The poet William Stafford set himself the task of writing a poem a day. When someone asked him what he would do when his poem-of-the-day wasn't very good, he replied "I simply lower my standards." In order to increase output, the bar here is set at a low level - the point of this is to have some fun with current events and politics. I welcome contributions and comments. Now you can also follow Doggerelo on Twitter (@doggerelo). Because of continuing medical problems, I'm no longer able to post a poem-a-day. I'll continue to post poems, but at a reduced frequency, so please stay tuned.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Ryan Plan 2.0

Representative Paul Ryan revealed his proposal for the federal budget, which has much in common with his proposal from last year. The plan proposes to reach a balanced budget by 2030, largely by lowering the rate of growth of Medicare (by converting it to a premium support system) and drastically reducing non-military discretionary spending.  Republicans have not embraced the plan enthusiastically, for a variety of reasons.  Some Republican representatives contend that it doesn’t go far enough, fast enough. Here, here and here are some of the many additional comments about the plan.

The brand new Ryan plan
Is not much better than
The old one he put out
Last year.  But some devout
Republicans purport
That they cannot  support
The plan.
                   And why is that?
Although the tax is flat-
Ter than it was before
And nicely stiffs the poor
And whittles down the size
Of government, these guys
Contend the plan’s not tough -
It doesn’t cut things fast enough. 

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