Dean Baker Tells Us What The Ryan Plan Does And Asks Why Reporters Praise It For Being Serious

Dean Baker takes a look at the Ryan budget plan and tells us what it really does. He then asks us why the NYT published an article in praise of the Ryan plan simply because of Ryan's willingness to cut federal funding for entitlements and discretional federal spending other than defense. Even good newspapers like the NYT have to play the centrist game. David Brooks generally is their expert on the centrist game, but apparently the NYT has good back ups for David Brooks. The game is played by praising far right proposals to make radical changes in America for their boldness. Apparently, in this case the NYT reporter hadn't even bothered to study the Ryan plan, or the scoring of the plan by the CBO. Perhaps that is what qualifies him to report on it. Critics of the Ryan plan, especially those who have read the plan, are dismissed as left wingers who are unwilling to consider cuts in federal programs. Serious people then nod knowingly because they understand that democrats have no interest in cutting federal spending, even when they have done so. One consequence of the way the centrist game is played is that the center keeps shifting to the right. That is how the healthcare reform bill, which was modeled after a proposal by the conservative Heritage Foundation, and implemented by a conservative governor of Massachusetts. was transformed into socialism by the GOP. The new center has moved to the right of where the GOP was a short while ago.