Hullabaloo

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

 
Watch your wallet: David Walker's got a new plan

by digby

So, David Walker's throwing out some new deficit hawkery in the hopes that nobody gets too hung up on Simpson Bowles and fails to keep their eyes on the prize --- insuring that that DC consensus that the deficit is the biggest problem this country faces, intact:

On Wednesday, David Walker, CEO of Comeback American Initiative, proposed another alternative that would challenge the political orthodoxy of both parties.
To most Democrats’ chagrin, Walker’s group wants to block-grant Medicaid, repeal and scale back parts of the Affordable Care Act, and raise taxes on Americans who are above the poverty live but pay no federal income taxes, as it outlined in a 2011 fiscal reform plan.

“There are a lot of people well above the poverty rate who aren’t paying income tax,” says Walker, the former Comptroller General who previously ran Pete Peterson’s foundation. He acknowledges that the tax change won’t be a big money saver. “That’s not going to generate a lot of money, but we’ve got to have more people have a stake in government finance,” he explains, adding that the framework would hold middle-class taxpayers harmless.

Likewise, Walker says, Republicans wouldn’t be happy with the group’s proposal to scale back defense spending to President Obama’s recommended levels, or with the higher effective tax rates on the wealthy. And many in both parties might be taken aback by Walker’s proposal to impose a consumption tax akin to a VAT and phase out the employer deduction for health care, which would radically shift the country away from a employer-based health care model. (Walker says it would be replaced by a system that would offer “basic coverage for all citizens,” though he didn’t go into the details.)

Walker’s group, which is supported by Peterson, shopped these ideas to colleges and business groups in 16 states. He says that these reforms—taken as a whole—were exceedingly popular among those who attended the tour’s public events. But concerns surfaced at Wednesday’s press conference: One woman questioned whether block-granting Medicaid would harm poor and disadvantaged Americans.

Alice Rivlin, who was also part of the Bowles-Simpson commission, agreed it was “a very legitimate concern” about the Medicaid block-grant. But Rivlin, who appeared at the event in support of Walker’s group, dissuaded the audience from getting too hung up on the specifics.

“I’ve noticed some of you taking notes on specific proposals he was offering I think that’s not the point,” Rivlin said. “He put out in the public domain a set of proposals we ought to be talking about. I wouldn’t agree with absolutely all of them. But that’s the essence of getting to a solution.”

Stop being so picky about these details, people! Focus! We've just proposed to repeal parts of Obamacare, block grant Medicaid and get rid of the Employer Deduction for health insurance, thus likely throwing millions of Americans into the hellhole known as the individual market, but you needn't worry your pretty little heads one bit. David Walker says he's got an idea for some kind of "basic health care" to be named later and the wealthy will have to "pay a little bit more" so all you plebes should be mollified.

These people are relentless. They never stop proposing and propagandizing and keeping the pressure on to fundamentally change the compact between the government and the people.

Do. Not. Trust. Anything. They. Say.

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digby 10/10/2012 04:00:00 PM