No Courage From Either Obama Or Ryan

Photo: Macy's Philadelphia hosts an annual flower show in the Grand Court

Former Reagan budget director David Stockman makes good sense in today's New York Times. Neither President Obama nor Representative Ryan have made courageous proposals to address the national debt. Taxes need to go up for just about everybody, and the rich should not get either Social Security (they don't need it,) or free Medicare (they should pay for it because they can afford it.) Means testing both programs and tax increases for the middle and upper classes are essential if we are to get our country's fiscal house in order.

Stockman:

IT is obvious that the nation’s desperate fiscal condition requires higher taxes on the middle class, not just the richest 2 percent. Likewise, entitlement reform requires means-testing the giant Social Security and Medicare programs, not merely squeezing the far smaller safety net in areas like Medicaid and food stamps.

Unfortunately, in proposing tax increases only for the very rich, President Obama has denied the first of these fiscal truths, while Representative Paul D. Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, has contradicted the second by putting the entire burden of entitlement reform on the poor. The resulting squabble is not only deepening the fiscal stalemate, but also bringing us dangerously close to class war.