What Paul Ryan Really Thinks Of CBO Estimates

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Last week I received via snail mail a seven page brochure titled, "A RoadMap for America's Future" from Congressman Paul Ryan's office.

The more I review this piece of work, the more it begins to look like an abstract to guarantee the wealthiest children a grave-to-cradle tax free inheritance entitlement by repealing all future spending and debt. Simply put, Ryan believes America (read "the wealthy") can no longer afford a standard of living that has made the country so exceptional, and that any opposition to his safety net dismantlement schemes is strictly a partisan attack. Those statements are typical and old news from Ryan.

The brochure also contained at least four cynical attempts by the congressman to game statements, projections and estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for his RoadMap scheme.

Excerpts:

(RoadMap on Social Security) Makes the program permanently solvent, according to the CBO...

Makes Medicare permanently solvent, based on CBO estimates and consultation...

I asked the CBO what our tax rates would have to be when my three children are my age....The answer was shocking.

The charts ... were prepared using data from the CBO and GAO and reflect the country's dire fiscal situation.

During an interview in March on The Mark Levin Show, Ryan had little respect for CBO estimates when Democrats' drew on them for health care reform.

DirectorBlue Blog Excerpt:
Ryan: That's right. And the Congressional Budget Office can't tell you this. Because their statute is that they estimate whatever you put in front of them. And if you put in front of them garbage in, you'll get garbage out.

If you put in front of them a manipulated bill and all of the smoke and mirrors, they have no choice but to score the bill as you wrote it. And if you write it intentionally to disguise all of this, then you'll get a disguised estimate, and that's what we have here.

One man's garbage is another man's treasure. Unless you're a republican. Then it's basically all one category.