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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robert B. Reich
Paul Ryan, the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, made the most populist speech of this campaign season.
"It's the people who are politically connected, it's the people who have access to Washington that get the breaks," he told an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000 at a high school gym in Virginia.
"Well, no more. We don't want to pick winners and losers in Washington. ... Hardworking taxpayers should be treated fairly and it should be based on whether they're good, whether they work hard and not who they know in Washington. That's entrepreneurialism. That's free enterprise."
Sounds good, but three days after being picked as Romney's running mate -- Ryan went to Las Vegas to pay homage to Sheldon Adelson, the casino billionaire who is the poster boy for using money to become "politically connected" in Washington, and getting the "breaks" that come with it. Adelson has promised to donate up to
Much of Adelson's fortune comes from his casino in Macau, in China, via his money-greased access to Washington.
When China's pitch for the 2008 Olympics was endangered by a House resolution opposing the bid because of China's human rights record, Adelson phoned Tom DeLay, then House majority whip and recipient of Adelson's political generosity, urging him to block the resolution -- which DeLay promptly did. The next day, a Chinese vice premier assured Adelson that his casino in Macau would be full of gamblers.
The money Adelson has committed to putting Romney and Ryan into the
Adelson has a lot riding on the 2012 election. Last year, his
Ryan has also been courting billionaire energy moguls Charles and David Koch.
Koch Industries PAC has given Ryan and his leadership PAC more than
Small wonder that Ryan has emerged as one of
Several months ago, when I debated Ryan on
"If the power and money are going to be here in Washington," he said, "that's where the influence is going to go ... that's where the powerful are going to go to influence it," he said.
It's an odd argument coming from Ryan because his proposed budget doesn't shrink government by cutting benefits and payments to big business and the rich. He increases military payments to defense contractors, for example, slashes Wall Street regulations, and gives giant tax benefits to the rich.
His budget shrinks government mainly by cutting benefits and payments to the poor and lower-income Americans. Over 60 percent of his spending cuts target programs for Americans in the bottom third of the income ladder.
Ryan is correct when he says "it's the people who are politically connected, it's the people who have access to Washington that get the breaks."
But his faux populism obscures the main point. A much smaller government still dominated by money would continue to do the bidding of billionaires like Adelson, energy moguls like the Koch bothers, military contractors, and other high rollers now actively trying to put Ryan and Romney into the
It just wouldn't do anything for the rest of us.
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Paul Ryan's Faux Populism | Politics
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