Absentminded_Wizard wrote:So the Republican alternative to Obama's plan is to promise to do all the same stuff without actually spending any money? I'm trying to figure out whether I should be surprised.
No, they want to, for example, reform Medicare & Medicaid by capping damages in malpractice lawsuits and punishing lawyers who get their malpractice lawsuits thrown out, and providing universal access to affordable health care through tax incentives and deregulation. So, basically, they say they want to do the same things by doing the exact opposite.
They want to lower our depenence on foreign oil through alternative energy sources like offshore oil drillin, ANWR oil, oil shale, tar sands, and liquified coal. Also by
Republicans support expediting judicial review of energy development by making the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia the sole venue for review and limiting complaints to a finite period—reducing frivolous anti-energy litigation.
Here's their alternative energy plan:
In order to promote the development of renewable and alternative energy, Republicans support promoting the leasing of federal lands which contain alternative energy such as oil shale. The Interior Department should provide lease sales of oil shale in an environmentally-sound manner, rather than hinder leasing plans. Republicans also support
enabling federal agencies to take the lead in spurring a market by using fuels derived from oil shale, tar sands, and coal.
They also want to save the economy through Hoovernomics and letting the banks fail:
Republicans want to end the bailouts, protect taxpayers, and provide a transparent recovery process.
Republicans support maintaining the cost of living after witnessing the booms and busts triggered by loose monetary policy.
They've also finally started to complain about privatized gains, socialized losses. . . now that the government is buying failed companies (some of the time). Which they complain about, too. They'd seriously rather see the global economy collapse than spend money.
Also, they still blame the poor for the collapse:
Although well-intended, the federal government unintentionally contributed to the housing bubble by promoting home ownership for people that could not afford it through the Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA). . . But CRA has encouraged banks to make risky loans, contributing to the record foreclosures that have roiled mortgage markets and the larger economy.
Read the link, it's a wonderful treasure trove of crazy.
Also, when asked to present an alternative plan instead of criticizing the plan we already have, they present a budget with no budget items in it, but with a whole lot of criticism.
"No, you can't burn the inn down. It's made of solid fire."
