Paul Ryan's plan is all pain, little gain

Jed Lewison:

Although Republicans have not formally embraced Ryan's plan, Ryan is the top House Republican on budget issues and is a rising star in the GOP. Nonetheless, the radical plan -- which effectively calls for the privatization of Social Security and Medicare -- seems to be exactly what the GOP's teabagging base is demanding.

The funny thing is that even though the plan endorses far-right ideas like privatization, it wouldn't bring the budget into balance until 2050 and it wouldn't put the budget on a sustainable path until 2080. In other words, it's almost all pain...and very little gain.