The media can't have it both ways -- Paul Ryan cannot be a "policy wonk" and Paul Ryan cannot be a "numbers guy" if he can't do his own taxes. Paul Ryan has no credibility as a budget hawk if he:
- Voted for each and every budget-busting budget put forward by George W. Bush, adding $6.8 trillion to the national credit card.
- Dodges taxes he legally owes while deriding others as being "takers"
The latest hypocrisy is this: Paul Ryan voted to deny flood victims, after Hurricane Sandy, from collecting on the federal flood insurance citizens had paid their premiums for and were legally qualified to receive. Paul Ryan wants the federal government to welch on its insurance obligations -- Paul Ryan wants to take people's money for insurance premiums and then not pay legitimate insurance claims!
But it gets worse.
When it benefits Paul Ryan, he's a BIG fan of paying flood insurance claims and has no problem asking for more federal money to do it. Paul Ryan voted FOR flood insurance victims in 2008, supporting relief as part of a $162 billion supplemental appropriations bill in a year when the Rock River which flows through his hometown, Janesville, Wisconsin, reached historic flood levels.
And it gets even worse than this.
Paul Ryan, a man that made a 20% error in his own taxes and a man that told Fox News he could not explain the Romney/Ryan tax plan, tried to avoid responsibility for his hypocrisy by proclaiming that the federal flood insurance program needed to be reformed EVEN THOUGH HE ALREADY GOT HIS REFORMS!
[It] would be irresponsible to raise an insolvent program's debt ceiling without making the necessary reforms.Homeowners and private property insurance specifically excludes flood insurance -- the only coverage available is from the The National Flood Insurance Program. To get that coverage, just like any other form of insurance, people pay premiums, spread the risk, and pool money which creates a reserve to pay claims. The private sector does not provide flood insurance coverage.
And from VOICES "You Can't Make This Crap Up" department, the 112th Congress, with Paul Ryan's YES vote, DID reform flood insurance (584 page bill, .pdf HERE) exactly along the lines that Ryan now uses as an excuse to deny benefits due to policy holders that pay their insurance premiums and then suffer flood losses.
In other words, Paul Ryan got what he wanted in a bill earlier this year to change the program with reforms that Paul Ryan personally approved to ensure that appropriate reserves were being built-up and maintained to pay flood insurance claims in the event of major natural disasters.
Obama signed the bill Paul Ryan supported into law. When 100-year storm Hurricane Sandy hit, a situation that is impossible to anticipate, even though Paul Ryan signed on to reforms enacted to build up reserves for these types of emergencies, Paul Ryan screams, "FOUL!"
Please call out the media next time you hear Paul Ryan lauded as a "policy wonk" and a "numbers guy". He is neither -- there are many examples that clearly demonstrate this (more HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE).
The most compelling proof that Paul Ryan does not understand policy nor basic math is the fact that, even though Paul Ryan votes for disaster relief when it helps him, even though Paul Ryan got his flood insurance reforms, Paul Ryan is advocating that the federal government shirk its duties to citizens that pay flood insurance premiums.
Shameless, but the greater shame is the way the media echo-chamber fraudulently pumps Paul Ryan up.
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