'Sorry, Mr. Ryan, I'll take the debt'

Steve Rundio, editor of the Tomah Journal:

All this [Ryan's plan] assumes the worst about the elderly: that they have no problem throwing their children and grandchildren under the bus. That’s Ryan’s assumption. He says elderly voters are fine with his plan when they learn it doesn’t apply to them. There is, however, anecdotal evidence to the contrary. In Pennsylvania, an elderly constituent of Republican Lou Barletta during a town meeting said:

“... I’d like to get something off my chest. You seem to think that because I’m not affected I won’t care if my niece, my grandson, my child is affected. I do care.”

If Medicare really is the metastasizing budget monster that will destroy America, it seems rather strange to delay implementation for nine years and only apply it to new recipients after that. Ryan’s off-in-the-distance, two-track Medicare only exacerbates the problems of my generation, which faces either escalating public debt or crushing medical bills augmentedby a feeble Medicare insurance voucher.

I’d rather have the debt