EconoBytes - Monday, August 13, 2012

EconoBytes is a quick daily economic roundup for journalists, sponsored by the Roosevelt Institute and compiled by Fenton Communications. We bring together blogs, analyses, and studies by progressive economists, policy experts, and think tanks on the most pressing issues in the current public economic debate. To subscribe to EconoBytes, email econobytes@fenton.com.

Monday, August 13, 2012

• Economic Policy Institute’s Andrew Fieldhouse writes a comprehensive analysis of each iteration of Paul Ryan’s budget with charts, graphs,  links to public documents and relevant studies that will serve journalists well in the coming weeks as a reference guide. For questions and interviews with Fieldhouse, contact Phoebe Silag or Donté Donald at (202) 775-8810 or news@epi.org. Via EPI.
• The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has compiled an exhaustive and meticulously sourced list of resources on the various Ryan plans, from the 2010 Ryan Roadmap through his 2012 budget proposal. Via CBPP. 

• Jared Bernstein: “Rep Ryan’s budgets increase the defense function and cut taxes trillions beyond Bush.  Thus, any claims to achieve balance must occur through massive spending cuts on everything else… So, just like under W, you’re left with large tax cuts and budget deficits.  Heck, Rep Ryan himself voted for TARP and supported the auto bailout–lots of suppliers in WI–not to mention the various gov’t benefits enjoyed by his district (see here).” Via On the Economy.
• Dean Baker: “While Paul Ryan is a vocal opponent of the policies that the government has in place to protect low and middle income people, he has never indicated any opposition to the massive interventions, like patent monopolies for prescription drugs and the Fed's policy of using unemployment to fight inflation, that redistribute income upward. For this reason, it is flatly wrong to describe Mr. Ryan as a supporter of small government. He is more accurately described as an opponent of government interventions that redistribute income downward and a supporter of government policies that redistribute income upward.” Via CEPR.
• Paul Krugman: “[Ryan] asserts that he can cut taxes without net loss of revenue by closing unspecified loopholes; he asserts that he can cut discretionary spending to levels not seen since Calvin Coolidge, without saying how; he asserts that he can convert Medicare to a voucher system, with much lower spending than now projected, without even a hint of how this is supposed to work. This is just a fantasy, not a serious policy proposal.” Via NYT. 

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