is now in order:

WKOW: A new bill introduced in the Wisconsin State Legislature provides for tougher penalties beginning with a first offense.

Tougher penalties for those already in poverty? Hey, how much worse can it get? A lot worse:

Rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids) wrote a bill that would change (W2) dramatically. "What this bill is trying to do, is to make sure that we have those individuals held accountable," Rep. Krug said, "Forging of documents, not reporting assets that are coming into the household, not reporting how many family members are in the household," Rep. Krug explained.

Those lazy freeloaders, Krug will show them.

The "Wisconsin Works" program, provides work assistance and financial benefits for low-income parents. Right now, people can defraud the W-2 program twice without facing any penalties. This bill seeks to add a six-month ban for first time offenders and a year-long ban for a second offense.

In the video piece, MaryAnn Lippert acts as though we’re all simpletons…that if you over enunciate very slowly in a very condescending way, the harsh penalties levied by our overlords just might sink into our thick heads.  

"I stress the word "intentional" program violation," said MaryAnn Lippert of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, which oversees W-2.  "An intentional program violation, bottom line, means lie. They will have to sign a new participation agreement.  And in that participation agreement, it will be very clear what an intentional program violation is and what the consequences are."

The "B" word comes to mind, ya think? So what about starving the kids?

But several committee members, both Republican and Democrat, expressed the same concern about those new penalties: what about the children of those parents who commit the fraud? "The biggest problem is that you deprive the children in the family of benefits for six months, 12 months, or permanently, based upon the wrongdoing of a parent," said Bob Andersen of Wisconsin Legal Action, which provides legal services to low-income people. Andersen recommends an amendment be added to ensure that children aren't as negatively affected.

But, DCF officials maintain that the entire concept of W-2 is to make the parents responsible for their own families. 

Even though it is Republican legislation, even Rep. Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake) said he believes the issue of depriving those children may still need to be addressed before it is passed through committee.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner told by Waukesha Businesses; We Want it All…Now!!!

This amazing message from the conservative business community in Waukesha is jaw dropping and stunning. Sometimes I think “people” are just as “in the way” as government. Taking our first born isn’t too far away…

Patch: The question of how do we — as a country — create more jobs came to Brookfield Tuesday afternoon as 15 small business leaders from the Milwaukee area met with Republican U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner.

The overall message was clear: lower corporate taxes; ease government regulations; get tough on illegal immigration while expanding the number of visas; change the college-focused culture; and reduce unemployment benefits.  

And you thought I was exaggerating? Oh, it gets even more brutal:

Mary Springer, vice president of Therm-Tech of Waukesha, opened the discussion by telling the legislators to reduce unemployment benefits, and to require training and drug testing for those receiving the benefits.  

Mary Springer "Scrooge" would make the unemployed desperate enough to take any scraps thrown their way, even lower wages and little or no benefits. Sounds like Springer wants to expand government into the lives of unemployed Americans too. 

Machining company owners asked the government officials to reduce mining, energy and air quality regulations, which they described as squeezing businesses out of business and forcing layoffs. But a representative of Cooper Power Systems in Waukesha said the standards on electrical efficiency were helping his business. He just wanted to see Department of Energy guidelines to remain reasonable and open for discussion.

Hey, standards are helping his business…how did he get in there?

Indiana Surplus appears magically after state workers, schools and agencies sacrifice pay and benefits. Now that’s Republican economics.

I guess this is supposed to be good news, and a show of responsible governing:

nwitimes: After a year of spending cuts to state agencies and school districts, during which state workers were asked to do more than ever, Indiana released its final budget numbers for the fiscal year that showed it sitting on a $1.2 billion surplus.

In what can only be described as one of the most bizarre insults yet, by a complete Republican ass**le:

State Auditor Tim Berry called the state workers who bore most of those budget cuts via greater workloads, "heroes. The surplus was built on the backs of state employees," said Berry, after he thanked them for tightening their belts.

