Paul Ryan: How We Can End This Stalemate

Paul Ryan: How We Can End This Stalemate

In this article, Paul Ryan, the congressman from Wisconsin and Chairman of the House Budget Committee, expresses his criticism of President Obama’s deliberate refusal to negotiate with the congress on a deal that shall avert the impending debt crisis about to hit the United States.  According to him, relevant reforms pertaining to the country’s entitlement programs and tax code should be implemented. Mr. Ryan, who is currently serving his 8th term as a congressional representative puts forward convincing arguments as to why the president should take this path.

He begins by faulting the president’s assertion that such a move would be unprecedented, citing earlier presidents, including Obama himself, who have previously initiated discussions on such serious matters as the national debt ceiling. According to him, President Reagan signed a debt-ceiling deal with the democrats in the congress in 1985. Additionally, President Clinton struck a deal in 1997 with the congressional Republicans to raise the debt ceiling and perform cuts on various taxes. “Mr. Obama even went ahead and signed the Budget Control Act in 2000 which saw an increase in the debt-ceiling instead of cutting spending”, says Ryan, 2012, p. 1 the former 2012 vice presidential candidate (Ryan, 2012, p. 1).

Mr. Ryan goes further to say that the congressional Republicans and the president do actually share common ground on some of the issues being debated – for instance, there is the general agreement that gradual and systematic reforms are much better than sudden and arbitrary cuts. He argues that these reforms are vital and advises his democratic counterparts to proceed with caution in their discretionary spending. He foresees an increase in both discretionary and mandatory spending over the next 10 years. Funds spent on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid shall, for instance, increase by 79%.

The charismatic politician, who is popular among the republicans, largely due to his conservative views presents a few ideas on how the negotiations could get started. He proposes an increase in the premium rates for those who are financially well off. Federal government employees should contribute a bigger slice of their earnings towards their retirement. More importantly however, structural reforms should be implemented to promote efficiency and reduction of costs. The president has already incorporated some of these proposals into the budget that he put on the table.

To substantiate his claims, Mr. Ryan gives examples of other well known and respectable politicians who hold the same view – the Republican Dace Camp and Senator Max Baucus. He emphasizes that such reforms would see a boost and in economic growth, a vision shared by everyone across the political divide. A complete re-think of the approach to addressing this issue is needed and should be done with a sober mind and include contributions of both parties. The time to act is now. Procrastination and dilly dallying will only exacerbate the situation.

In summary, this article is well articulated and easy to comprehend and follow even by readers who are not well versed with political or financial matters. The arguments are presented in a concise and convincing manner with the relevant back up examples. The consequences of not implementing these ideas are also clearly spelt out. It sums everything by posing a challenge to the addressee, in this case the president to show leadership and act out of prudency instead of pride (Ryan, 2012, p. 1). It is indeed an article worth reading.

Work Cited

Ryan, Paul. (2012). “Paul Ryan: Here’s How We Can End This Stalemate”. Available at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303442004579123943669167898.html?mod=trending_now_5  [Accessed 12th October 2013]

 

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