H/t Boston Globe:
In 2009, as Rep. Paul D. Ryan was railing against President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package as a “wasteful spending spree,” he wrote at least four letters to Obama’s secretary of energy asking that millions of dollars from the program be granted to a pair of Wisconsin conservation groups, according to documents obtained by the Globe.
The documents show that Ryan’s attempts to take advantage of the stimulus funds even after he voted against them was more expansive than previously reported. Ryan was criticized by some House Democrats in 2010 after the Wall Street Journal reported that he was among several Republicans lawmakers who sought the stimulus money for their constituents by, in his case, writing a letter in 2010 to the Department of Labor.
The additional letters include his praise for the energy program’s aims, and clash with his own budget priorities, which call for curtailing many of the same Department of Energy investments that are designed to spur the growth of green technologies and reduce reliance on fossil fuels..
How so very fiscally conservative of him..... How so very " tea party" of him. yet as we like to say here @ Cog Dis...but wait there is more. It turns out that Paul Ryan (R- Wall St.) has more in common with Harvey Dent than one would think!
This trillion dollar spending bill misses the mark on all counts,” said Ryan in a statement from his office. “This is not a crisis we can spend and borrow our way out of – that is how we got here in the first place.” Heads!
It turns out that one of the biggest "spending interests" out there is Paul Ryan.
But the biggest payoff came for the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation. Ryan predicted the $20 million grant would be able to “create or retain approximately 7,600 new jobs over the three-year grant period and the subsequent three years.” Tails
“All this temporary booster shot stimulus didn’t work in the stimulus package, didn’t work when the last administration tried these things, so we don’t want to go with ideas that have proven to fail, we want ideas that have proven to succeed,” he said in an interview on MSNBC in September 2011. “I think tax reform is the key.” Heads
“I was pleased that the primary objectives of their project will allow residents and businesess in the partner cities to reduce their energy costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and stimulate the local economy by creating new jobs,” Ryan wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu on December 18, 2009, on behalf of the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation. Tails
Paul ryan is a fiscal conservative - Heads
Paul ryan's voting record is no where near fiscally conservative. Other departures from small-government orthodoxy by Ryan include his support of President George W. Bush’s Medicare prescription drug program, the TARP bailout of Wall Street, and the auto bailout. Tails!
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There is a great movie called "Inside Job" about the financial meltdown of Wall Street. It was caused through use of high-risk/high-yield financial instruments called derivatives. The meltdown was also caused because there was massive fraud, and also because the enforcement of SEC laws went unenforced; its funding was reduced so that no real enforcement could take place.
ReplyDeleteIt's about this time that the original sightings of what could eventually be called the "Tea Party" occurred.
Tea Partiers are libertarian, not a grassroots movement but one driven top-down by idealogical zealots who hate the progressive ideal. They hate government control, regulation and anything that smells of what they can call "socialism."
Socialism equates to high taxes, as well as government safety nets and regulation over the economy.
The meltdown ACTUALLY happened because of no regulation and risky financial instruments.
It made world economies crumble because Wall Street is so interlinked with other economies because laws like Glass-Steagal were removed.
This is also when the national debt came into play. It helps force austerity policies on supposedly sovereign nations.
But Bush's answer to the problem via Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner and Ben Bernake is bail out Wall Street.
Obama is elected November 2008.
A stimulus bill is later passed to rescue the economy.
Weak regulatory reform of Wall Street is also passed, just as the Tea Partiers hoped.
The Tea Party really comes out with the election of November 2010.
Walker's budget is driven by austerity, yet the elite 1% reap all sorts of benefits from the budgets. Just the way Paul Ryan would want things.