No, we want to thank you for revealing your that inner Scrooge. Perhaps all that perceived suffering right now, by the poor and the middle class, is nothing more than "an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato."

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to keep the cash rather than stop the public pain or pour more money into the economy through better wages. And you thought conservatives had human feelings.

It just goes to show how easily the public believes in the carnival barking GOP echo chamber over the uneasy feeling they get making cuts to education and children's health programs. Schools were cut by $325 million and the Department of Child Services budget got slashed $104 million.

Yeah for budget surpluses.  

A Cap on Welfare Benefits? Is that a job creator or death sentence for the poor?

If we could only stop paying money to people who need it, the state can see a savings, and balance their budgets.  

Or better yet, if we don't give the welfare benefits, they won't need it anymore.

That's the convoluted logic of Republicans in Michigan. The people will still need the money, but to conservatives, they will all disappear I guess. They will suddenly all get jobs, they will all be motivated to stop taking money from those who work hard for a living. 

Welcome to Dickensian America.

Freep.com: Legislation capping lifetime welfare benefits at 48 months was approved on party line votes in the state Senate on Wednesday. The bills implement the budget agreement made in late May between Gov. Rick Snyder and majority Republicans in both legislative chambers. 

All Democrats voted against the bills, according to MIRS news service. 

The legislation would save the general fund $63.5 million and would end benefits for 12,600 Michiganders, MIRS reported in citing the Senate Fiscal Agency. 

The GOP's Masochistic Agenda!!

Who would run a campaign on the list of cuts below, and still expect to get your vote? Cenk Uygur can barely contain his astonishment.

Public opinion, and the CBO, should be the death knell for Ryan's plan. Why isn't it?

I loved this headline: "Walker, Ryan and 'shock and awe' politics."

Totally missing from this clever comparison is the real reference point: "Disaster capitalism,' from Naomi Klein's book "The Shock Doctrine." Why do you think Walker and Ryan are pushing their full plans now, instead of a more responsible deliberate roll out?

But the other revealing part of this jsonline story is this: "What the left sees as breathtakingly zealous and reckless, the right sees as breathtakingly bold and courageous."

"I think you've got to give Paul Ryan and Scott Walker a great deal of credit for standing up and taking on some tough issues and offering things that are not the safe, old, 'just nibble at the edges' (approach)," says Republican Tommy Thompson, former U.S. health secretary and Wisconsin governor.

"That are not safe?" That's what the right and media are playing up as "courageous." Written out of the equation are the American people, who are considered more of an expense at this point, and they need to be reined in. Check out the key word in this view of what Ryan is proposing:

John McAdams, political scientist at Marquette University, says Ryan may be partly right about the politics of the issue changing. "There's an elite consensus (now) that entitlements need to be limited," says McAdams.

Is this where we are suddenly supposed to admire "the elites," instead of bashing them as liberals who always seem to know what's best for us? While Ryan touts the CBO report that says somewhere down the road, the budget is balanced, Ryan ignores the draconian downside of that same CBO report:

The Ryan proposal ... could mean significantly higher out-of-pocket costs for individuals as health care costs out-pace the value of the government's contribution to people's premiums, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But that's precisely how the plan would slow down future Medicare spending, by ending the "open-ended" entitlement and limiting what the government spends per person.

Here's Cenk Uygur and Ezra Klein on the reality of public opinion and the CBO numbers:



Check out this fascinating poll that dug well below the surface numbers, for a real taste of Ryan's plan, the same numbers used by Ezra Klein above:

When a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll offered Americans a general description of how Medicare works now and how it would change under the Ryan plan, 50% said they wanted to keep Medicare as it is and 46% said they supported moving to a more private system. 

When those who wanted no change were given the arguments for Ryan's plan (that it would reduce future deficits, provide choice and save Medicare for the future), support for keeping Medicare the way it is dropped to 39% and support for restructuring it rose to 54%. 

But when people who wanted to change Medicare were given the arguments against Ryan's plan (that it would put private insurers in charge and cause people to pay more for less coverage), overall opinion shifted sharply in the other direction: 68% said keep Medicare as it is, and 24% supported changing it.

