Obama's And Paul Ryan's Conflicting Budget Visions by Michael D. Tanner

With his speech to news editors and executives this week, President Obama has made it clear that he plans to run a starkly ideological campaign, contrasting his vision for the future of the country with that of his Republican opponents. And, he plans to make the Republican budget, written by rising GOP star Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and embraced by presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, exhibit one in that contrast. It would be worthwhile therefore to actually compare that budget with the one proposed by the president.

Deficits and Debt
The president's budget proposal would reduce future deficits — at least until 2018 — but would never achieve balance. By 2018, the president projects deficits to fall to only $575 billion. After that, they begin rising again, reaching $704 billion by 2022. Overall, the president's budget would add an additional $6.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

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Paul Ryan's Randianism

Is Paul Ryan a hypocrite?

  by W.W. | HOUSTON 

DUNCAN BLACK, blogging as Atrios, spies hypocrisy in Paul Ryan's bio:

Public high school.

Public university.

Worked for family business.

Congressional staffer, with service jobs for additional money.

Speechwriter for Jack Kemp.

Staffer for Sam Brownback.

Member of Congress.

Capitalism, just as [Ayn] Rand envisioned.

Mr Ryan, you see, has admitted to a fondness for Ayn Rand, the author of the modern classics "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged", books loved and loathed in equal measure. Joan Walsh makes a point similar to Mr Black's in a Salon piece that dubs Mr Ryan a "Randian poseur" in its headline. After noting that Mr Ryan in part paid for his out-of state tuition at an Ohio public university with Social Security survivor benefits received after the death of his father, Ms Walsh writes:

A Mixed Bag: Paul Ryan's Fiscal Approach