Perhaps the greatest myth in the Republican pantheon is the claim that "tax cuts pay for themselves." Sadly, that article of supply-side faith--that tax cuts fuel economic growth so explosive that federal revenue exceeds what otherwise would have been collected--has been painfully debunked by decades of history. Unfortunately, as part of budget deal just completed […]

Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann marked the third anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act by urging her colleagues to repeal Obamacare "before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens." Of course, as the likes of Rep. Virginia Foxx (who similarly declared the ACA would "put seniors in a position of being […]

This week, House Speaker John Boehner and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan made two important if largely overlooked admissions regarding the U.S. national debt. While Boehner told ABC News that "we have no immediate debt crisis," Ryan similarly acknowledged to CBS News, "We do not have a debt crisis right now." That is indisputably […]

As Pope Francis starts his papacy, polls show that American Catholics overwhelmingly believe the issue of clergy sex abuse must be his number one priority. As a Pew Research survey two weeks ago showed, while that crisis tops the list for 34 percent, neither abortion (3 percent) or contraception (2 percent) or any other issue […]

On Sunday, GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan agreed with President Obama "we do not an immediate debt crisis." But, as both sides similarly acknowledge, the longer term is a different story. In future decades, it is health care spending in general and Medicare in particular that is at the […]

Back in the 1990s, the CEO of my former company had a simple way of questioning the wisdom of some of our more dubious business strategies. "Are we," he would ask, "smoking the drapes?" By that standard, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan must be dropping acid. Because as a quick glance at his job-killing, […]

When Congressman Paul Ryan first rolled out his plan three years ago to replace Medicare with a voucher system, he acknowledged the inescapable conclusion that his massive cost-shifting to seniors constituted rationing. "Rationing happens today!" Ryan protested, "The question is who will do it? The government? Or you, your doctor and your family?" But then […]

This week, former GOP vice presidential nominee and current House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will present the 2013 Republican budget proposal. Unlike his last plan which didn't balance the budget until 2038, this time Ryan insists he will hit break even in just 10 ten years. As Ezra Klein explained, Ryan will close much […]

As the deadline for the March 1 budget sequester approached, John Boehner made a surprising admission. Asked if he had "a sense of how many jobs will be lost as a result of the sequester," the Speaker of the House said, "I do not." On Sunday, Boehner once again proclaimed his ignorance in an interview […]

History will record that Mitt Romney was a pimple on the ass of American politics: painful while here and forgotten once gone. Now the pustule has resurfaced. As part of his brief "Thank You Tour," Romney is using appearance on Fox News Sunday to attack President Obama for "berating Republicans and blaming and pointing" over […]