You Can’t Talk About Cutting Spending Without Talking About Cutting Spending

Last week President Obama called Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisconsin) budget “social darwinism” which caused Ryan’s head to figuratively explode and he responded with a Twitter tirade. But as Ezra Klein points out in his wonderful piece about Ryan’s budget that “his numbers stop at the water’s edge” of giving real examples or any specifics. Consequently, the Obama administration began to make some educated guesses which Klein details in a section about Pell Grants. You. Really. Should. Read. It.

There’s a bottom line here: You can’t cut spending without cutting spending. But Ryan wants to have it both ways: He wants to get the credit for cutting spending, but he doesn’t want to have to propose specific spending cuts. Oh, and he doesn’t want anyone to extrapolate what those cuts would be, either.

Typical tea baggery by one of the bright minds of the GOP.