Only second hand clothing for Foster kids? All part of Republican vision of America.

Dickensian is too kind a word to use for the current crop of authoritarian Republican sociopaths, especially those empowered in the state of Michigan.

The following is so unimaginable, especially coming from a fellow human being in a country like the United States, that I think at this point the message is pretty clear where Republicans want to take our country.

His explanation? “I never had anything new,” Caswell says. “I got all the hand-me-downs. And my dad, he did a lot of shopping at the Salvation Army, and his comment was — and quite frankly it’s true — once you’re out of the store and you walk down the street, nobody knows where you bought your clothes.” 

Under his plan, foster children would receive gift cards that could only be used at places like the Salvation Army, Goodwill and other second hand clothing stores. 

Michigan League for Human Services, executive director Gilda Jacobs, had this to say:
“Honestly, I was flabbergasted,” Jacobs says. “I really couldn’t believe this. Because I think, gosh, is this where we’ve gone in this state? 

Casswell says the plan will save the state money, though it isn’t clear how much the state spends on clothing for foster children or how much could be saved this way.

Thank god for a suggestion from a constituent, that altered the plan:

A proposal by Hillsdale County Republican Sen. Bruce Caswell has been amended. After a suggestion from a constituent, he plans to draft an amendment to the proposal that would direct the state to work with major retailers to create a gift card program 

What a big heart. Can you imagine stores trying to configure their system computers to accept these cards? Not likely.

Ryan's Plan Cuts $4.3 Trillion, Countered by $4.2 Trillion in Tax Cuts. Insane!!

Under the reality that the bottom 90 percent of all working Americans saw their incomes declined, while the rich saw their incomes rise by an average of a quarter million dollars each, Lawrence O'Donnell's guest from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Robert Greenstein has a whole lot of ammunition to the insanity of Paul Ryan's budget folly.

Ryan's plan cuts $4.3 trillion from the budget, but uses most of that savings and spends $4.2 trillion on tax cuts for the wealthy. The CBO estimates the Ryan plan makes Medicare more expensive, with the additional cost paid out of pocket by seniors on a fixed income. It does save the government money, but doesn't lower health care costs. The human toll isn't even considered by Ryan, who believes self rationing is just part of living and dying, without a passing concern for the emotional and mental toll on families and friends.

O'Donnell makes a great point about what he calls "tax spending," tax cuts that take money out of the general fund, basically no different than irresponsible spending. Greenstein adds that "tax spending" amounts to $1 trillion a year, and costs more than Social Security and Medicare combined. He mentions means testing such things as the mortgage interest deduction for example.

And that doesn't even include the corporate tax gifts handed out each year.

The New Scroogenian movement! Republican Budget Targets Proof of Moral Bankruptcy, in Wisconsin and Elsewhere.

Let’s begin to call it what it is, "Scroogenian." I made that up, but it's true. We can also call them Scroogists. The popular Dickens character Ebenezer Scrooge, described as “a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises all things which give people happiness,” is now the standard bearer of tough, effective, conservative economic policy.

Republicans think if the books are balanced, the human toll is of little concern. The ruthlessness of Scroogenian policy promoted by the Walker administration couldn’t be clearer.

WSJ: Gov. Scott Walker introduced his first budget — a spending plan that seems to uniformly favor Republican pets such as school vouchers, transportation and tax cuts while targeting nearly every Democratic sacred cow. 

Walker’s proposal, aimed at eliminating the state’s $3.6 billion shortfall, would cut more than $1 billion from education, knock more than 50,000 people off BadgerCare, roll back recycling and water purity requirements, and cut aid to the poor. 

Walker wants to cut legal services for the homeless, repeal environmental mandates, eliminate child care for state workers, reduce tax cuts for poor families, eliminate food stamps for migrant workers and end requirements that insurance provide coverage for contraceptives. 

