One of the more comical features of the budget debate is to watch the ways in which Republicans refuse to engage on the issue of economic fairness.
When pressed, they deny, dissemble and throw out poll-tested phrases such as “class warfare” and “opportunity society.” And if that doesn’t work, they begin to spin an elaborate fiction about the absolutely devastating impact that any tax increase will have on international competitiveness and job creation, as if that settles the issue completely.
[….]I don’t know about you, but I’m having trouble deciding whether this neverending budget saga should be filed under comedy, tragedy or farce. It’s looking less and less, however, like Paul Ryan will emerge as the hero.
It’s no accident that the the most shrill criticism of Paul Ryan comes from Pulitzer-prize winning business columnists and Nobel laureate economists, while the most effusive praise comes from Bell Curve believers, high-school math flunkees, and dupes of Pete Hoekstra.