Why Paul Ryan et al need the poor

THE CURRENT crop of Republican pols must count their blessings every minute of the day that there are poor people in America. Where else would they turn with what they describe as "bold and gutsy" proposed budget cuts?

There's no better evidence of the GOP's class warfare on the poor than Paul Ryan's budget that was quickly endorsed by McMitt Romney. It hones in on cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, education - these and other Federal programs that try to sustain a semblance of survival for the folks at the lower end of the economic ladder. But as the late Ohio Gov. Jim Rhodes was heard to say when he faced complaints about the state's shoddy underfunded mental health system - "Those people don't vote anyway."

But wait. People making more than $1 million would get a tax cut of $265,000 with an after-tax income rise of 12.5 pct. Need I add that people down the ladder would not enjoy relative benefits. Half of the those earning between $20,000 to $30,000, according to a report in Forbes, "would get no tax cut at all."

Corporate tax rates would be reduced to 25 pct. from 35 pct. But as Romney has told us, "Corporations are people". Unfortunately, the Republican tax proposals do not regard a lot of people as corporations.

While we're on the subject of Romneyana, when I hear his daily campaign gaffes, I always wish that I knew the first person who said:

"If you don't know anything, it's hard to learn anything else."

I know. You could say the same about the others in the crowd. But he may be headed for the nomination. Fair warning.

And now, here comes media star Paul Ryan

NOW THAT Rep. Paul Ryan has become the latest meteor in the Republican universe, it might be useful to know a little more about his political profile than simply that he wants to eliminate the federal deficit by doing such things as eventually fully privatizing Medicare for people now under 55. The private sector, of course, has long been the comfort zone of Republicans and the great benefactor of conservatives running for public office. Hooray for the big health insurance companies good work in their self interest.

So who is this Ryan fellow from Wisconsin ? . You may be surprised to know that for a lawmaker who disdains government assistance, he enjoyed some of it himself. He was only 16 when his father died, but he received his dad's Social Security until he was 18. According to his on-line bio, he used the benefits for "his education at Miami University of Ohio." In their eagerness to starve the government beast, how soon they forget. And he's not the only hypocrite in the Capitol Hill crowd.

The remainder of his profile fits the perfect conservative profile, from a 100 pct. voting record with the National Right to Life committee to an "A" rating from the National Rifle Assn. The bio offers no clue on what he thinks about President Obama's birthplace. But there's still time.