It would expand the state’s school voucher program to students in higher income levels but restrict eligibility in state-subsidized health care plans to the poorest of the poor. It would scale back some mandates on local government but impose one of the toughest mandates possible — limiting the ability of cities and counties to raise taxes to make up for cuts in state aid.

The state constitution forbids the legislature from imposing such limits, which would interfere with the autonomous nature of city and county governments, but big deal. This is an economic crisis, ripe for a Scroogenian solution. 

Put another way:

“It is literally every single bad conservative idea of the last 20 years housed in a single budget document,” said Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.

My Kids; the victims of Scott Walker’s Sociopathic Pursuit of a Corporate State and Education.

I’m angry, as a parent, and lifelong resident of Wisconsin. I have stayed in Wisconsin for one reason; it’s not like any other state. That's about to end. Dickensian economics is the rage now, and sacrificing Americans are portrayed as patriotic symbols of a repentant society. Bull!

It looks like our vilified teachers are tired of getting pushed around too.  The best are about to retire, and I don't blame them, but I am very concerned about my two, elementary and middle school kids. 

Beloit Daily News: Following Gov. Scott Walker’s budget legislation, a growing wave of Wisconsin employees is looking into ending their public sector careers.

Between Feb. 28 and March 11, 1,146 state workers applied for retirement … up 65 percent compared to this time last year. Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds, also reports that from Feb. 28 to March 11 the agency received 3,504 requests for retirement estimates, more than double the same period last year. ETF spokesman Matt Stohr said the agency usually receives about 1,000 calls daily inquiring about estimates, applications and benefits, but recently that number has spiked to 6,000.

This is all about teachers. Great teachers, like the ones I hoped my younger son would get and benefit from, like his older brother did. I’m mad. Conservative Bush policies wiped out my small business, and now conservative Walker cuts are going to disadvantage by son’s chances to be taught by the best.

(It) could be part of a trend where record numbers of public employees choose retirement. Retirement applications tend to spike between April and June, when teachers and school staff typically close their careers. 

Kettle Moraine School District Superintendent Pat DeKlotz said 16 school employees have filed for retirement, about 5 percent of the district’s total work force, and she expects a “handful” of applications to come in the upcoming weeks.

What a way to save district money? I can't believe I'm alone in this nerve racking uncertainty. 

Will Big talking Tea Party Dickensians scare American’s to death with spending cuts?

In a few weeks, we’ll have our answer, and I can’t wait.

Reuters: Tea Party makes a quick mark in Congress: The Tea Party won its first big victory in Congress on Thursday, forcing House of Representatives Republican leaders to make deeper spending cuts than they planned and setting up a showdown with the White House and Democratic-led Senate. "Today it's the Tea Party calling us to our senses," Republican House Speaker John Boehner told a gathering of conservatives in Washington on Thursday night, shortly after the spending decision.

Give me more.

The public is about to get a real look at the tea party vision of America. Unless I’ve missed my guess, and there are more “haves than have not’s,” their movement will be a short and an infamous one historically. 

Here come the Big D Republicans; Draconian and Dickensian

The message from the Republican and tea party extremists so far has been; Freedom and liberty means you don’t have to buy health insurance, and the poor shouldn’t get health care unless they pay for it.

This twisted down the rabbit hole conservative utopia resembling something out of Road Warrior is building public support, believe it or not. The message in unambiguous:

“As part of our pledge, we said that we would bring up a vote to repeal health care early,” Representative Fred Upton of Michigan, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think you’re going to see the fight on Obamacare across the board in the House and the Senate to try to de-fund the Obamacare bill and to start over,” Mr. Graham said, adding that he was working with Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, on legislation to allow states to opt out of the requirement that individuals obtain health insurance and of the expansion of Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor.

We'll see how brave the public is once the net has been removed.

Republicans Secret Budget Resolution will get No Debate or see the Light of Day, just the Opposite Promised in Pledge to America.

