Ryan Wants To Expand A Tax Credit Scott Walker Cut

How radical was one Scott Walker tax 'reform'?

Walker cut a tax credit that put more money into the pockets of low-income wage earners, and thus encouraged work force participation while relieving some of poverty's sting.

The cut to the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, was so mean-spirited and contrary to basic, conservative pro-work GOP agendas that Walker later denied he'd proposed it though the cut remained in his first budget.

But now Ryan, looking to appear more reasonable as the 2016 presidential campaign looms, wants to increase that very same tax credit.

You know a tax 'reform' put forth by an ultra-conservative was toxic if it's too radical for a radical rightist like Paul Ryan.

More information and links, here.

Ryan’s “Opportunity Grant:” Put everyone using Social Safety nets under Contract, penalize them for failure.

You really can't make this stuff up.

With the promise of streamlining all of the different safety net programs and cutting red tape, Paul Ryan has devised an amazingly convoluted solution to his imagine "social hammock" problem.

You can't hide from this one...

Imagine those families struggling to make ends meet, on assistance, and under contract by a “local provider.” Call them a neighborhood "jobs boss." Someone who watches over their every move, wagging a finger and doling out consequences for missing job training benchmarks, income and wage expectations... 

Big government enough for you yet? Working but not making enough and collecting food stamps? Now you have two bosses. And the one that helps you feed your family with food share is hanging a contract over your head…with penalties.

Here's a sample from Ryan's transcript:

Take an example. Let’s call her Andrea. She’s 24. She has two kids … Her husband left … her only work experience was a two-year stint in retail. She and her kids now live with her parents in a two-bedroom mobile home. She’s been trying to find work … She doesn't have a car. She can’t afford child care. And her dream is to become a teacher.

Under this plan, Andrea would go to a local service provider. She would sit down with a case manager and develop an “opportunity plan.” That plan would pinpoint her strengths; her opportunities for growth; her short-, medium-, and long-term goals. The two of them would sign a contract. Andrea would agree to meet specific benchmarks of success, a timeline for meeting them, consequences for missing them, and rewards for exceeding them.

Ryan Spreads Big Government in the form of oversight, more red tape and reporting…

A neutral third party would keep tabs on each provider and their success rate. It would look at key metrics agreed to by the state and federal government: How many people are finding jobs? How many people are getting off assistance? How many people are moving out of poverty? And so on. Any provider who came up short could no longer participate. And at the end of the program, we would pool the results and go from there. 

Here's 7 minutes of absolute lunacy, if you've got the time (edited for time and sanity):

Our New Founding Father: Paul Ryan's Orwellian Word Salad Constitution.

What the hell is the "American Idea," part of a new rant by Paul Ryan, and why should we conform to it? 

Is Ryan referencing the wingnut "think tank," Free Enterprise Institute, and their Center for the American Idea? Ryan even says it's our "duty" to oppose everything he doesn't stand for.

But the term American Idea isn't the only ingredient in his word salad. "Popular consent" is also thrown in for good measure. Popular consent is another way of saying majority rule, which negates the Constitutional protections of the minority.

Paul Ryan's New Constitution; His path of "principled renewal" is a license to make unpopular decisions. 

Here's a little taste of Ryan's rank authoritarianism. His all-or-nothing most recent word salad path to prosperity: 

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan today argued the American Idea “imposes a duty” to oppose programs such as Obamacare and Dodd-Frank that “subvert popular government and impose administrative rule.” 

Ryan said in a speech at Hillsdale College such government programs cannot be reformed or restructured and must either end or be “replaced by something completely different and consistent with popular consent and self-government.”

“No reform is possible without recognizing this problem. No reform is worth pursuing that does not turn against this rule and take us on the path of principled renewal.”

Ryan called for conservatives to oppose progressives’ view of administrative rule with a set of policies that comply with the Constitution. He also called for restructuring those government programs that can be saved “within the bounds of limited government.”’

“Self-government under the rule of law is the conservative touchstone,” Ryan said. “It rests upon human equality and our equal endowment with fundamental rights. It helps us identify measures that conform to the American Idea, and those that weaken or conflict with the American Idea. There’s our sure guide for reform.”