It is official. Paul Ryan is Mitt Romney’s running mate, and now, the November decision is better lain out for all of us. We have a problem in this country, and it is something both parties recognize. The problem is the fiscal state of the nation.

Each year our deficits grow, and because of this, our national debt grows. Romney’s running mate is a representative from Wisconsin. He is a staunch fiscal conservative, which means he believes closing the deficit should be the government’s top priority.

In terms of economics, Ryan believes, like Romney does, that lowering the rates and broadening the base is the key to escaping recession and maintaining a healthy economy. Ryan described this tactic as “letting people keep more of the money they earn while getting rid of the distortions and loopholes that divert economic resources from their most efficient uses.”
Ryan and Romney believe we cannot afford to close the deficit by increasing government revenue and squelching commerce because once commerce suffers, tax revenue will drop regardless of increased tax rates. Their solution to both growing deficit and the slow economy is twofold. We must both cut government spending and ease the tax burden.

Romney could have picked many other running mates for many other reasons. By picking Ryan, someone who shares his fiscal and economic views, Romney has doubled down on one message: The individual is more capable than the government.

Specifically, there are limits to the public sector, and Ryan understands them. There is potential in the private sector, and Romney has lived it. The Congressional Budget Office reports that Ryan’s latest budget proposal would close the deficit by 2040.

On the other hand, Obama’s latest budget proposal projects that “beyond 2022, however, the fiscal position (of the United States) gradually deteriorates mainly because of the aging of the population and the high continuing cost of the Government’s health programs.”

“The deficit continues to rise for the next 75 years, and the publicly held debt is also projected to rise persistently relative to GDP.” So, in other words, Romney and Ryan have a plan that will solve the problem by 2040, and Obama has a plan that keeps everything seemingly under control until 2022, at which point everything goes haywire.

Speaking to President Barack Obama regarding “Obamacare,” Ryan said, “There really is a difference between us, and it’s basically this: We don’t think the government should be in control of all of this. We want people to be in control.”

Later, speaking to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner regarding the 2022 “gradual deterioration,” Ryan said, “Our government is making promises to Americans that it has no way of accounting for.”

Regarding this, Geithner said to Ryan, “We’re not coming before (the House Budget Committee) today to say we have a definitive solution to that long term problem. What we do know is we don’t like yours.”

In other words, the Obama administration has no long-term plan to close the deficit, but it is willing to reject others’ plans to do the same. Thus, the true “party of no” is the one that occupies the White House.

Michael Stikkel is a junior computer engineering major. His column appears online weekly. He can be reached at mcstikke@syr.edu.

Published on August 17, 2012 at 2:52 pm