Everyone seems to be onto Rep. Paul Ryan's dictatorial rise, except maybe some elements of the fawning press. This interesting note from Think Progress makes you wonder how long conservatives sit up thinking of ways to destroy the country we all knew once. A lot of it is gone already, thanks to bankrupting the world economy, and then blaming social programs for the problem. Well, after Ryan is through with his spending plans, we won't have any money left for anything. And that means more discretionary spending cuts. See how that works. 

As National Journal reported today, “a little-noticed detail in the new rules proposed by House GOP leaders would greatly increase the power of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee.” Indeed, under the proposed rules, if the House and Senate do not agree on a budget resolution (a distinct possibility with a divided Congress), Ryan will be able to unilaterally set spending levels that are binding on the House, and any attempt to lessen the impact of these cuts can be ruled out of order.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities called the proposed change “stunning and unprecedented“:

This rule change has immediate, far-reaching implications. It means that by voting to adopt the proposed new rules on January 5, a vote on which party discipline will be strictly enforced, the House could effectively be adopting a budget resolution and limits for appropriations bills that it has never even seen, much less debated and had an opportunity to amend. (There is no requirement for Representative Ryan to make his proposed spending and revenue limits available to Members or the public before the vote on the new rules.)…Once Rep. Ryan places in the Congressional Record discretionary funding limits set at the [2008] level, they will become binding on the House, and any attempt to provide funding levels that allow for less severe cuts will be out of order.

Ryan, of course, has gained notoriety for his radical “Roadmap for America’s Future,” which purports to balance the budget by essentially privatizing both Social Security and Medicare, while the House GOP’s much-ballyhooed “Pledge to America” includes a promise to reduce non-defense discretionary spending to the 2008 level. If adopted, an across-the-board cut to 2008 levels would entail severe reductions in important and popular programs like Pell Grants and federal highway funding.

The proposed change also seems to fly in the face of the GOP’s promise to end backroom deals and increase transparency, as with one vote, the GOP House may yoke itself to a budget that has never been made public.

Republican Blueprint to a Dystopian Future. Don't just blame them, the Voters have spoken!!!

From Alternet: Conservatives have a legislative agenda for 2011 that will hurt your ability to get or keep a job, your neighborhood's ability to recover from the recession and this country's ability to regain its footing in the global economy. To keep conservatives from enacting policies that will kill a nascent economic recovery, progressives will have to organize against these top 10 economy killers.

1. Repeal of Health-Care Reform: Republicans have placed "repealing Obamacare" at the top of their legislative agenda for 2011. If they succeed, the economy is going to come down with multiple serious illnesses—at least 24, according to a report released this month by Rep. Peter Stark of the House Ways and Means Committee. Among them: a $143 billion increase in the deficit by losing the savings the reforms created, an increase the number of uninsured by 30 million people…

2. Diminish the Federal Government's Ability to Support Job-Creation: Since the right can't complain about inflation—there is none—the enemy is "quantitative easing," the Fed's bid to pour liquidity into the economy in hopes that fuels investment and jobs. Take away quantitative easing and there's literally nothing left in the economic policy playbook to keep the economy from slipping back into recession.

3. Slash Federal Infrastructure Spending: while countries such as China race ahead on infrastructure investment, conservative governors are being heralded as heroes for rejecting high-speed rail money and killing a rail tunnel on the nation's busiest rail corridor leading into New York City. Conservative ideologues are once again proposing to end most federal transportation spending.

4. Dismantle Medicare (and Give Seniors "Vouchers"): Ryan's voucherization of Medicare, however, would control costs not by restraining insurance companies or health-care corporations but by keeping the value of the voucher below the increase in health care costs, thus shifting increasing out-of-pocket costs onto seniors themselves. Conservatives say this means government won't be rationing care to seniors. With vouchers, seniors will forced to ration care on their own.

5. Undo Financial Reform, and Let the Predators Run

6. Support Big Oil and Kill Green Jobs: The right's mantra is that the EPA regulations will increase utility bills and kill jobs. The truth is that the regulations will create new jobs in clean-energy industries and, most importantly, save the planet. Just as Rep. Spencer Bachus thinks government should "serve the banks," conservatives would seem to be fine with EPA serving the polluters.

7. Don't Just Cut Government Waste; Cripple Government: From the beginning of the Reagan Revolution the plan was to create deficits to cripple government, not to cut “waste.” Reagan said the idea was to “cut the government’s allowance.” George W. Bush said turning Clinton’s surpluses into huge deficits was "incredibly positive news" because it would put government in "a fiscal straitjacket."

8. Amp up the Insecurity in Social Security: Conservatives have wanted to kill the New Deal for a long time. Now they have a historic window of opportunity. Unless the President and other Democrats stand up for Social Security, it’s going to be needlessly gutted in the name of “deficit reduction”—even though it doesn’t contribute to the deficit.

9. Starve Public Education: Here is an easy way to keep the rich rich and the less well-off part of the permanent underclass: continue the decades-long conservative-led assault on public education.

10. Don't Ask the Rich to Help Reduce the Deficit; Ask Low-Income Americans Instead Republicans want to make their "cutgo" scheme the law of Congress, in which new spending authorized by Congress must be offset by cuts elsewhere but cannot be offset by tax increases or fees on anyone. But new tax cuts would not have to be offset by spending reductions. That should finish off any molecule of credibility they had left on their feigned concern about the deficit.

Did Voters elect Republicans to put business interests over their own? Yes, say GOP winners.

The following article makes it clear just who really won the election in November. Business.

You’ll also notice that the Republican plan for economic recovery doesn’t really improve the demand side of the equation, or encourage job creation. For freedom loving conservatives, take notice, you’ll soon see how limited your freedom will be in the unaccountable free market.   

AP-Republicans (are) preparing to take over statehouses around the country are proposing to cut corporate taxes, weaken union clout and rewrite laws on discrimination, whistle-blowers and injured workers to the benefit of employers. In short, they intend to push through a business lobbyist's wish list. 

"It's going to be a good year for businesses," said Missouri Sen. Brad Lager, the commerce committee chairman … Republicans will hold a majority of governorships and their greatest number of state legislative seats since 1928

But those pro-business policies are in some cases theories - not yet clearly proven to create jobs. And if they do work … each new business tax break enacted could add to what the National Conference of State Legislatures forecasts to be an $83 billion shortfall for the upcoming budget year in about two-thirds of the states.

One of the first places to test the new pro-business push will be Wisconsin, where Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker … wants to lower taxes on businesses with fewer than 50 employees (and) impose new business-friendly limits on liability lawsuits … In Michigan, voters elected the former chief operating officer of Gateway Inc. … Republican Gov.-elect Rick Snyder wants to eliminate the Michigan Business Tax, which generates about $2.2 billion annually, and replace it with a lower corporate income tax projected to produce about $700 million for the state. 

The theory behind cutting corporate tax rates is that businesses will be more likely to locate or expand in a state if they can keep more of their profits. But the Congressional Budget Office has cast doubt … A January 2008 report said "increasing the after-tax income of businesses typically does not create an incentive for them to spend more on labor or to produce more," because decisions on whether to increase production depends on their ability to sell the product.

Such cuts haven't helped yet in California, where … Schwarzenegger forced Democrats two years ago to accept corporate tax cuts that cost the state an estimated $2.5 billion a year in revenue. So far, there is little evidence the cuts created jobs - unemployment has remained a steady 12 percent since the summer of 2009 - or boosted revenue.

The new “goverbusiness model” will also include a few “race to the bottom” changes as well:

The pro-business efforts extend beyond policies that will affect a state's budget. In Oklahoma, where incoming leaders such as Gov.-elect Mary Fallin want to lower workers' compensation costs for businesses and overhaul the civil justice system to reduce liability insurance costs for doctors and businesses.

Little did we know the idea of preserving this nation’s freedom and liberty only applied to business, and conversely limited an individual’s rights and freedoms?

That’s called Dickensian.